Youth demand online protection

Vivid spots, training, workshops, long conversations on television, shared problems and solutions, petitions to the Mayor and a national conference. Yes, this will be a very busy week for many of World Vision Albania’s Area Development Programmes (ADP)! 

Everything is just about ready: after many weeks of brainstorming and hard work focused on Safer Internet Day (SID), activities will happen, one after one. Hundreds of children, youth and parents will receive training, but SID will go much farther than that. 

Spots on television - all by children!

One of the most inspiring things about SID in Albania is that Wfaorld Vision and its staff won’t only be ’giving‘. Now they can ‘receive’, figuratively speaking. In Korca ADP, youth are designing a poster about SID and even creating a video-spot about online safety. Similar activities are taking place at Lezha, another ADP. 

Korca’s boys and girls are working with local TV to ensure that the spot they are working on will be transmitted to a massive audience. And that is not all. “Youths will play some short comic plays in front of their friends, parents, teachers, because they think that people can better understand problems of online safety if they laugh and think about it in the same time,” says Ina Pelteku, ART project coordinator in Korca ADP.

Youth in Elbasan ADP are creating a video-spot, as well. “This video will be shown on the big screen downtown [in] the city on February 4 and 5. It will also be showing on local television,” says Enkelejda (Tabaku) Mitro, Child Protection Coordinator of Elbasan ADP2. 

Youth from Korca and Elbasan are not the only ones involved in media about SID activities. Peer educators of Vlora ADP are preparing a submission to local television. “It was their idea to prepare this submission about their rights, in general, and problems of online safety they meet in their everyday life, as well. They prepared some short video-spots which will be shown during this submission and then they all will discuss in the studio about this problems,” says Dorjola Ibrahimi, Youth Coordinator in Vlora ADP. 

“Adults! We want website filters!”

When it comes to Internet problems, children, youth and teachers in Albania have a lot to tell. “When I posted in my Facebook profile a photo with my friends, someone posted an offending comment about the friend (a boy) that stood beside me. Other offending postings occurred that day and I really felt bad for my friend,” tells Fabiol Xheka, a 16-year-old boy from Valas Lugaj village of Elbasan.  

Now this boy and his friends have learned how to handle these situations and that is the reason they want to share this knowledge with others. “I participated in last year’s training of WV, during “Keeping children safe online” project, and there I learned how I can prevent offending comments and online anger of others. I learned that my photos could be seen only by my closest friends and this can prevent a lot of problems. It is so important for us to get informed about risks you can meet while navigating online,” adds Fabiol. 

Katriot Bimo, a teacher in secondary school of Babica e Madhe, in Vlora, says that the main problem is that laws are not being respected. “We have good laws like other countries in Europe, but they are not put in practice. For example, website filters are not being placed and our children [see] everyday inappropriate pages and information.  Unfortunately, this happens while they are still very, very young.” 

Lack of filters is the reason why some Albanian children from Elbasan ADP are going to write a petition. “It will be titled ‘Together for safe navigation on Internet’ and will be signed by a lot of people in community. Then the petition will be presented during a round table attended by Mayor, school directors, Internet-cafe owners and parents. In this meeting, youth is going to ask for website filters to be put up,” says Enkelejda (Tabaku) Mitro.

World Vision emphasizes the importance of parent’s guidance so that children can have safer Internet experiences.  In Lezha and Kurbin, two other World Vision Albania ADPs, many parents will get trained on how to protect their children from online risks. Furthermore, in Lezha a meeting with the mothers of Barbulloje village is scheduled. 

Children and youth can be more careful and prevent online problems, but adults, especially the ones with legal representation, have the power to make things better. This is the reason why World Vision is partnering in the Annual National Conference on Child Online Safety, organized jointly by the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Microsoft Albania and World Vision Albania, on Tuesday, February 5, 2013.