Close search
Global Threat Assessment 2025
cpc ln
columbia logo

Community education & support

Education is an essential pillar of prevention

It is essential to equip children, caregivers and communities with the knowledge, skills and tools to keep children safe online and appropriately respond to risks and harms.

Education must drive real behaviour change and provide clear, trusted pathways for help and reporting.

When children, parents, and educators work together, they can create safer, more positive online environments.

Students and teacher in a computer classroom.

What works in education

Effective education and awareness programs are evidence-based, inclusive, and trauma-informed. They avoid fear-based messaging and instead equip children and adults with practical skills to prevent, recognise, and respond to harm.

Successful initiatives are co-developed with children and survivors, delivered in multiple languages and formats, and sustained across schools, families, communities, and industry.

What our members are doing
World Vision
Tackling Online Child Sexual Exploitation in Vietnam

Reached 18,000 children and 11,000 parents and teachers with education and skills training.
hopkins
Responsible Behavior with Youth and Children Curriculum

Increased adolescents’ confidence and knowledge about consent and healthy relationships.

We need to educate both the children as well as the parents on online safety… Parents also need to be more educated on how to handle these situations.

14-year-old female, Ethiopia

Navigating new challenges

Young people often share intimate content as part of relationships.

Fear-based approaches fail to reflect reality and can worsen stigma, discouraging help-seeking. Instead, rights-based education and judgment-free dialogue help children make safer decisions online.

In Thailand, 81% of young people identified unwanted sharing of intimate images as their top concern.

Leaked, by Evident

Following the UK NCA’s awareness raising campaign on sexual extortion, the proportion of respondents who said they would share explicit images in an extortion scenario decreased significantly.

National Crime Agency (NCA)

Kids are going to be doing this [sexting] in the context of relationships, and how do we get them to do it in a way that isn’t going to come back to haunt them?

Civil society advocate

Support when it’s most needed

Children need trusted, stigma-free reporting options and survivor-centered support services.

Peer-led models, helplines, and integrated service centers like Barnahus and One Stop Centres ensure children can seek help safely and confidently.

The governments, tech companies and educational institutions should ensure children can report anywhere and anytime.

24-year-old female, Uganda

Global Threat Assessment 2025

GTA 25 landscape

Download the Global Threat Assessment

Prevention Framework

Download the Prevention Framework

ai explainer cover

Download: AI: What you need to know to stay safe

Français | Español | Português | العربية

staying safe cover

Download: Staying safe online

Français | Español | Português | العربية

See also:

Report

Harassment or bullying behavior
Contains sexualised, explicit or sensitive content
Contains misleading or false information
Contains abusive or derogatory content
Contains spam, fake content or potential malware

Block Member?

Please confirm you want to block this member.

You will no longer be able to:

  • Mention this member in posts
  • Message this member

Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.

Report

You have already reported this .
Secret Link