Safer Internet Day

Child Focus is an ‘all-in-one’-organisation, combining all aspects of the Safer Internet Centre under one roof: an awareness centre www.clicksafe.be, a hotline for child abuse images on the internet www.stopchildporno.be and as from May 2011 also a helpline. These activities are funded by the European Commission under the Safer Internet Programme. 
The Belgian Safer Internet Centre centre seeks to give children, parents and teachers advice and tips on how to avoid risks when using the Internet. At the same time the centre emphasizes the positive aspects of using information and communication technologies. A strong and large network of national stakeholders works very intensively together in the development of tools, giving advice and information on new technologies. Furthermore, these stakeholders helps us to disseminate information.

 

 

As Belgian Safer Internet Centre Child Focus coordinates the Belgian celebration of Safer Internet Day and launches different campaigns on internet safety in collaboration with industry, Ministries and other partners.Child Focus develops awareness raising tools on safe and responsible use of the Internet and informs parents, teachers and the public about children’s use of the internet and new technologies. The aim is to provide children, parents and teachers information and tools for guidance and to empower children using information and communication technologies. All tools and information is developed in Dutch as well as French and can be found on www.clicksafe.be.

 

 



Working in a targetgroup-specific manner is one of the cornerstones of the Belgian Safer Internet Centre. We believe every target group has its one specificities and needs a different, targeted approach. Therefore, Child Focus developed different strategies for different target groups. The Awareness centre gives regularly presentations for parents in schools, institutions... about children’s use of internet and provides parents with information and educational advice. The focus for teachers is being let on training them in how to handle cyberbullying and offering them ready-made, easy-to-use educational resources they can use to teach e-safety. Young people are approached by a combined strategy of online and offline tools.

 

 



Child Focus sets great store by the expertise and self-regulation of young people themselves. We feel it is very important to view young people as informants with qualified knowledge when talking about safe use of the Internet. Children are considered as competent and their insights are perceived as valuable contributions – they have something to say which cannot be said by anyone but themselves. 
Therefore, young people are involved in the design of awareness raising actions, tools and materials. Via our Youth Panels, we stay in touch with teenagers, to know what’s hot and what’s not among young people, which are the problems they encounter and what is their view on our awareness raising campaigns. They also play an active and creative role in the development of peer-to-peer communication tools for young people.

 

 



The Belgian Safer Internet Centre is highly respected, consulted and seen as key resource and knowledge centre for e-safety. The centre has a large network of relevant stakeholders (government, law enforcement, industry, non- governmental and welfare organisations...) and is regularly consulted for information, training, advice and collaboration.