Youth-Informed Strategies for Maintaining Young People’s Digital Safety Across Sectors

With support from USAID through its Democratic Elections and Political Processes award, CEPPS convened seven young leaders for the second iteration of its Youth Advisory Group (YAG) from November 2022 – June 2023. During their tenure, the YAG met with YouthLead’s Digital Youth Council,* a 12-member group of young leaders focused on examining young people and children’s use of digital platforms and their online safety, to explore how young people engaging across sectors can stay safe online.

The considerations the young leaders discussed included promoting digital literacy, incorporating digital inclusion and accessibility for diverse groups of young people such as young people with disabilities, and adopting a cross-sectoral approach to partnering with young leaders in online spaces. The group also discussed strategies and recommendations for supporting young people’s safety online. These considerations and recommendations have been compiled into Youth-Informed Strategies for Maintaining Young People’s Digital Safety Across Sectors. The brief includes recommendations for young leaders and practitioners engaging on digital platforms, providing actionable strategies that can work across sectors, such as creating opportunities for young leaders to strengthen their digital skills and engaging policymakers or private sector stakeholders in creating safe online spaces for all users.

Find the full brief here. 

*In 2015, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded the YouthPower Learning project to expand the evidence base for what works in PYD and build the capacity of youth development practitioners, researchers, and other relevant stakeholders to apply PYD on the ground. Building upon that success, the USAID-funded follow-on activity, YouthPower2: Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE), deepens the integration of PYD evidence and best practices into youth programming, ensuring more sustainable change. These projects included the creation of the YouthLead.org platform and the ongoing engagement of YouthLead members.