African NGOs, Facebook Partner for Safer Internet Day

Over 20 non-profit organisations and government bodies in Africa united with Facebook to celebrate Safer Internet on February 5, 2019. This is aimed at raising consciousness and awareness to = internet safety and concerns like; cyberbullying and cyber crime.

The Countries involved in the Campaign are; Benin, Cameroon, The Democratic Republic Congo,Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria,Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The event will be observed in a lot of countries and it will be quite eventful.

NIGERIA

Workshops were organized on safer internet use through the Paradigm Initiative Life Centers in Kano, Lagos and Aba. The workshop is set to run for two hours. Tope Ogundipe, Director of Programs at Paradigm Initiative Nigeria says this collaboration with Facebook on internet safety goes along with the plan to educate youths of their digital right.

“Working with Facebook on online safety aligns with our focus on driving digital inclusion and educating the youth about their digital rights. This programme promises to equip the children who participate with skills and knowledge that will enable them to make confident use of the Internet in their day to day lives.” He said.

SOUTH AFRICA

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), Google, The Film and Publication Board (FPB), Department of Telecommunications and Posted Services (DTPS) is collaborating with Facebook to launch the Web Rangers Programme 2019. Emilia Gandhi from Facebook is to speak on how Facebook strives to keep its community safe during the panel session.

Lynette Kamineth said we need to respect the rights of others as we expect them to respect ours.

“Together for a Better Internet is a call to action for every government agency, private company, civil society organisation and citizen of South Africa. A force for good, the digital world also holds some dangers. But these dangers are all created. In and of itself the internet can only cause harm if it is used expressly for that purpose. We all need to respect the rights of others on the internet, as much as we expect our rights to be respected.”

KENYA

The event “A Million Campaign” held at Ngunyumu Primary School in Nairobi for students under Watoto Watch’s Safer Internet Day event is in collaboration with Facebook. This event is primarily to create awareness on online safety amongst school children. Facebook supports this awareness with the provision of AD Credits and Safety Booklets.

Lillian Kariuki, Executive Director at Watoto Watch says this awareness is channelled towards making children understand how they can manage online risks.

“The Internet enables us to connect with friends and family, access a wealth of knowledge and information, and express our thoughts and creativity. Along with these positives, children also need to understand how they can manage online risks as they make use of the Internet’s resources. Our aim, with the help of Facebook, is to equip children with this knowledge” She said.

Facebook is supporting the Safer Internet Day by:

Sponsoring the printing of online safety awareness booklets.

Facilitating training sessions.

Creating a family-friendly animation to help raise awareness of the Facebook Safety Centre.

Sherry Dzinoreva, Public Policy Programs Lead at Facebook Africa said

“We know that safety is a shared conversation, which is why we are excited to be working with so many stakeholders around the continent to make the Internet a better place. Together, with Safer Internet Day as a platform, we can address emerging online concerns, so that people and especially children and the youth, can get the most from their Internet experience.”