Safe Internet project aims to protect children online
Over the past week, more than 50 children, teachers, parents, partners and World Vision staff attended pilot workshops where they learned about these dangers, and what they can do to avoid them.
“Parents and children need to realise that the Internet can be a great educational tool and a fun place for children to spend time,” said Mandy Yamanis, project manager of Keeping Children Safe Online. “But they also need to know that children may be exposed to negative content and situations.”
Tips include not entering personal information into chatting software or social networking sites, blocking strangers and people they don’t trust, and reporting suspicious contacts As a child-focused organisation, World Vision has a responsibility to ensure that children are protected in all environments, real and virtual, said Yamanis. That responsibility is even greater when the virtual environment is one World Vision has helped create through a computer or education project.
Keeping Children Safe Online addresses that need by offering English, Arabic and Armenian versions of posters, brochures and an animated, interactive DVD with information, activities and guidelines for keeping children safe online.
The DVD takes children and youth through age-appropriate information and offers them scenarios and quizzes that allow them to practise making safe decisions. Tips include not entering personal information into chatting software or social networking sites, blocking strangers and people they don’t trust, and reporting suspicious contacts.
Although the DVD was designed for children and youth, the hope is children will share this DVD with their parents and start a discussion around good online habits to protect children, said Yamanis.
For parents and teachers who may be less familiar with the terms and technology, the training can also include an orientation to some of the virtual venues children may visit and steps they and their parents can take to stay safe there. Other topics include safe use of mobile phones, techniques used by paedophiles online to develop inappropriate relationships with children, and what cyber bullying looks like.
Although quite comprehensive, the content has been designed to be taught quickly and simply to a variety of groups, so that the material can be easily integrated into existing activities such as teacher trainings, summer camps and children’s clubs.
World Vision chose to work at the grassroots level for the first phase of this project because very little awareness about the seriousness of the risks exists, said Yamanis.
“Once people are aware of how great the danger is, we can move to other levels,” she said. These other levels could include working with local education ministries, law enforcement agencies and telecommunications companies to protect children online, she said.
In Lebanon, one of the areas of risk highlighted by participants was Internet cafes, where children may have unmonitored access to the Internet.
Another had been sent a fictitious picture by a woman he was chatting with so that he would agree to meet with her “I’m responsible for a group of teenagers who are 12 years old,” said Mariam Hsein Al Husein who attended one of the workshops. “[They should know] how to use the Internet safely – also to each our neighbours, because in Lebanon, there is no safety in an Internet cafe.”
Stories shared by some of the participants highlight the need to know how to keep children safe online. One young man had discovered his 12-year-old brother was already using the Internet to look at pornography. Another had been sent a fictitious picture by a woman he was chatting with so that he would agree to meet with her.
“The point is not to scare parents into not allowing their children to use the internet at all,” said Yamanis. “Use chatting, use Facebook -- but protect yourself.”
The first phase of the project will wrap up by the end of June. World Vision is seeking funding to continue and expand the project.
-Ends-
“Parents and children need to realise that the Internet can be a great educational tool and a fun place for children to spend time,” said Mandy Yamanis, project manager of Keeping Children Safe Online. “But they also need to know that children may be exposed to negative content and situations.”
Tips include not entering personal information into chatting software or social networking sites, blocking strangers and people they don’t trust, and reporting suspicious contacts As a child-focused organisation, World Vision has a responsibility to ensure that children are protected in all environments, real and virtual, said Yamanis. That responsibility is even greater when the virtual environment is one World Vision has helped create through a computer or education project.
Keeping Children Safe Online addresses that need by offering English, Arabic and Armenian versions of posters, brochures and an animated, interactive DVD with information, activities and guidelines for keeping children safe online.
The DVD takes children and youth through age-appropriate information and offers them scenarios and quizzes that allow them to practise making safe decisions. Tips include not entering personal information into chatting software or social networking sites, blocking strangers and people they don’t trust, and reporting suspicious contacts.
Although the DVD was designed for children and youth, the hope is children will share this DVD with their parents and start a discussion around good online habits to protect children, said Yamanis.
For parents and teachers who may be less familiar with the terms and technology, the training can also include an orientation to some of the virtual venues children may visit and steps they and their parents can take to stay safe there. Other topics include safe use of mobile phones, techniques used by paedophiles online to develop inappropriate relationships with children, and what cyber bullying looks like.
Although quite comprehensive, the content has been designed to be taught quickly and simply to a variety of groups, so that the material can be easily integrated into existing activities such as teacher trainings, summer camps and children’s clubs.
World Vision chose to work at the grassroots level for the first phase of this project because very little awareness about the seriousness of the risks exists, said Yamanis.
“Once people are aware of how great the danger is, we can move to other levels,” she said. These other levels could include working with local education ministries, law enforcement agencies and telecommunications companies to protect children online, she said.
In Lebanon, one of the areas of risk highlighted by participants was Internet cafes, where children may have unmonitored access to the Internet.
Another had been sent a fictitious picture by a woman he was chatting with so that he would agree to meet with her “I’m responsible for a group of teenagers who are 12 years old,” said Mariam Hsein Al Husein who attended one of the workshops. “[They should know] how to use the Internet safely – also to each our neighbours, because in Lebanon, there is no safety in an Internet cafe.”
Stories shared by some of the participants highlight the need to know how to keep children safe online. One young man had discovered his 12-year-old brother was already using the Internet to look at pornography. Another had been sent a fictitious picture by a woman he was chatting with so that he would agree to meet with her.
“The point is not to scare parents into not allowing their children to use the internet at all,” said Yamanis. “Use chatting, use Facebook -- but protect yourself.”
The first phase of the project will wrap up by the end of June. World Vision is seeking funding to continue and expand the project.
-Ends-
Share