Founded in 2021, NAWC is the result of concerns about the gender gap in cybersecurity and digital policy-related matters that arose when a group of 10 professional women in cybersecurity came together to evaluate the sector. The women developed the concept for the formation of the NAWC and reached out to the GFCE for logistical support for the implementation of the network’s programs.

NAWC, then, was registered in Ghana as a non-profit organization. Its primary objective is to address a gap in gender- and women-responsive cybersecurity planning, development, and implementation in Africa by bringing together experts that can provide advice and technical guidance on issues pertaining to cybersecurity, cyber-resilience, and cyber-capacity building, among others. The specific objectives of the NAWC are as follows:

• Establish engagement principles with governments, regional economic communities, donors, and civil society to systematically include and increase the participation of women in all aspects of cybersecurity development in Africa.
• Provide special support to gender-responsive planning in the AU Digital Transformation Strategy (DTS) 2020–2030.
• Enable the network to become a global platform for promoting dialogue, consultation, and setting the agenda for women’s cybersecurity development in Africa.

Following its legal registration in 2021, the soft launch of the network took place at the 10^th edition of the Africa Internet Governance Forum in Lilongwe, Malawi, on July 19, 2022. The main launch followed in November of the same year, at the 17^th edition of the Internet Governance Forum in Addis Ababa, at an event where women and girls working on cybersecurity and digital space were invited to showcase their work.