Let’s Make Internet Safer for Children and Young Adults – Tigo Ghana

As Africa rapidly joins the global community in moving its data & information storage, from the traditional ‘paper and shelf system’ to what is considered as ‘cyberspace’, there is a rising concern over the safety of this new environment, especially for the more vulnerable members of communities; children and young adults.

Giving voice to this concern was an appeal made by the Mobile telecommunications operator, Tigo, to stakeholders of the communications industry in Ghana to partner in making internet or online environment a more secured place particularly for this younger generation.

Addressing a forum of the industry’s stakeholders organized by J-Initiative to commemorate the Safer Internet Day, Corporate Affairs Director of Tigo, Gifty Bingley, stressed the importance of connectivity and accessibility in the education and development of children.

She further asserted the need for all stakeholders including parents, internet service providers, etc., to ensure the safety of these youngsters online.

Hinting on the telecom operator’s commitment to raising awareness on the need for collaborative effort at creating a safer online environment, she told the forum that Tigo’s parent company, Millicom, had in 2014 signed a three-year partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to set regulatory benchmarks for the telecoms industry targeted at promoting respect for the online rights of young adults and increase the level of child online protection across all its operations.

Adding that based on the global commitment of Its mother company, Tigo Ghana, has raised its commitment to child online protection and has over the years supported local initiatives such as the J-Initiative to increase awareness and build the capacity of stakeholders, especially parents, teachers and children towards the achievement of the goal of a safer ‘virtual world’.

She stated that “In 2016, we supported J-Initiative to train 86 teachers from 16 districts within the Greater Accra Region. Some 2,300 pupils from 20 selected schools were also trained on how to stay safe online. Safety awareness sessions were also done for parents in some churches in Accra”.

Moreover, the Executive Director for J Initiative, a non-governmental organization and facilitators of the forum, Ms. Awo Aidam Amenyah pointed the stakeholders to the rapid evolution of new technologies, the numerous opportunities it offers and the potential risks it poses to children and young people in the Ghanaian society.

She reaffirmed her organization’s readiness to partner with all stakeholders to create a safer and better internet environment for all, especially children.

Ms. Aidam said, “We have gladly embraced the rallying call for SID 2017 and we believe we all need to contribute in making the internet safe for children as it has endless of opportunities for their development”.

Safer Internet Day is marked by over a hundred countries around the globe. The day is aimed at promoting safe, responsible and positive use of technology, particularly among youngsters. This year's Safer Internet Day (SID) celebrations took place on Tuesday, 7 February 2017. With a theme of "Be the change: Unite for a better internet", the day called upon all stakeholders to join together to make the internet a safer and better place for all, and especially for children and young people.

Major Stakeholders at the event included Vodafone, Ghana Education Service, Open Learning, Ghana Institute of Journalism, the World Vision International, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Department of Children, Ghana Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-Ghana), Ghana Telecom University, WILDAF Ghana and a host of others.