Expansion of ‘I Am Digital’ project offers new tools to promote digital and media literacy across the Pacific

Wednesday, 30 November 2022 – Save the Children, in partnership with Meta, is proud to launch the third phase of the ‘I Am Digital’, an online safety education program delivering digital literacy and safety resources in seven Pacific nations, including Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and Kiribati.

This third edition of the program builds on previous work to promote internet safety in the Pacific with tools and resources for parents, educators and youth directly. Launching into schools in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tonga today, the program will support young people who don’t yet have access to the internet, before they get online.

For the first time, the programs resources will now include information and advice on avoiding scams and identifying and combating misinformation.

These new topics provide additional safety measure to the current learning materials – factsheets, practical tips and videos – which empower young people to have safer, more positive experiences online and safeguard against abuse, bullying and exploitation.

In Fiji, the offline mode of the I Am Digital program will comprise printed copies of the educational materials disseminated into local schools, in collaboration and consultation with the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts.

Save the Children Fiji welcomes the idea proposed by the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts (MEHA) to use various avenues available to promote the I Am Digital educational materials on their Educational Channel, the teachers’ talanoa platform, the learning hub, and MEHA’s various social media platforms, as well as to pre-load the educational materials through their device initiative.

This third edition of the ‘I Am Digital’ social media campaign will be rolled out over the next five weeks and will be delivered in nine locally spoken languages and English.

Save the Children Fiji Chief Executive Officer Shairana Ali said:

“The ‘I Am Digital’ online safety campaign is more important than ever, especially as young people use a variety of social media platforms these days at an increasing rate. We are pleased with how the campaign has evolved and how the campaign content responds to the emerging issues about online safety voiced by young people in the Pacific region.

“In order to empower young people about digital safety and to collaborate with teachers to spread the campaign’s messages to a large number of young people, Save the Children Fiji has partnered with the Ministry of Education, Heritage, and Arts (MEHA) in Fiji to implement the third phase of the campaign in selected schools.

“We anticipate that this new effort will assist in enlightening and empowering more members of the community about online safety.”

Meta Head of Public Policy for New Zealand and Pacific Islands Nick McDonnell said:

“Meta is proud to continue our impactful partnership with Save the Children in the Pacific to launch this next edition of our leading education program ‘I Am Digital’. I’m especially proud the program is being delivered across seven Pacific countries in nine locally spoken languages, and English.

“The I Am Digital program is so important in the Pacific to empower young people, parents and educators to connect safely and responsibly when they go online.

“We’re excited to see the expansion of the ‘I Am Digital’ program to include combatting scams, misinformation and that the program will be rolled out in certain schools. We hope this will broaden the reach of the program to even more parents, young people and teachers, but also provide important education messaging to young people yet to come online.”

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Save the Children Fiji: Vika.Ramara@savethechildren.org  

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