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Better Internet for Kids best-practice guides

One of the aims of the European Commission’s Better Internet for Kids programme is to build capacity in Europe (and beyond) for creating safer and better online experiences for children and young people. One way of doing this is by sharing good practices developed through work within the context of the Insafe and INHOPE networks of Safer Internet Centres and other key stakeholders. As such, three best-practice guides have recently been published.

Date 2021-04-28 Author BIK Team Section awareness, research
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The best-practice guideline on Age-appropriate design with youth (published in March 2021) explores ways to meaningfully engage with and involve young people in co-design processes for online services, and the rationale for adopting this approach. It highlights existing projects and provides case study examples, drawing especially on the recent Youth Pledge for a Better Internet initiative in which young people worked alongside industry members of the Alliance to better protect minors online to improve terms and conditions of use. This is also the topic of the March 2021 edition of the BIK bulletin.

The best-practice guideline on Children and young people with disabilities in an online world (also published in March 2021) specifically explores the opportunities and challenges of creating an inclusive world for children and young people online, building on the themes discussed at the Safer Internet Forum 2020 and in the December 2020 edition of the BIK bulletin. It considers the roles of different stakeholders, policy responses, and the responsibility of industry for ensuring accessibility by design. Importantly, it again reflects on the importance of involving children and young people in co-creation processes.

A recent Safer Internet Centre + (SIC+) pilot programme was established to foster knowledge sharing and capacity building on successful initiatives on online safety for children and young people, at regional and/or global level; to promote the development and implementation of innovative actions to increase the participation of third-country organisations in online safety initiatives and best practices, in particular education programmes and awareness-raising campaigns, as well as helpline and hotline services, while identifying possible areas for exchange and mutual learning; and to address common challenges in the field of online safety for children and young people by promoting cooperation with the current Insafe-INHOPE network, aiming for a closer integration of these initiatives in global actions. The best-practice guideline titled Learning from Safer Internet Centre (SIC) collaboration with non-EU organisations: The SIC+ pilot programme (published in April 2021) provides an overview of the initiative.

An earlier best-practice guide (published in February 2020)  delves into positive online content: what it is, why it is necessary, how children (aged 0-12) can benefit from it, and how its production and mainstreaming can be facilitated to reach as many users as possible. Read more on the guide and download a PDF in our article here.

To keep up to date on a range of practice issues, keep an eye on the news articles on the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) platform.

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