Every day, millions of children go online — gaining access to knowledge, building connections, and exploring new opportunities that help shape their futures.
But alongside these benefits come serious risks. From cyberbullying and exposure to harmful content, to data privacy breaches and online exploitation, children often navigate the digital world without the protections they need.
Today, it’s estimated that 175,000 children access the internet for the first time each day. Meanwhile, around 750,000 individuals are actively seeking to exploit children sexually online. These alarming figures reflect a growing global challenge — and the urgent need for stronger safeguards to ensure that children can explore digital spaces safely.
A Global Response
In response, ChildFund Alliance launched the WEB Safe & Wise: Creating a Better Digital World with Children campaign as part of its 2022–2025 Strategic Plan.
Building on the momentum of earlier efforts to end violence against children, the campaign brought together seven Alliance members working across approximately 30 countries. Its focus: to strengthen protections for children while empowering them as responsible, confident digital citizens.
WEB Safe & Wise focused on two key goals:
- Strengthening laws and policies to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Equipping children with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to safely navigate digital spaces.
Strengthening Legal Protection
Across diverse countries and contexts, the campaign has influenced the creation and revision of laws and policies designed to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse.
Enhanced legislative and policy frameworks have been established, while national infrastructures for child protection have been strengthened to better prevent and respond to online offenses. At the community level, local actors have developed the skills and capacity to recognize and address online threats.
WEB Safe & Wise employed several key strategies to achieve these outcomes:
- integrating child protection into education curricula,
- strengthening response frameworks through community engagement,
- forming policy and advocacy groups,
- collaborating with governments and legislative bodies,
- fostering cross-sector partnerships, and
- maintaining a unified approach across all participating Alliance members.
Cultivating Child Participation
Progress was also made in equipping children to be effective digital citizens, able to participate safely, ethically, and responsibly in online civic engagement.
Importantly, children themselves were central to these efforts — participating in advisory councils, raising awareness among peers, and shaping campaign messaging. As Azumi, a member of the Children’s Advisory Council in the Philippines, said: “Children deserve to be safe and protected in the digital world.”
Local Leadership in Action
Community involvement was key to the success of Sri Lanka’s national WEB Safe & Wise campaign. ChildFund International led an eight-district initiative that brought together government agencies, civil society organizations, and private sector partners. The program engaged children, parents, teachers, and industry leaders through school debates, art competitions, community dialogues, stakeholder forums, and local action plans to prevent online abuse.
This collaborative approach helped establish a national working group on online child sexual exploitation and abuse and supported the creation of an International Reporting Portal to Combat Online Violence Against Children, in partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation.
Adapting to Local Contexts
While united by shared goals, each country faced distinct challenges. In some contexts, materials were tailored to different levels of digital literacy. In others, interactive learning approaches — including games and quizzes — were used to sustain children’s engagement. In several countries, limited staffing or resources required creative solutions and flexible planning.
Despite these challenges, WEB Safe & Wise demonstrated how adaptable, collaborative strategies can drive meaningful progress even amid rapidly evolving digital threats.
Looking Ahead
The campaign’s success offers a strong foundation for future work — but more remains to be done. Key priorities for the future include:
- deepening government and NGO engagement to sustain advocacy efforts,
- using innovative tools like games and digital skills programs to engage children,
- ensuring strong community involvement and local ownership,
- leveraging multi-channel media campaigns to broaden reach,
- empowering children as advocates and leaders,
- and B=building a structured learning agenda to guide future child online protection work.
As digital technologies continue to evolve, ChildFund Alliance remains committed to creating a safer, more inclusive digital world — one where all children are protected, empowered, and able to thrive online.