SAFEGUARD – Empowering Future Educators: Building a Safer Digital Space for Children

SAFEGUARD addresses the urgent need to create safer, more inclusive digital environments by embedding a gender-sensitive, rightsbased approach into education and digital design. Through participatory workshops, the project empowers children to critically engage with digital spaces, build emotional resilience, and challenge gender-based online harm, supporting them not only as learners but as active contributors to reshaping digital culture. SAFEGUARD therefore fosters children’s agency by strengthening their skills to navigate, question, and influence the online environments they inhabit, recognising them as essential actors in promoting inclusion and safety. To sustain this impact, the project strengthens the capacities of teaching professionals by providing practical training and pedagogical tools that address the social, emotional, and ethical complexities of children’s digital lives, enabling educators to foster school environments where digital resilience, empathy, and critical thinking are systematically promoted. By building the confidence and competencies of teachers, SAFEGUARD ensures that efforts to protect and empower children are not isolated interventions but embedded in the everyday fabric of school life. At the same time, the project recognises that the design of digital platforms themselves must reflect children’s rights and gender equality, which is why a pioneering 30-hour curriculum on inclusive digital design will be developed and integrated into university programmes for future ICT professionals. By aligning education and technology through an interdisciplinary, participatory approach, SAFEGUARD establishes an interconnected ecosystem where children’s safety, dignity, and equal participation are protected both in schools and online spaces, contributing to a systemic change that strengthens children’s rights, combats digital exclusion, and fosters a safer digital future across Slovenia, Croatia, and the wider European community.

Project SAFEGUARD is Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.