Cyber safety programme

IT’S as clear as daylight that the internet has become part of all our lives. This has led to children of this era, often referred as “digital natives”, as they grow up in this digitally-driven world of hyper-connectivity, powered by the internet.
CULTIVATING A CYBER SAFE CULTURE
No doubt that technology and the internet can and has already made the world a better place. Then again, it also can and has had adverse effects as well. With children, some as young as “babies” already internet users, some slick and savvy, how does one ensure cyberspace on the internet is a safe place for these young ‘uns?
Children, young, gullible and innocent as they are, need to be protected from harm. Hence, we, the more matured, the adults, mentors and “trusted” members of society should take it upon ourselves to ensure the safety of these young ones online.
On that note, Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia, being a digitally driven firm with more than 50%of its revenue digitally derived, decided to embark on an outreach programme to help children stay safe online.
The programme involved over 300 employees. It stood as a “One Day for Change” initiative, powered by a unifying theme named “Champions for Children”.
CONSPIRE TO INSPIRE
In a nutshell, the project saw a band of 300 Dentsu employees deployed to 13 national primary schools throughout the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor districts. They set out to engage with these children on cyber safety. Information was disseminated via an interactive talk which covered tips on how to conduct a safe web experience. The initiative reached out to more than 1,600 school going children aged between 10 and 12.
Happy on seeing the smiles on the faces of the children, and the coming together of the employee volunteers of the various “brands” under the firm in this undertaking, Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia CEO Nicky Lim said: “As a corporation, we aspire to be a 100% digital economy business by 2020. At the same time, ‘society’ has been formally instated as our fourth stakeholder in our business recently, alongside clients, staff and shareholders. So aligning both agendas with the theme of being champions for children, educating children on staying safe digitally and online really hit home with us, making our CSR outreach not only timely and significant, but powerful as well.”
NURTURE, EDUCATE AND DEVELOP
The volunteer employees shared how encouraged they were on being able to capture the attention of the children. Seeing some of the children take out their notebooks to jot down important notes inspired the team further. “The engagement rate was beyond expectation,” said the enthusiastic and eager “game changers” under the Dentsu umbrella.
While the project was indeed fun-filled and engaging, it also served its purpose in bringing a very important subject to life and sharing it with children – our future leaders. “The feedback from the school teachers have been allround positive and very encouraging. We’ve been asked to conduct more programmes surrounding digital,” shared Lim.
The “Champions for Children” programme was facilitated through a partnership with the Pintar Foundation, a non-profit organisation which has its own programme that assists under performing and under-served schools. The schools enrolled for this cyber safety programme comprised “Pintar schools”. For more information, visit the Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia website.