The internet offers significant opportunity for children and youth to access information, deepen and widen their social networks and even express themselves to the world. But it is also challenging to filter and curate.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many children to the internet earlier than they might have been under normal conditions, due to their having to take online lessons. Once online, children often have access to the whole internet—the good and the bad. With no handbook for how to use the cyber space safely, young people are exposed to a risky environment with potentially difficult and dangerous situations to navigate.
PVI, together with its partner Akili Network, designed and produced a TV series called Flash Squad, which prepares kids to be safe, confident and productive as they start using the internet.
Structured as a sitcom and set in a school in Nairobi, the show follows adventures of three teens from different walks of life who create a school club with the goal to protect and defend each other, their friends, school and community from all manner of internet threats. The squad teach their peers how to identify and respond to risks such as online abuse, bullying and scams, and how to have a happy, safe and fulfilling online experience instead.
The TV program will run on Kenya’s children’s channel Akili Kids! TV which reaches over 10 million children and their families every week.