Polish Safer Internet Centre

Location

Warsaw, Poland

Website

http://www.saferinternet.pl

About the organisation

The Polish Safer Internet Centre (SIC) is run by the consortium consisting of national research institute NASK (the project coordinator) and Empowering Children Foundation. The main aim of the Polish SIC is to promote safe and creative use of new technologies among children and young people, to combat illegal content online, and to help young internet users, parents and professionals in cases of threats related to the use of the internet and mobile phones.

Profile last updated: May 2020

Awareness centre

Description:

The awareness centre conducts comprehensive awareness-raising activities promoting safe and responsible use of new media by children and young people.

The project is run by NASK and Empowering Children Foundation. Empowering Children Foundation acts as the awareness project coordinator. Most actions undertaken under the project are carried out in cooperation with the Orange Foundation.

Within the framework of awareness activities, the centre conducts educational and media campaigns, organises the international conference "Keeping children and young people safe online", as well as periodical expert seminars. Moreover, the awareness centre prepares promotional materials and expert publications, and organises Safer Internet Day (SID) celebrations in Poland.

Email address: contact@saferinternet.pl
Website: http://www.saferinternet.pl
Social media:
https://www.facebook.com/bezpiecznyinternet

Helpline for children and youth

Description:

The centre's helpline is run by Empowering Children Foundation as two separate lines for children and youth (116 111) and for parents and professionals concerned about children's safety (see below). It offers support for young internet users, parents and professionals in cases related to threats connected with the use of the internet.

Common problems include grooming, abusive behaviour by peers, contact with harmful content and excessive use of computers and the internet. The helplines can be contacted via a toll-free phone number, email and online contact form at www.116111.pl/napisz.

Website: http://www.116111.pl

Helpline for parents and professionals

Email address: pomoc@800100100.pl
Website: http://www.800100100.pl

Hotline

Description:

The Dyżurnet.pl team is a point of contact that has been functioning within the framework of NASK since 2005. The mission of Dyzurnet.pl is striving to remove illegal web content.

Information about potentially illegal or disturbing content may be reported to Dyzurnet.pl by:

Dyżurnet.pl also carries out awareness-raising and educational activities to increase the level of the online safety of children and young people by, among others, taking various initiatives, including campaigns, conferences, trainings for professionals and experts, as well as workshops for the youngest internet users.

Email address: info@dyzurnet.pl
Website: http://www.dyzurnet.pl

Youth participation

Description:

Consultations with children and young people are held on a regular basis. They allow the Safer Internet Centre (SIC) to design effective educational tools and media campaigns, and to evaluate the actions in progress. Such consultations are held during meetings of the youth panel and within the framework of the Congress of the Young Internet Users – a meeting of students from schools from the whole country.

In addition, the SIC organises a yearly (since 2016) Digital Youth Forum (DYF) event, the first such event in Poland. It is an event designed for youth, by youth and about youth on online safety and creative and innovative usage of new technologies as an alternative to risky online behaviours. Each year, there are over 400 participants (380 of which are teenagers aged 14–17). More information about the event (in Polish) is available www.digitalyouth.pl.

As a complement to the event there is a "Digital Youth" magazine for youth which also includes articles prepared by young people themselves. Magazine enquiries can be addressed to digitalyouth@fdds.pl.

Email address: contact@saferinternet.pl
Website: http://www.digitalyouth.pl

Key successes

The main successes of the Polish Safer Internet Centre (SIC) are the international conference "Keeping children and young people safe online" and the decentralised model of Safer Internet Day (SID) organisation in Poland.

The international conference "Keeping children and young people safe online" has been organised since 2007. Each year, the event gathers approximately 600 professionals: pedagogues, teachers, psychologists, law enforcement, industry representatives and policy makers. The two-day conference consists of plenary sessions as well as workshops and is enriched by expert debate. The conference is also accessible via the provided streaming. After the event, the recorded speeches are available on the conference website at saferinternet.pl/conference.

The decentralised model of SID organisation includes encouraging schools and other institutions all over Poland to organise educational events. Promotional packages containing educational materials, SID posters and so on are sent to local organisers. The decentralised SID model, promoted since 2006, turned out to be a huge success - each year the number of reported initiatives in the whole country increases (4,600 in 2020, from 39,77 in 2019). The full list of actions can be found on the event website at www.dbi.pl.

Digital Youth Forum, an event organised for youth and by youth is becoming more and more popular each year. In 2019, we had over 400 youth participating on the spot and over 11,000 watching the live transmission within the "Organise Digital Youth Forum in your school" action.

Key partners/supporters

The main key supporter of the Polish Safer Internet Centre (SIC) is the Orange Foundation. Other supporting organisations are also members of the Polish SIC's Advisory Board:

  • Ministry of Digital Affairs
  • Ministry of National Education
  • Ministry of the Interior and Administration
  • National Police Headquarters
  • Ombudsman for Children
  • Orange Foundation
  • Centre for Education Development
  • Centre for Citizenship Education
  • Computer Assisted Education and Information Technology Centre
  • Office of Electronic Communications
  • National Broadcasting Council
  • Polish Committee for UNESCO
  • UNICEF
  • Google Poland
  • Facebook Poland
  • Education Office in Warsaw
  • European Consumer Centre
  • Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications
  • Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry
  • Polish Information Processing Society
  • National Chamber of Electronics and Telecommunications
  • Foundation of Coalition for Polish Innovations
  • Warsaw Centre for Education and Social Innovations and Trainings
  • Association of Entertainment Software Producers and Distributors