EP.01 | S1 | Safe by Design: A Conversation with Doreen Bogdan-Martin on Child Online Protection

What does it really take to keep children safe in an increasingly connected Africa?

In this episode of SheShapes Africa, host Caroline Mbugua HSC sits down with Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of the  International Telecommunication Union (ITU), for a candid conversation on child online protection and why it must sit at the heart of Africa's digital agenda. As connectivity accelerates across a continent where 60% of the population is under 25, the stakes have never been higher.

"We need to make sure that the internet can be the land of opportunity for young people, but in a responsible, safe, and trusted way." - Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

Why it matters now - The numbers are stark. Up to one in three young people has experienced online bullying or harassment at least once. Connectivity without safety is not progress.

Partnership at the core - ITU, GSMA, and UNICEF have joined forces through the newly launched Child Online Protection Africa Task Force. Doreen unpacks what this coalition is designed to do and why no single organization can move the needle alone.

Building skills alongside access - 

It is not enough to get children connected. Digital literacy must come with the connection, and young people themselves must have a seat at the policy table.

A message to the next generation - Doreen speaks directly to young leaders: bring your voice, share your ideas, and help shape the solutions that will define your digital world.

The vision - Drawing on her own experience as a mother of four, Doreen describes what a truly safe internet looks like: one where opportunity and protection are not trade-offs, but by design.

The message is clear: more awareness, better tools, and faster implementation. The task force has launched. Now it is time to move.

Hosted by Caroline Mbugua HSC.

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An initiative by Caroline Mbugua HSC
In partnership with THOP Institute
Produced by ASER45 Agency

Transcript

Introduction: Africa's digital moment and the scale of the child safety challenge

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Digital access is accelerated across Africa. There is deliberate efforts from policymakers, governments, regulators, industry players, and other ecosystem players to drive the adoption of mobile global services and make sure that Africa is not left behind. Today we are touching on a very important subject child online protection. Because as we are accelerating connectivity, we must remember the vulnerable in the community and children falling this process. Is enough being done to ensure that to ensure the safety of children online? And what more needs to be done. Different organizations have been able to come up with priorities, strategies, frameworks to guidelines and give us a snippet in what we need to focus on. Harmonization is critical of this policy and intervention. Today, on this very special episode of She Shapes Africa, I'm joined by one of our leaders in the ICT space, Doreen Bogdan, the Secretary General of ITU, to help us unpack this subject of child online protection as an area of priority in the digital space. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Thank you. Thank you. It's great to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Thank you very much. I think for me, uh I just wanted to start off to understand why child online protection, why is it important? Why is it something that everybody needs to have it as a key consideration?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Well, I think as you refer to every day, more and more young people get online, especially in Africa, which has the largest percentage of young people, 60% under the age of 25. And when they get online, we want to make sure that that experience is safe. I would say unfortunately, statistics show that probably one out of three, maybe even more, young people have been subject at least once to online bullying, harassment, and even worse. And so we need to make sure that, like our physical spaces that we try to protect, that when young people, and I would also say all people, go online, we want to make sure that that experience is safe.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Fantastic, and I do agree with that in terms of ensuring that all people go online safely. I think one of the things that struck that striked me in the conversations that we just had on the round table is the power of partnerships. The ITU and the GSMA have come together on different occasions to drive partnership on child online protection. Could you just take us through some of the priorities that you think that we need to be focusing on?

GSMA and UNICEF Child Online Safety Africa Taskforce

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Well, I agree with you. Partnership is actually absolutely key. It's fundamental, and ITU really appreciates our long-standing partnership with GSMA, not only to connect the unconnected, but to make sure it's done safely. We're pleased to be part of this new task force together with UNICEF and GSMA. We think it's critical as objectives of that task force to try to advance harmonization of different policies and approaches, trying to make sure that young people are part of the conversation. We can't just, as ourselves, as older people, try to dictate the policies that will help to support younger people. We need to make sure that those voices are actually at the table. And the other fundamental piece is to make sure that we help build capacity. We need to help ensure that we're we're putting the digital skilling together with that access to connectivity or even before access to connectivity happens, that that skilling is in place.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

I think I couldn't say it better, you know. Skilling is very, very critical to what we are doing. One of the things that struck me, as you said, harmonization, and of course, also looking at the policy landscape. The awareness that we are driving in this harmonization, I mean, is it something that you think there's more that can be done in this space? And what do you think can be done?

Going bigger on awareness and policy harmonization

SPEAKER_00 4:38

I think we need to do more. We have different awareness programs, we have events for young people, we have events for parents, we have events for educators, policymakers, but I think we have to be much louder. I think we have to go bigger, we have to be together, and we have to advocate more, uh, demonstrating both the importance of the issue, uh, I would say the risks, but at the same time, if we build safety in by design and build that protection in by design, the huge opportunities for young people and for our people.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

I like that. And um because at the end of the day, the key message that we want to drive is one that encourages, uh not discourages the use of the internet because of the value. So, in a few words, what are some of those uh messages that you'd send to young leaders? I'll call them young leaders because the children are leaders of tomorrow. So, young leaders, regulators, and different other stakeholders as we work together to drive online safety. Is there a message that you believe can push to them?

A message to young leaders and the vision for a safer internet

SPEAKER_00 5:46

I I think the the key message is come to the table. Uh bring your ideas, bring your voice, help us, help us to shape the best policies. And I think also when we look at different situations, different communities, different countries, let's remember that that culture, that language, that there's many different factors that need to be taken into account if we're going to be effective. And I think we can't stop it just making policies and best practices. We have to actually have concrete solutions, uh, even technical solutions, so that we can make the internet safer for all.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Fantastic. Just one more thing. In your own words, what is that vision that you have envisioned in an ideal, safe environment for children online?

SPEAKER_00 6:36

I think my vision uh is in part inspired by the fact that I'm not just the IT Secretary General, but uh I'm a mom, uh, a mother of four, uh, and watching my children grow up in a world that became much more digital throughout their youth. And having understood some of the experiences, both positive and negative, uh that they have gone through and their friends have gone through, I want to make sure that the inter that the internet can be the land of opportunity for young people. But I say that uh not saying that that should be the exclusive land of opportunity. I think we also have to remember the importance of physical connections and our physical beings. So having uh kind of the best of both worlds uh in a in a responsible, safe, and trusted way uh would be something that I would look forward to.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Fantastic. Hope to be able to shape. Yes, fantastic. Uh so we just came off the launch of the Child Online Protection Africa Task Force. Really fantastic progress for us in the region. Any advice you would give to the members, ITU being one of them, to the members of the task force, uh, a lot has been discussed in the roundtable. There are areas that have come up that are critical. Um, any guidance you can give the task force as we now start to get into the details of driving the implementation of the objectives of the task force.

Advice to the task force and closing reflections

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Yeah. Um, I think I would I would advise to be focused on solutions, solutions at work, and in the hope that we can actually scale those solutions. We need to move fast and we need to move together.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Thank you very much. And um I think it's very clear awareness is our first line of defense. Uh literacy is very critical. Having practical tools that support uh child online protection is an area that was identified as a key area. Harmonization of policy, standards, regulations is very key. I like what Honorable Minister Paula said. We don't need more policy, we just need to start implementing them. And we are very excited to be launching this task force. Very excited to have ITU on the task force, and we look forward to working with ITU to be able to bring this initiative to an impact that we can see and drive child online safety enhancement. Thank you very much, Doreen, for those inspiring words, and thank you for uh agreeing and I mean supporting ITU to join the task force. We do appreciate. Um, that has been a conversation with Doreen Bogda Martin, the Secretary General of ITU. And on the side, and the and the key message that we are sending is that the use of the internet should be encouraged for children and young adults because of the value that it brings, but we should not remove our eyes from the need to have uh to have solutions that can provide the safety that we need for children to use online. This has been another episode of She Shapes Africa. I'm your host, Caroline Bogua. Till next time, thank you very much.