Child Online Protection Training excites Ulalo

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), in partnership with International Telecommunications Union (ITU), this month of November took the Child Online Protection (COP) training of trainers to all regions of country.

This comes at a time when Malawi has seen a surge in cyber bullying, harassment, misinformation and spread of fake news.

The goal of the training was to equip stakeholders with the necessary knowledge and skills to train others on how to protect children from online risks and harm which Ulalo team has described as very important in the digital era we are living in now.

For the northern region, the training took place at Sunbird Mzuzu Hotel.

In her opening remarks, MACRA's Broadcasting Manager Matilda Kanjeri emphasized the need for every individual to protect children and young adults from any form of online exploitation.

*“we should all take part in Protecting a child online”-Matilda Kanjeri*

According to Ulalo’s Communications Officer, Chifundo Zingunde it was important for Ulalo to participate since it has a network of schools that will benefit from the knowledge.

“We focus much on a child and we have a network of schools that we believe will benefit from the training. It was an eye opener in dealing with Cybercrimes that affects children rights,” said Zingunde.

On how the knowledge will be used, Ulalo’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer Future Chigulu said Ulalo will plan to train schools that are working closely with the organization on how best they can curb the vice.

“We will not just sit back with the knowledge gained, we will plan to feature in the training in all our engagements with schools that we work with,” said Chigulu.