Kenya Set to Host First Google Web Rangers Africa Summit

Google Kenya is set to host the first Web Rangers summit, a Google-led digital literacy programme, in Africa targeting to spread awareness on internet safety and promoting responsible digital citizenship on the continent.

26 Web Rangers from Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa will be attending the summit to discuss how they can make the Internet a safer place for young Internet users in their respective countries.

”Programmes such as Web Rangers are a very welcome complement to the work that parents, teachers, guardians, and governments do in building a better world for our children,” said Ms. Fatuma Hirsi, the Principal Secretary Broadcasting and Telecommunication. 

“I congratulate Google in conceptualizing the programme and scaling it to many countries in such a short time, and also for your work in building into your products and services tools and resources that help families to use the Internet safely and responsibly. I thank you too for your choice of our beautiful country Kenya as the host of your Summit,” she added in a speech read on her behalf by Mr. Timothy Were, Deputy Director in the Ministry of ICT Kenya.

“At Google, we are deeply committed to protecting children on the Internet and providing all of our users with a safe experience because protecting kids is a responsibility we all share, and our business depends on people being online — and we need it to be a safe space,” said Doron Avni, Director, Public Policy and Government Relations, EMEA Emerging Markets and founder of Webrangersa.

“The Internet can aid children with their school work, help them connect with friends, and offer a creative outlet. At the same time, children have been exposed to some of the worst forms of exploitation, violence, and abuse online. It is therefore important that we all work closely together in order to mitigate the unintended negative aspects of this medium on children, while at the same time maximizing the benefits they can accrue from it,” added Mr.Doron.

Main highlights of the Summit programme include a boot camp on how to make campaign videos for online audiences’ topics such as diversity and inclusion, trust, tolerance, and responsibility.

Participants will also learn how to tackle real-life policy issues with a focus on cyberbullying, sexting, sharing personal information online and catfishing.