Child Safety Campaign seeks collaboration with organisations in Finland

The Child Safety Campaign (CSC), an initiative of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA) in Sharjah, joined an official delegation from the emirate to Finland, with the aim of developing bilateral relations in healthcare, education, child safety, clean technology and digital solutions.

The CSC participated in the Sharjah Government delegation to develop and showcase the campaign's efforts on the international stage, where it held a series of meetings with a number of renowned child welfare organisations, including Save the Children in Finland and the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare.

Through the visit, representatives from the CSC sought to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with international organisations dedicated to child care and protection. It also aimed to share the best practices for community awareness and children’s safety, as well as explore ways to co-operate in the field of cyber safety for children, besides the safe use of social media sites in the future programmes of the campaign.

CSC’s discussions with Save the Children Finland were conducted in the presence of Antti Jarventaus, Manager of Children and Digital Media at the organisation. They touched on the best practices for child safety and protection, and learned about how to best benefit from the practical experiences and expertise of Save the Children to apply them during the campaign’s upcoming programmes. The Sharjah delegation then presented a certificate and a token of appreciation to the organisation’s members, inviting them to visit the CSC’s headquarters in Sharjah to learn about and participate in the campaign’s programmes.

The delegation sat down for talks with the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, one of Finland’s oldest child care organisations, during the second meeting. Founded in 1920 to find ways to improve the children’s living conditions, the league has grown over the years to include hundreds of associations concerned with child care and safety from across Finland.

During the meeting, Hanadi Saleh Al Yafei made a presentation on the CSC’s efforts in the emirate to Juuso Repo, Evaluation and Development Specialist at the league, and several of the association’s representatives. They then discussed the possible means of future collaboration to facilitate the exchange of expertise.

The CSC currently in its third edition was launched in March 2017 under the slogan ‘Child Safety in Cyberspace’. The campaign is aimed at children, parents, teachers and internet experts, and seeks to highlight the vital role played by the community organisations to protect children from social media hazards and ensure they maintain a safe presence online.