3.4 Awareness-raising and education
🎯 What is the added-value of providing awareness and educational support and resources to parents, educators, and children themselves?
Education and awareness of kids, as well as parents and educators, are generally considered to be the first line of defence, hence their continued importance. At the national level, many campaigns have targeted children and young people, parents and guardians, and educators. A wealth of awareness-raising resources, including online resources, is also available and growing. Such resources typically provide advice on safe ways of using technology and the internet.
For instance, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Child Online Protection (COP) initiative provides guidelines for children, parents and guardians, as well as for educators, industry, and policymakers (published in 2020). Providing resources in different languages is also important. Safer Internet Day, organised by the INSAFE network each year in February, promotes the safe use of the internet and mobile technology, especially among children and young people worldwide. These are just a few examples.
🌍 Case study
Kenya study provides several education-oriented recommendations
The UNICEF study we cited earlier, A (Private) Public Space: Examining the Use and Impact of Digital and Social Media among Adolescents in Kenya (2013), made several recommendations. Among those:
‘Understand digital use and digital safety from the perspective of young people first, before designing the content of digital safety information programs…
Involve parents and school authorities in digital safety programs aimed at young people.
Balance digital safety messages with emphasis on the usefulness of the internet in areas such as education, research and commerce.
Encourage young people to use the internet also as a resource for reporting online or offline abuse or other inappropriate behaviour.
Create online and offline digital safety campaigns for placement on the full spectrum of traditional and digital media outlets […] young people commonly access and use.
Foster young digital safety champions who can speak to their peers through digital media, audio and video spots on mass media, and offline spaces like schools and universities.’
📚 Resources
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) is one of the many organisations which provided educational resources on dealing with child online protection during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, the following short videos (Video 3-8), aimed at youth-serving professionals, tackle specific issues.
ICMEC’s COVID-19 resource page has many other resources for dealing with other child protection issues, including multilingual content, webinars (recordings) for parents and educators, and resources for children.
Awareness campaigns
As part of the Safer Internet Day celebrations, in 2021, the regulator Communications Authority of Kenya, GSMA and mobile operators: Safaricom PLC, Airtel Kenya, Telkom Kenya and Jamii Telecommunications Ltd launched a micro-site, with an interactive Child Online Protection Guide under the umbrella of the GSMA #WeCare initiative.