Deputy Minister Maryprisca Mahundi reported a school-and-community campaign across all 26 mainland regions, plus a national advisory committee to guide policy and coordination on online child protection.
1,811,212 children reached with online safety education across all 26 regions of mainland Tanzania.
A National Advisory Committee on Online Child Protection and Safety has been established to coordinate government and technology-sector responses.
Government messaging emphasizes parental monitoring of apps and content and continued dialogue on managing emerging technologies.
# What happened Tanzania's Deputy Minister for Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups, Engineer Maryprisca Mahundi, told Parliament that a nationwide online safety campaign has reached 1,811,212 children. The campaign ran across all 26 regions of mainland Tanzania and targeted children, parents, guardians and broader community members with education on safe and child-friendly use of digital platforms.
# Why the campaign was launched The campaign aims to reduce children's exposure to online violence, abuse, exploitation and other digital harms as social media and other digital platforms become more widely used by young people. The effort is presented as both educational and preventive: giving children practical information while strengthening coordination among institutions responsible for child protection and information and communication technology.
# How the government is organizing its response
The committee's remit includes developing strategies to prevent and address online risks children face, and to guide how new technologies should be managed so they do not become sources of online violence.
# Questions raised in Parliament Special Seats MP Lucy Kombani asked how the ministry will ensure emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, do not lead to online violence against children. She also asked what measures ensure devices such as phones and tablets used by children cannot access or download harmful content.
# Practical guidance given to parents and guardians The Deputy Minister called on parents and guardians to take a closer role in monitoring children's device use. Specific actions she recommended include:
Mahundi warned that harmful exposure or inappropriate sharing can have long-term consequences for children.
The announcement provides aggregate reach figures and describes governance structures but does not specify the curriculum content, duration of the campaign, methods used to verify that children received and understood the lessons, or follow-up plans to measure behavior change or reduction in incidents. It also does not list partner organizations or funding sources.
# Bottom line
About 20 million internet-using children across 21 countries were subjected to sexual exploitation or abuse on digital platforms in a single year, a new report by the UN children's charity has said.
More than half of cases occurred on mainstream social media platforms
The Online Safety and Children’s Digital Lives report examines two national surveys – one taking into account the experiences and views of children, the other exploring the sentiment held by parents and caregivers. Read more: Online education preferable for children to social media ban – report
[Unicef] New York -- More than half of abuse occurred on mainstream social media platforms; less than 1 per cent of all experiences were reported to authorities, new report finds
[Capital FM] Nairobi -- Nearly one in five internet-using children aged 12 to 17 across 21 countries were subjected to at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse in a single year, a new UNICEF report says.
[Capital FM] Nairobi -- More than one in four internet-using children aged 12 to 17 in Kenya were subjected to at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse, a UNICEF report says.
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.