The pilot project “WEB Detectives – Creating a Digital Society for All” has successfully achieved its primary goal of increasing the knowledge and awareness of children about safety risks and providing guidance for the safe use of modern technology.
The key results of the project include:
- Over 600 elementary school students across Serbia were successfully informed and educated about the safe and responsible use of modern technologies and the Internet through interactive workshops.
- 50 elementary school students were selected and trained to become Web Detectives. These students acquired essential knowledge and skills to recognize harmful online content and learned effective ways to report it, empowering them as advocates for online safety within their communities.
- A comprehensive insight into Internet use and parental perceptions was gained through research conducted with 1254 parents. The research highlighted parental behaviors related to their children’s Internet usage, concerns regarding harmful content, and identified key areas for future improvements in online child safety.
- An online platform https://webdetektivi.rs/ is developed and used for education and coordination of Web detectives.
- Public awareness about online child protection mechanisms was significantly raised across Serbia through media campaigns, social media outreach, and public events. These efforts ensured that the importance of online safety reached a wide audience, including parents, educators and policymakers.
The project was successfully implemented from December 2023 to December 2024 by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with the support of the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Through its pilot phase, WEB Detectives has laid a strong foundation for expanding these efforts to other regions of Serbia, ensuring a sustainable and safer online environment for all children.