Youth participation: co-creating the Insafe network | IGF 2023

Niels Van Paemel

ChildFocus, an proactive community service organisation, has initiated a variety of programmes purposed to enhance online safety, mitigate child exploitation, and raise awareness about online grooming. Among these, the Cybersquad initiative is a peer-to-peer platform facilitating the sharing of experiences and advice amongst young individuals. Recognising a growing tendency in children’s preference for online chat over traditional helpline services, this platform enables direct contact with a Child Focus counsellor via a help button in more serious cases.

The organisation has also launched Groomics, an educational tool specifically developed in response to the increasing phenomenon of online grooming. This aims to empower young people by highlighting the potential risks and benefits of online relationships, enabling children to discern signs of online grooming and equipping them with the knowledge to decline these advances.

Additionally, ChildFocus has introduced the MAX principle, which offers children an opportunity to select a trusted individual with whom they can discuss their online issues. Through the MAX principle campaign, children are able to send an official invitation to their chosen confidant, thus fostering a sense of security enhancing safety in their digital experiences.

Recognising the crucial need for inclusive online safety measures, ChildFocus has placed particular emphasis on children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Revisions were made to their web content after it was deemed complex and overwhelming for ASD children. The organisation thus made adjustments to their content to make it more comprehensible and inclusive. The Star Plus tool was specifically co-created to help ASD children recognise online red flags, catering widely to their unique challenges in the online sphere.

ChildFocus has, nonetheless, encountered challenges achieving reach with ‘shy kids’ or those from less advantaged backgrounds. By highlighting the ‘Matthew effect,’ where resources tend to contribute more significantly to those already privileged, the organisation illustrates the struggle for inclusive education. Emphasising the importance of awareness and persistent efforts in reaching out to these children, they assertively advocate for daily commitment in this regard.

Additionally, ChildFocus encourages international collaborations for sharing online safety best practices and resources across countries, to facilitate mutual learning, prevent redundant efforts, and enable effective localisation to meet diverse national needs. Resources such as the Star Plus tool are shared on the InSafe network, through which translations are provided for wider accessibility. This reinforces the significance of international partnerships in driving online safety efforts globally.

In conclusion, ChildFocus’s efforts highlight the essential elements of child-focused, inclusive, and collaborative drives in promoting online safety. This provides a blueprint for other organisations and countries to adopt whilst acknowledging the potential obstacles that might be encountered in these endeavors.

Anna Rywczyńska

The Polish Safer Internet Centre is making substantial efforts to support refugees, particularly those displaced due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, by incorporating them into their internet safety campaigns. This pursuit is significant, especially considering the huge influx of 16 million Ukrainian refugees who have crossed the Polish border since the start of the crisis, with about 1 million residing in Poland. A prime example of the Centre’s integration efforts involves approximately 200,000 Ukrainian children who are currently attending Polish schools.

Additionally, the Centre is proactive in its focus on language accessibility and mental health support for refugees. The organisation enables remote connectivity to events, which are translated into Ukrainian, thereby dismantling language barriers. Furthermore, they have taken the extra step to recruit professionals for their helpline, including consultants and psychologists fluent in the Ukrainian language, which greatly enhances their ability to assist Ukrainian refugees efficiently and effectively.

To tackle the significant issue of disinformation and fabricated news around the conflict, the Polish Safer Internet Centre has established a dedicated department. NASK, an essential part of the Centre, is tasked with combating disinformation and fake news, thereby contributing substantially to efforts towards promoting peace, justice, and sturdy institutions.

Moreover, the Centre is heavily invested in youth empowerment by providing platforms for them to express their perspectives. These platforms include competitions where entrants are encouraged to submit videos that represent their generation’s views.

The Centre also ensures that the youth are well-represented in the pan-European youth panel meetings, thus playing a part in ensuring youth representation in conversations on peace, justice, and strong institutions as well as efforts to address inequality.

In conclusion, the Polish Safer Internet Centre’s concerted efforts to assist Ukrainian refugees and their strategic emphasis on youth empowerment underscore their commitment to the Goals of Quality Education, Good Health and Well-being, Reduced Inequalities, and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. These initiatives illustrate the potential of technological platforms as a tool for positive change and inclusive growth.

Sabrina Vorbau

The necessity of youth participation in creating a safer internet is a pivotal aspect that resonates across all discussions. The significance of youth input extends undeniably to the formulation of policies and strategies to maximise internet safety. An exemplar of this is the Better Internet for Kids Strategy Plus (BIK+). This strategy was not merely devised with the contributions of young individuals but continues to uphold its relevance through sustained engagement. It encourages youth to voice their perspectives at annual events such as the Safer Internet Forum.

However, youth participation is not a sporadic occurrence. It necessitates ongoing engagement and follow-up, reinforcing the principle that effective youth involvement mandates authentic engagement and substantive opportunities. A salient example of such democratic participation is the proactive involvement of young people in the organisation of the Safer Internet Forum, moulding the programme from its inception.

Alongside general participation, it’s worth highlighting the empowerment of young individuals who have already received training within their respective communities. This notably involves youth ambassadors. Consider the youth ambassador from Malta who utilised his network to disseminate the event link to his classmates and his more introverted peers. This act exemplifies how empowering local youth can effectively represent even the less outgoing children and serve as a strong voice for all.

Addressing the understanding that children do not necessarily need to present on stage, the strategy underscores the importance of incorporating even the more introverted children indirectly. Youth ambassadors, as representatives, feel an inherent responsibility to mimic the voices of their peers. This approach ensures that every child, irrespective of their demeanour, contributes to shaping a safer internet environment.

In conclusion, youth participation is not only essential in realising a safer internet but is also instrumental in achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include Quality Education (SDG 4), Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG 9), as well as Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16). Any dialogue on internet safety or policy creation remains incomplete without youth involvement, thereby highlighting its unparalleled significance.

Moderator 1

In today’s digital age, the vulnerability of children is a mounting concern, particularly in relation to online safety. This vulnerability may be exacerbated by various factors, including poverty, disability, mental health issues, abuse or neglect, family breakdown, discrimination, and social exclusion, which encompasses migration as well. Moreover, we must consider the inherent vulnerability that all children share as they navigate a world in which decisions affecting them are predominantly made by adults who may not fully comprehend the implications of digital technologies on children’s lives.

Though the situation may seem dire, there is a glimmer of hope, emanating from initiatives such as the New European Strategy for a Better Internet for Kids. Adopted by the European Commission in May 2022, this updated version of the 2012 BIG strategy aims to keep abreast with technological developments, placing children’s digital participation, empowerment, and protection at its core. The intention is to shape a digital environment that is both safe and nurturing for children.

Simultaneously, there is a growing, assertive view favouring children’s inclusion in decision-making processes concerning their rights and safety in the digital world. This perspective underscores the necessity to acknowledge that children, living in an rapidly evolving digital world, may have unique needs and rights. Not involving them in these decisions could result in protective measures that fall short of meeting their needs accurately.

To summarise, whilst we must confront the increased risks and challenges faced by children in the online world, there are effective strategies, like the Better Internet for Kids, that represent a silver lining. Moreover, the firm stance advocating children’s involvement in decision-making processes suggests progressive change. Nonetheless, it is paramount to adapt continuously to the rapidly changing digital landscape, ensuring children are not only safe but also empowered in their digital interactions.

Audience

Cybercrime and bullying in Lebanese schools are drastically escalating, with a disquieting report from Lebanon’s internal security forces signalling a surge in cybercrimes by over 100%. This uptick has provoked schools to request sessions on bullying and violence, underscoring the urgent necessity for attention and action.

Non-profit organisation, Justice Without Frontiers, is taking forward steps to confront these pressing issues. They offer legal consultation for girls affected by online sexual harassment, a regrettable and increasingly common output of the cybercrime increase. Furthermore, they have delivered awareness sessions to approximately 1,700 students, accentuating the crucial role of education in instigating change.

Nonetheless, this progress is hampered by a major hurdle: the scarcity of educational resources on cyber security and bullying in Arabic. This language obstacle hinders effective education and communication, compelling educators to rely on secondary resources like YouTube films and online games to engage with students.

In a more positive vein, there are concerted efforts to involve younger demographics in global discussions. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a distinguished international platform for policy discourse, is fostering an inviting environment for newcomers, showcasing instances of inclusivity in their dialogues. Moreover, the IGF’s Dynamic Teen Coalition offers an exceptional opportunity for young people to shape internet governance, ensuring their voices are valued and their viewpoints taken into account.

Despite these developments, the demand for inclusivity expands beyond these platforms. It’s suggested that only empowering outspoken children is not enough. The requirement is to also connect with the shy, reticent and less assertive children, so their needs and rights are not neglected. This perspective is backed by Amy Crocker from ECPAT International, a network battling child sexual exploitation, who stresses that focusing on these marginalized children is essential for authentic empowerment and inclusivity.

In conclusion, while Lebanon grapples with a rise in cybercrime and bullying, numerous endeavours are underway to manage these challenges and uplift youth—from awareness initiatives to inclusive international forums. However, roadblocks persist, with language limitations being a dominant issue, and calls for inclusivity emphasising the empowerment of quiet children. These insights offer valuable pathways for future undertakings in the dual domains of cyber safety and children’s rights.

Boris Radanovic

This comprehensive review underscores the critical relevance of youth empowerment, and their role in advocating for online safety and children’s rights. The argument is founded on the premise that ‘the voice of the youth is the voice of the future,’ urging for recognition and enhanced amplification. So far, over 5,000 digital leaders, actively contributing to their school communities, have been educated. Their role has been instrumental in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4 and 16, related to quality education, peace, justice, and strong institutions, respectively.

However, the analysis also reveals a troubling fact that children are five times less likely to confide in a trusted adult when they encounter precarious situations online, opting instead to turn to their peers. This highlights the absence of trusted adults and the necessity for safer online environments for children.

Notably, the success of peer-to-peer education is emphasised. Through partnerships between the UK Safer Internet Centre and ChildNet International, a programme has been created to educate thousands of digital leaders across school communities. Additionally, the data suggests that it is vital for children to have the confidence to speak out about online safety issues. This indicates a need for comprehensive online safety programmes that not only enhance safety but promote understanding and advocacy among children.

Regrettably, the discourse uncovers that children with accessibility issues or special education needs, and those from minority groups, are significantly more susceptible to online abuse. This aligns with the aspirations of SDGs 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and 9.c (Increase access to ICT), acting as a call to action for inclusive and accessible online spaces.

Furthermore, this detailed analysis accentuates the essence of community’s collective responsibility. A multi-stakeholder approach centred on education can be key to ensuring children’s protection online. Engagement with minority, disability and ability groups is necessary for understanding and addressing their unique needs, thereby fostering the creation of truly inclusive online spaces.

Finally, the importance of utilising technology that facilitates equal, anonymous participation is recognised, given its adaptability to various roles within an environment. Educational providers are thus tasked with keeping learner engagement inclusive and participatory.

In conclusion, this extensive analysis paints a complex picture of the digital landscape, intertwining youth empowerment, increased safety measures, and the strategic importance of education. The key to developing holistic and inclusive online spaces that fuel both individual growth and societal advancement lies in tactfully merging these strands.

Moderator 2

Young people are not only actively involved in digital communication initiatives, but are also encouraging and facilitating engagement amongst their peers. This positive trend supports two pivotal UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Quality Education (SDG 4) and Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10), emphasising the positive impact of youth engagement in these areas.

One notable observation from this participation is that children and young individuals appear to find it easier to converse and liaise with their peers rather than adults in this field. This shift indicates an intriguing change in communication dynamics, with potential ramifications for the development of educational strategies and initiatives targeting young people.

Moreover, there is firm belief in the efficacy and potential of youth involvement in digital awareness programmes. As a case in point, the consultative youth programme at Portugal’s Safer Internet Centre demonstrates the substantial commitment of young people towards enhancing internet safety, a key element of digital awareness.

Significant reference was made to the In Safe Structure programme, identified as a best-practice example. Again, the devotion shown by young people towards the cause, as well as their active participation is emphasised. The impact of these initiatives highlights the importance of youth participation, and serves as a compelling testament to their potential contribution to a safer, more inclusive digital environment.

In conclusion, youth engagement plays a pivotal role in digital education and the shaping of a more inclusive digital future. The insights provided by these analyses point towards a burgeoning paradigm where young people are not merely recipients of digital knowledge but are increasingly integral to its creation and distribution.

Deborah Vassallo

The crucial role of young individuals in discussions surrounding online safety has been showcased effectively by the Safer Internet Centre. Actively involving young individuals in operations such as hotline helpline discussions has proven beneficial. Young people not only assist with helpline calls, gaining a profound understanding of online safety issues, but also participate in the creation of materials for the Safer Internet Centre, providing valuable consultations. This youth involvement aligns with the objectives of SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, and SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.

The importance of producing positive digital content, alongside understanding online risks, is further emphasised through initiatives like the ‘Rights for You live-in’ annual event. During this gathering, young individuals were granted the opportunity to interact with content creators and craft their own digital content. A notable outcome was a video created by these young people for Safer Internet Day activities, which highlighted their online experiences.

Moreover, the argument for offering young people decision-making roles in activities related to online safety is strongly supported. Evidence of this is seen as the entire coordination of all Safer Internet Day activities was entrusted to young individuals. They were also brought into deeper-level discussions on issues related to online safety, and their creations for Safer Internet Day were disseminated broadly across schools.

However, the analysis also brings forth the concern for children in residential and foster care who are considered more vulnerable to online harm. Their use of online chats to seek understanding and love due to their disadvantaged situations is a significant concern. This sentiment is associated with SDG 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children.

Nonetheless, there’s a sense of optimism spurred by the actions taken by the Safer Internet Centre to protect these vulnerable children. Initiatives such as inviting them to ‘Rise for You live-ins’ sessions, conducting practical workshops about privacy and online chat safety at children’s homes, and providing an express helpline for those experiencing online harm, underscore the Centre’s commitment towards providing immediate help and education about online safety.

In conclusion, the endeavours of the Safer Internet Centre offer a hopeful sentiment for the progression of online safety measures. This comprehensive involvement of youth along with initiatives for vulnerable children recognises and addresses the complexity of online safety issues, providing a balanced approach towards creating a safer online environment for all.

Moderator 1:
I would like to share today’s discussion in collaboration with my colleague and friend, João Martins. Before I go on, I would like to emphasize that João Martins has been collaborating with the Portuguese Cipher Internet Center, which I am responsible for coordinating, since he was very young and was a youth ambassador for the Better Internet for Kids, who spread the word about safety issues, internet governance, and advocating for youth participation, from national initiatives to European and international forums, such as EURODIC and IGF. As you may have read, and perhaps that’s why you are here, this workshop is organized by the INSAFE Network, the European Network of Cipher Internet Centers, in cooperation with the Portuguese, Belgian, Maltese, Polish, and the UK Cipher Internet Centers, who will share their best practices on youth participation and how they are working together, co-creating and developing new initiatives, resources, and campaigns to effectively reach this target group, including children in vulnerable situations and to tackle online trends. Following the panel presentations, we will open a question and answer space, so we can discuss and clarify the topics, and the panelists can provide comments. As we are all aware, it is a challenge to reach children in vulnerable situations. In today’s world, children are vulnerable for many reasons, poverty, disability, mental health problems, abuse or neglect, family breakdown, discrimination, and social exclusion, not to mention migration. Several programs are designed to help social groups from different backgrounds, including those who are vulnerable. While these groups face different challenges, they share a common need for online safety in an increasingly complex social environment. However, all children can be considered vulnerable as they grow up in a world where decisions are made by others, by adults, often with a very different perspective, and feel the pressure to adapt to a world where rights are not protected, risks are everywhere, and technological developments in the digital environment are beyond imagination. In such an environment, and faced with a multitude of everyday problems, children are called upon to develop emotionally, intellectually, and technologically in a world where their voice is not heard, and decisions are made by others who are often not as familiar with or connected about their needs. The New European Strategy for a Better Internet for Kids, adopted by the European Commission in May 2022, aims to provide a delicate balance between digital participation, empowerment, and protection of children in the digital environment. Better Internet for Kids Plus is an adaptation of the 2012 BIG strategy, following a decade in which technological developments have exceeded all expectations. The new strategy, adopted after a long consultation process, aims to put children at the forefront of the developments and decisions that will be made by the key stakeholders and industry in the digital environment in the coming years. Children as digital citizens of the future, and growing up in a digital environment, deserve to have a say in development safeguards and their rights, and to shape the world they will live in. Therefore, to go deeper on these matters and to give us an overview on the Better Internet for Kids Strategy Plus and BIG youth program, I’m delighted to give the floor to Sabrina Vorbo from the European SchoolNet. Thank you so much, Sofia. We can go to the presentation.

Sabrina Vorbau:
Good morning, everyone. My name is Sabrina Vorbo. I’m a project manager at European SchoolNet. European SchoolNet is a network of ministries of education. We are a non-governmental organization based in Brussels, Belgium, and we are coordinating on behalf of the European Commission the Better Internet for Kids project that Sofia already mentioned, and as part of this project, we are also coordinating the network of European Safer Internet Centers. Myself, I’m part of the coordination team, and I coordinate the work that we are doing with the young people, and so I will start just setting a little bit the scene how we involve young people at a pan-European level in our activities, and we follow a very simple principle and encouraging the young people that their voice matters and that they deserve to have a firm seat around the table when they need it. decisions are being made when it comes to shaping policies like the Better Internet for Kids Plus strategy, but also when when industry is developing new devices and new tools. These young people that we are working with at European level are originally coming from the National Safer Internet Centers. At the moment we have a group of 40 plus big youth ambassadors, how we call them. As you can see here on the slide, I shared a few pictures with you where you see our ambassadors in action in various different settings. The big youth program allows the young people not only to connect with each other, to meet like-minded peers from across Europe, but it also allows them to have a one-on-one exchange with other stakeholders in the field. These stakeholders being policymakers, politicians, but also representatives from industry and IT companies. You also see here that obviously the pandemic was a very challenging time, but it did not stop the big youth ambassadors to continue raising their voice. So you can also see here that we had various occasions during the pandemic to continue connecting the young people with important stakeholders. As I said when we are talking about shaping a safer and a better internet for children and young people, they need to be part of the decision, because they’re not only the future, but they’re also the present. We are able to do so, as Sophia mentioned already, because youth participation is very well endorsed at a European level because of the Better Internet for Kids strategy that exists for various years already, but was reshaped last May. It was really built around three pillars, youth protection, youth engagement and youth empowerment. You can see here that really young people are at the heart and at the front of this new strategy, because we believe that every young person has the right to play online, to learn online, to connect online, to create online, to watch and to listen online, but also to share their content online. As we are talking about a policy on Better Internet for Kids, we also felt important, the European Commission felt very important that this strategy, that this policy is also accessible for the young people themselves, so they understand what is actually written in the policy and what their rights are. So we also developed, I’m sharing it here for the room, a youth-friendly version of the strategy. This was developed with the Big Youth Ambassadors. We worked with them together on this youth-friendly version. They advised us on the language of the youth-friendly version, but also on the visuals, on the colors we would use, because we wanted to make sure that this youth-friendly version is really accessible and makes sense to the young people as well. So I think this is a really true milestone, this strategy, because it not only encourages us, but everyone in the field in Europe, to apply this strategy. There are also very clear endorsements for policymakers and also industry, how they should work and co-create with the young people. To finish my part of the presentation, I just brought a very small video that actually shows our Big Youth Ambassadors in action. We onboard them every year. There’s an opportunity for new young people to become part of the group. This happened through the annual Big Youth Panel, which is organized back-to-back with our annual conference, the Safer Internet Forum, where we give young people the possibility to share their views, where we give them a platform to exchange one-on-one with stakeholders. Obviously, there’s a very long preparation process in place as we typically start working and preparing with the young people three months in advance to it online, and then a few days before the conference, they come on site and they start working on the intervention. So this is a little bit of a summary video of what happened last year at the Big Youth Panel. I hope this works. Maybe I can ask for the technician to click to play the video. We’re singing to let you know we’re here We are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are I think we can stop the video here, just wanted to have you listen to the first minutes of the video, and of the song because it’s really, as I said, really important for us to engage the young people in a meaningful way. So what we typically do, we discuss with them about the skills they have, and you have seen in the video that they come with a lot of talents, and how they want to bring their message across. So last year, the group decided to write a song about a better internet for kids. They rehearsed this, and these young people are coming from different European countries, they start rehearsing this online. And then they performed this at the Safer Internet Forum. They also decided to create posters with messages, and here they also wrote these posters in different languages, because it’s obviously the main common language is English, and the language of the conference is English, but it’s also important to promote the national language and bring this across. So I hope the video gave you a little bit of an insight of how we are working with young people. As I said, it’s a very long and intensive process, and we get great support from our national Safer Internet Centers, but really, last year, the Safer Internet Forum really put the young people at the heart of this conference. We worked also with some of them that helped us organizing the conference, that shaped the program with us. So that’s also a bit the philosophy to include the young people from the early stages on, not only when the end product is there and put it in front of them and say, okay, now what is your opinion, please use it. We are involving them really when we are starting to share and create our ideas. So I think this is really important if you want to get active in youth participation to include them from the beginning, and then another important element is also the follow-up process, that after this conference, we continue to stay in touch with them. We try to involve them in other activities, like Joao is here with us today at IGF. This is also important that they don’t feel, okay, I have been invited to this one event, and now the event is over, and nothing happens. So I think involving them from the beginning, but also making sure that you stay connected with them, that you give them future opportunities, that there’s a follow-up for them. I think these are the two key elements when it comes to youth participation. I will stop here, and I think I immediately hand over to my colleague Nils.

Moderator 1:
Yes, thank you so much, Sabrina, for this very precise overview on what the youth participation has been doing in Europe, and now I will give the floor to Nils. Please, he comes from the Safer Internet Centre from Belgium, so the floor is yours.

Niels Van Paemel:
Hello everyone, so I’m Nils van Pamel, and I work as a policy advisor for Childfocus, which is the Belgian foundation for missing and sexually exploited children, but in this context, of course, as the coordinator of the Belgian Safer Internet Centre. Can we go back to the slides, please? Yes, you’ve seen my photo long enough now. I’m going to focus on how we include children and young people in our day-to-day work, but specifically in our prevention work. It’s already in our name, we are Childfocus, so we focus on children, and we try to make the internet a safer place for children, so it makes sense that, of course, everything we do, both on the operational level, but also on the prevention and awareness level, we include children in every aspect of it. I’m going to show you just a few tools that we made together with them in order to, like, how our co-creation processes happened and what it resulted. The first thing we did together with children is, actually, let’s go back a bit in time. A few years ago, just before COVID, we realized that as a helpline, where children can, but also parents, teachers, everybody who works with children, they can call us when they have questions about making the internet a safer place for children, but children were actually not represented high enough, and we were wondering why we did a study, and of course, now it’s super obvious, but it took some time for us to realize. First of all, we were a helpline that was only, you could only call us, but as we know right now in 2023, children and young people, they don’t like to call anymore. They like to chat, and they like to send, like they want to use their phones to write words and type them to us. Things that we realized through focus groups and working with children. And the second thing, because the topics that we deal with at Child Focus, it’s not only about your privacy settings, but it can also go about cyberbullying. It can even go about sexual exploitation when there’s images being sent without consent, even sextortion or grooming. I will go into that later. But children don’t always want to talk with their parents about this, and not even always with professionals like us. So we decided to follow the Danish best practice that was shared within the network and to make a peer-to-peer platform called Cybersquad, because sometimes parents remain an important source of information or help for their children, but sometimes the perspective of another teenager can talk even louder, especially about certain topics that children need their peers for. We created this. It’s basically, it’s forum-based, where you can ask questions and peers can answer. And we really saw that young people, they stepped up in order to help each other use their own experience, made us realize that we really need to put those children in the driver’s seats. We can even see them as the experts they are in some fields, and especially in the digital field, they are, and we should really see them like this. Of course, when things get really serious, there is always the help button where they can be in direct contact with a child-focused counselor. Of course, we are not letting children do psychological counseling with each other, but this is something that we are really proud of and really works, and we’re seeing that it works. We created this together with a group of children aged 10 to 18 in order to get their perspective. It was tested and also adjusted based on their views. Two other examples, but first, I want to say that of course, we are a big believer in co-creation and we are seeing children as the experts they are. I already said this. But in the last year, just to give a number, more than 2,500 children and young people were consulted in the creation or testing of e-safety tools or awareness-raising campaigns, resulting in, for example, I’m gonna pick two, Groomics, this is an educational tool that we made to make children and young people aware of and resilient to phenomena such as online grooming. For the people who don’t know what grooming is, it’s the process where an adult tries to convince the, tries to gain the confidence of a minor in order to abuse, sexually abuse them later. But the process goes on online, the whole grooming process. So as a teacher or a supervisor, you can make young people in your group aware of some of the risks associated with chatting with strangers online, but of course, at the same time, you can also highlight the benefits of online friendships and relationships. So we are trying, and this is the hard part with a phenomenon like grooming, we are really trying to see, to show the internet as the positive place full of chances it is, but at the same time, highlight some risks and create resilience amongst young people in order for them to detect red flags, in order for them to become more of an expert as they already are. We have to stop focusing on forbidding things for young people because that is not a long-term solution. We have to make them empowered in order to detect what is not okay in order to say no. And a last tool that I wanted to show you is the MAX principle. So I already talked about young people helping each other on the Cybersquad platform, but also children, that’s our dream, that every child in the world has an adult, a person of trust. And this is not the case yet. This does not necessarily have to be a parent, but it can also be a teacher, it can be an uncle, it can be somebody from the sports club, but just in order to make young people, when they feel threatened, when there is something going wrong in their online world, to have somebody to talk to. MAX, it’s a name, and young people, we are putting them in the driver’s seat, they are choosing their MAX. So with this whole campaign, if you go to this website, I will show it later, you can see there is a form for young people to fill in, choose their MAX, and send an official invitation to this person, and then he or her becomes the official MAX, and the, okay, I knew, and yeah. I think I just wanted to say that’s like young people having, choosing themselves who is their person of trust in order to create a safer environment for them online. That’s it for me, thank you.

Moderator 2:
Thanks, Niels. Yeah, let’s then hear from Dabrova Vassalo, representing Foundation for Social Welfare Services, and also Safer Internet Center Malta. Thank you.

Deborah Vassallo:
Thank you. So I’m Deborah. At our Safer Internet Center, it’s called Be Smart Online. And we have the Safer Internet Center, and the hotline, and the helpline, and obviously also the youth participation. We do different activities, but we try to involve young people as much as possible, especially in the consultation of the resources that we create. And we also invite them to assist to some of the calls that we receive from the helpline in order for them also to get an idea of what young people are encountering when it comes to online safety. We try to also, during the focus groups that we do with young people, we try to discuss with them different case scenarios in order to give them as much exposure as possible. And some of the activities go to the slide. One of the best practices that we do every year is what we call Rights for You live-in, which is a live-in whereby about 50 participants come to this live-in. We go to all the schools in Malta to invite children to come during the summer month. It’s usually in August for about three days. And during this live-in, it is all about online digital rights, about being digital citizens, about their responsibilities online, their rights. And during this live-in, they have the opportunity to discuss their online experiences. They also, this year, we gave them the possibility of meeting this person who creates a lot of content online. And each one of them had the possibility to create positive online content, because we do believe that it’s not only about online risks, but also about encouraging young people to develop themselves online content, which can be seen by other young people. And it can be like an example. We also involve them with discussions also at a higher level when it comes to ministerial level, because we’re part of the Ministry for Social Welfare Services. So this way, they can discuss also about online issues and what they would like their space to be, to be a safer space. And obviously, we involve them a lot in the Safer Internet Day activities. We involve them both on the outside when we go to do information days with the public. But this year, we gave them the full direction of all the Safer Internet Day activities. And they have decided to come out with this video, which they have created themselves, whereby they have a group of, they’ve asked the group of teenagers about their experiences online. And they’ve created the video. It was all from the development stage to the production. It was all made by young people. And then we have disseminated it with all the schools during Safer Internet Day. So we thought that would give them this opportunity. It was a huge success, because they felt that they were producing something for the Safer Internet Center. And they belonged to it, so it was very successful. Thank you. Thank you, Debra. And now, I will turn to Anna from the Polish Safer Internet Center. So Anna, please, the floor is yours. Hello, everybody. Yes, Poland joined the Safer Internet Program in 2005, so from the very beginning, when the program in the European Commission started. We deliver all three compulsory branches. So we have awareness part. We have hotline and helpline. And of course, we also have our young ambassadors. Maybe we will start with OK. Yes, our youth panel exists since 2010. Firstly, it was called the Congress of Young Internouts, but then we asked our young people if they still want to be named like this. And they said, no, no, no. We would like to change this name. So I think two years ago, we changed the name, and they picked the name Digital Future of Students. So that was something that they decided to have. We cooperate with the youth panel coming from, I think, 12 schools at the moment, but schools from all over the country, so coming from the big cities and going also to the little towns. We organize about three to four meetings yearly, and then we consult with them all our materials, like all campaigns that we plan, all educational resources. We invite them to the events. We even work within the INSAFE network. We exchange also youth ambassadors. Like, for example, last time, now during our international conference, we had a youth ambassador coming from Czech Republic, and he was speaking about what kind of actions young people need from us. And how to promote our actions in fields of internet safety to make them interesting, to make them good and meaningful for young people. also of course take part in the Spanish-European meetings. Each year we pick our representative and he goes with us to the Safer Internet Forum and I must say that this time like the last Safer Internet Forum was really impressive. I mean usually we had some presentations coming from young people but this time like they really participated. When we had the World Cafe discussions they were sitting in each table they gave fantastic insights so I think we really we changed our perspective of work with young people like their voice is really heard. And I would like to exchange with you and sometimes we also travel with them to spend like two or three days somewhere and to really have time to deeper discussion to give them some knowledge that they can be ambassadors in their regions but also to of course what is most important to hear from them. And also I think it was interesting initiative that we done recently. We organized webinars. It were five webinars. They decided on topics on those webinars. In each webinar we had the moderator coming from the well-known Polish radio station that is targeted at young people. So it was moderated by the journalist and then there was representative of the youth panel and adult expert. All the topics were chosen by the youth panel and it was widely promoted among all schools in Poland so they could connect and listen to those webinars. And they are of course also recorded so the schools can come back to those topics and it were topics like gaming, like relations, cyber bullying. And the other I think very well it’s like like it is with best practices I think it’s really best practice at the Digital Youth Forum. We organized this Digital Youth Forum since 2016 and this is the big conference, big event for young people and young people are speaking. These are influencers, these are young social activists. So they are the speakers and we have young people as audience. So these are events coming like from 400 people in the room even to 700 people in the room depending on the year and the conference hall, the conference room that we that we had. But also it’s organized in a hybrid mode so we invite schools to to join the event online and it’s really working very well. I think last time we had like 100,000 kids watching the conference and we also this time I will talk about it later a bit more but now we have lots of school lots of children from Ukraine and we also make it available from Ukrainians. They can join the conference, they can come to the conference even school schools in Ukraine joined also this event and they watched from their country and that so we deliver of course them the translation into Ukrainian. So this is the the conference that is really really successful and I think that’s it for now. Thank you.

Moderator 2:
And keeping rounds, let’s now give the floor to Boris Hradanovic from Southwest Grid for lending.

Boris Radanovic:
Thank you. Thank you to the moderators as well and my dear colleagues. I loved your presentations and the quote I think from Sabrina or with or without you the song I really hope it’s with us and not without us. My name is Boris Hradanovic. I’m coming from the UK Safer Internet Center and I do firmly believe that the voice of youth is the voice of the future and the sooner we start listening the better the future will be for all of us and unfortunately we need to find ways to respect those voices but at the same time find ways for those voices to shine through and yes Neil’s I absolutely believe they are experts and yes Deborah I do believe that every child does deserve to have a trusted adult but oftentimes they’re not. Children do not have a trusted adult or even better a trusted educated adult and then the question is what to do there and we know from science and we know from data that children are five times less likely to reach out to a trusted adult when they encounter or are in an online unsafe situation then they talk to their friends. So today I’m here to talk to you about empowering young people to educate their peers about online safety and the program we developed in United Kingdom for the UK Safer Internet Center with our partners ChildNet International. It’s a program that champions youth digital citizenship and creativity. It is effective. It’s fun. It’s an online platform. At the same time it contributes towards an outstanding whole school approach to online safety. More than 5,000 digital leaders have been educated until now and they’re active in their school communities and we have reached thousands more as a result of this peer to peer learning module which we do firmly believe is an excellent way of going forward and and giving space to those voices of children. Majority of them are 7 to 18 years old. They have learned how to become a digital leader in their school up to 15 children in each school to gamified and interactive online experiences and learning modules and group working. The program enhances not only online safety but the understanding of issues of online safety and the advocacy and power of young people that they can have to make the changes that we all so sorely need in the online space to create a better and safer internet for us all and in the end one thing that we all must work to is instills confidence in children not to be passive bystanders to be active upstanders for many of the issues that we see online. At the end I want to invite you all as well our partners ChildNet International have a film competition for all the youth around the world where they can advocate but as well engage in activities and create a film that they can submit. for one of the biggest international film competitions. And I think it’s important to note that INSAFE also has a booth, and please do visit us at the booth so we can continue talking about this. The voices of children are the voices of the future, and we need to start listening to them now. Thank you very much.

Moderator 2:
Well, I think we should open the floor after this brief introduction of different initiatives. Most of all, we want to make the conversation a global conversation. I already had the opportunity to meet someone in the booth area today. I didn’t want you to put on the spot, but if you could share with us a little bit about your initiative, that would also be very nice, and maybe linking in to what we discussed here. It’s mainly because, of course, the INSAFE network has most focus on the European geography, but most of all, it’s good to reflect that we’re also engaged in other geographic regions. So the idea here, and please introduce yourself and the initiative, is to find the opportunity that IGF promotes, really, this exchange of best practices.

Audience:
Thank you very much. My name is Brigitte Chalibian. I’m a lawyer and director of Justice Without Frontiers, coming from Lebanon. And I think the only Arab organization participating in IGF, or there is two Arab organizations. Well, in Lebanon, since 2019, we start having the economical crisis, and the percentage of domestic violence is increasing, including the cybercrime. The recent report issued by the internal security forces mentioned that the cybercrime are increasing more than 100%. And last year, we started receiving calls from schools, asking us to provide sessions, awareness sessions for school students about bullying and about violence. Because, as I mentioned, the percentage of bullying among students is increasing, and there is a different way that students are using. So last year, we provided awareness sessions for 1,700 students. It was a good number for us, and we were able to reach private schools. And this year, we will start reaching the public schools. As well, regarding the cybercrimes, we received, we provided legal consultation and representation for girls who were sexually harassed on online platform. And we had a good cooperation from the ISF, because we have a hotline, but not all people are aware about. So for this year, we put, we try to manage ourselves more. We found the need for that. So we are working on a cyberbullying policy paper. It will be done by next month, when we will hold a roundtable to discuss it and to see, we will involve the key stakeholders. And in later stage, we will select four or five schools in Lebanon to conduct a pilot project with them. We will have a bullying policy paper, and we will have a program with, to work with students, teachers, and the administration. And in later stage, we will be working on cyberbullying. The issue that I want to highlight, and the importance of my presence here, is that I am learning more from you and getting tools. Because when we start going to school, we didn’t have any material in Arabic language for students about cyber security, about bullying, and whatever. So I was going through YouTube to find some, because children, I cannot go to them with the PowerPoint. I just, I need just to show them films, and it depends from their age. So I, we play with them games, and we start through YouTubes, getting some short films talking about cybercrimes, what to do. And the best thing that we did is one of the biggest school in Lebanon. They have more than 3,000 students. In their football stage, we put an advertisement for one year. It’s about what is bullying, and what is cyber, what is bullying? Focusing on bullying only among students. What is bullying? How to report? What is the role of each student? And we put, this is a crime, and this is, when we have cases, this is the police number, and it will be left for one year. And we received some feedback that we made it in Arabic language, and we received feedback from family committees in school to have it in English, and to have it as, in each class or section, to have one poster from that. So this is a short summary about Lebanon.

Moderator 2:
Thank you, Bridget, very much. And Bridget told me that she’s a newcomer to the IGF space, so it’s really nice also to have that feedback and have you also included from day zero in the discussion. So thank you for that. May I ask if we have questions from the… coming from online.

Audience:
No questions back, but actually it’s one comment that is worth mentioning that now there is a new initiative like Dynamic Teen Coalition has just started within IGF that I think this may be a very good opportunity for young people to join and take part in shaping the landscape of Internet journals. Thank you.

Moderator 1:
So, thank you for your contributions and I would like to go back to the panel and we have a question for them. The question is how do you ensure your youth participation activities are inclusive and accessible to vulnerable groups and we’ll start with Boris.

Boris Radanovic:
Easy question.

Moderator 1:
Please, go ahead.

Boris Radanovic:
We know a lot but we’re still missing a lot of data but the data that we have, we know the children at most risk in physical life are at most risk in digital life. That’s what we knew, but we didn’t know how much. It’s three to seven times more likely. If you have any accessibility, disability issues, any special education needs, you’re three to seven times or even greater highly likely to get abused online. So, the challenges are not just creating safe spaces for children but having them accessible and ready on the go for children and youth and adults who fall into those minority categories and your adversities, diversities, puts you in a disadvantaged position to all of us online because the spaces we create online are not safe enough for all of us to be in. So, we need to build more inclusive spaces online and we need to think about much wider groups of people than any group that we are creating the app or platform for. And especially looking at vulnerabilities, abilities, disabilities and many of those special categories for minority groups so we can create those spaces better for them. And we cannot create those spaces in isolation, working just by ourselves and we know from the online safety space and protection of children that the multi-stakeholder approach is the only way to go and especially through education. So, I would from my perspective only advise to working with the experts in the field with those minorities abilities and disabilities groups to understand their perspectives and their needs and then create the spaces around that, not the other way around. They have the knowledge on the ground that we can educate the educators who already know the specific needs and necessities of those peculiar and specific groups who are sensitive to many of those things. So, then we can work with them to develop the online spaces that recognize differences but allow us to adapt to them as well and create better and safer environment for us all but especially for the categories of children and young people who are most disadvantaged online. Thank you.

Moderator 1:
Thank you. Deborah? I will follow up. Thank you.

Deborah Vassallo:
So, from our Safer Internet Center we mainly target children who are in care in residential care and foster care mainly or in those residing in residential homes. These children the agency I come from is the Foundation for Social Welfare Agency. So, it has the section of fostering incorporated in it and these children come from a disadvantaged situation at home and we found that they were vulnerable especially to online connections because they would be chatting to people to replace the love and they want to talk about their situation to someone who is out there who would understand them. So, that would put them also in a vulnerable position. So, we try to engage them as much as possible into our programs. We invite them to the Rise for You live-ins. We also go to their residential homes. We do practical sessions even about privacy about who they’re chatting to like practical sessions and we give them like it’s like an express helpline route in a way that they can call us directly if they experience some form of online harm so that we’d be able to help them immediately in order to provide them with our help.

Moderator 1:
Thank you. Anna?

Anna Rywczyńska:
Yes. As a Polish Safer Internet Center we try to support all the underserved groups. However, I would like now to focus on the refugees because as we all know from 24 of February 2022 when Russia attacked Ukraine, the Polish border was crossed by 16 million of refugees. Many of them are already home if they could. Many of them moved to other countries but we have still about 1 million people from Ukraine living in Poland, mostly women and children and we have about 200,000 kids that attend Polish schools. So, what we could do as a Polish Safer Internet Center was, of course, to include them into our actions to give them the support in fields of Internet safety. As I said before, we translate all our events simultaneously. We enable also the remote connection to our events. We translate also our educational resources into Ukrainian, we promote them in schools as well. We also did something to really give support, so we hired consultants in the helpline with Ukrainian language, psychologists with Ukrainian language to be able to answer to reports from children from Ukraine. Our hotline is also more prepared to work on those reports. And the Polish CYFIR Internet Center consists of two organizations. It’s National Research Institute, NASK, that I represent, and we have also the NGO, Empowering Children Foundation. And at NASK we also have a special department fighting with disinformation and fake news. And they deal a lot with the disinformation related to the war. So this is like a big part of our everyday actions. Thank you.

Niels Van Paemel:
And now, Jung, to finish. Yeah, a lot already has been said, so I’ll try to focus on a different group. We did a check of our website a few years ago, and we found out that unfortunately it’s not inclusive enough for everyone. And now I’m going to talk about children on the spectrum, so autism spectrum disorder. Yes, this is a group of children who, first of all, need easier language. Also, our website was way too flashy when it’s about the resources part and where they can find information. So it’s not only about the words and trying to make sure our content is inclusive, it’s also in the way you present it. And secondly, when we’re talking about e-safety for children and empowering them, we’re talking now about a group who has a lot of difficulties with that. We’re talking about, for example, discovering red flags, having their gut feeling empowered. People on the spectrum have a harder time to detect red flags, have a harder time to trust their gut feeling. So we felt that we really need to make something specific for this group, and it turned out to be the Star Plus tool, co-created with children on the spectrum. And it’s really beautiful. You should check it out, Star Plus from Child Focus. It’s already translated, so initially it was made into Flemish, so Dutch. There’s a French version, and now we’re trying to translate it into different languages. Thanks to the InSafe network. Just to conclude, why is it so beautiful that we are all here from different countries? We don’t need to invent the wheel over and over again. If Boris makes a beautiful tool in the UK, we can take this into the Belgian context, and of course you localize it. But we can learn so much from each other, and that’s a really beautiful thing here. Thank you.

Moderator 2:
Before we wrap up, I just want to make sure that if anyone here in the audience or online has some point or question that wants to… Perfect. It’s a great opportunity. If you could stand, say your name, your affiliation.

Audience:
Hello. Is this working? Yes. Hi, my name is Amy Crocker from ECPAT International, which is a global network of organizations fighting the sexual exploitation of children. Thank you so much for your presentations. This is probably something you deal with often, but one of the things I find interesting about working with young people, particularly when you have things like youth platforms, is that sometimes you have youth who are very empowered and are used to doing this. How do you reach the kids that are too shy, too reticent to come forward? Because obviously you’re building the future ambassadors, but you want to make sure that you’re going horizontally. So I’d love to hear a little bit about that.

Sabrina Vorbau:
I can go first, Boris, and then Shibin. It’s a good question. It’s a valuable question. Of course, many of the young people that we work at European level, as I said, they have been working previously with the colleagues here in the national field. So they’re kind of already experts. They have a good knowledge in English. They know how to articulate themselves. But what I always find very impressive with these young people, they’re so aware of their responsibilities they have when they come from these meetings, what they have to do at home, in their community, in their local community, with their families, with their schools. We recently invited, and this is just to give a very concrete example, we recently invited two of our big youth ambassadors to come to a European Commission event in Brussels. And while we were waiting, sitting in the audience, I was actually with one of the youth ambassadors from Malta. And it was a hybrid event. So it was streamed online, and the youth ambassador told me, oh, actually I shared the link with my classmates. And I said, oh, wow, so they’re going to watch you and maybe they get interested and they would also like to do this in the future. And he said, oh, well, actually my best friend, he’s really shy. I don’t think he would ever do this, but it’s not a problem because I’m here today and I represent also his concerns. So I think these young people have a very great sense of responsibility. And they come back from these meetings. They go into their community. They share what they’re doing. And I think this way they make sure that also those who are maybe more introvert, and that’s perfectly fine. Not everyone needs to be on stage. all the time, that they make sure that their voice is included as well. Thank you.

Moderator 2:
I think it’s Boris. One minute for each?

Boris Radanovic:
I’ll be quick.

Moderator 2:
Me too.

Niels Van Paemel:
Split the minute.

Moderator 2:
Split the minute.

Boris Radanovic:
Okay, 30 seconds, Nils. I think it’s important, what Sabrina said, I absolutely agree, but I think that’s the power of peer-to-peer-led programs. You can educate the leaders, but the leaders need to educate the others and create those cohorts of people, of young people who support them. But I would emphasize, as well as Sabrina said, using tech that enables exactly that, like equal participation, anonymous participation, participation where you don’t need to stand in front of a camera. You can be the director. You can be the screenplay writer. You can be some other part of that environment that enables everybody to take part. You as an educator, you as a facilitator, need to make sure that all of the voices are included as much as possible. But in the end, children are remarkable of having that broad appeal. Is that 30 seconds?

Moderator 2:
Something like that. That’s perfect.

Niels Van Paemel:
Just to add, I really like this question because it’s an everyday struggle, to be honest. To really, and I’m not only talking about shy kids, but just in general, if we just reach out, just throw out some lines through the audience, we will always have the same public. We will have privileged people, and you create the Matthew effect, like you are just preaching to the choir, and you need to be, on a day-to-day basis, aware that there’s people out there that you don’t reach if you don’t do your darn best. So this is, I really like this question. This is something that we should all be aware of. Reach out.

Moderator 1:
Okay. To finish, Anna?

Anna Rywczyńska:
No, I just want to say that when we organize competitions, before they go to this big pan-European youth panel meeting, and they send us videos, they never start, like, for me, important is, or I think they always say, my friends, my generation. So I think they really feel that they are the voices of their generation. Yes, they are represented.

Moderator 2:
So I’ve been asked to kind of wrap up and bridge a little bit this session from day with the rest of the IGF, also from, and with the youth work that we’ll be conducting throughout the sessions. And I think that we can wrap up saying that with or without you, children and young people help each other, but need having someone to talk to. They most often are engaging in these initiatives that we heard being consulted, and sometimes they also feel that it’s easier to talk to each other than talking to an adult. The important point, and also addressing this last question, is that each young person feels supported in the process, being shy, being a leader, and engaged in different levels. For instance, here at the IGF, we’ll be having in the afternoon, from the start of the afternoon, the youth summit. The youth summit, for instance, if you want to know, it was a process throughout the year, organizing different workshops, regional workshops, and the one in Europe was about nurturing digital well-being, addressing the impact of the digital environment on youth mental health, which was exactly, which could have been also one of the topics that we could raise from the last question that we put to the participants here. So I would say that kind of wrapping up is understanding the different roles. We provided great examples, and I bring the In Safe Structure example and how it works, and give it as a best practice also in other forum, because I do believe, and Sphia kind of introduced me in the beginning a little bit like that, I did start in youth participation, youth engagement, youth awareness, through one of such programs, was part of the consultative youth program for the Safer Internet Center of Portugal, and throughout the years, and Sphia was making a joke also about how I keep my skin still very intact, although 26 already, and it’s been a while, but hopefully we’re making positive change, influencing even the more shy, and also, as so many also very well said, making sure that the voice of the shy are also heard by us. Thank you very much. And we are on time. Yes. Thank you so much for your presence, and I think that we can move to the next workshop. So enjoy IGF. Thank you.