Launched in March 2025, our partnership with Vodafone Foundation focuses on Children’s Digital Wellbeing—ensuring every child feels safe, confident, and empowered online. Digital wellbeing goes beyond screen time; it’s about equipping children with education, tools, and confidence to make informed choices, regulate emotions, and build healthy relationships with technology.
We work with our partner Vodafone Foundation’s through their Skills Upload Junior (SUJ) programme where we combine the Foundation’s technological expertise with Save the Children’s deep experience in child protection and rights.
At the heart of this work is Save the Children’s SMILE framework:
• Security: Protection against cyberthreats like scams and malware.
• Management: Making safe decisions and safeguarding personal data.
• Identity: Build a healthy, authentic digital identity.
• Literacy: Critical thinking, emotional regulation, and evaluation of online content.
• Empathy: Communicate respectfully and support peers online.
Our joint report, Click, Scroll, Connect and Balance, published in 2025 highlights urgent challenges. The report was informed by children’s voices, grounding recommendations in their lived experiences. The message is clear: digital life is real life, and wellbeing must be embedded in homes, schools, communities, and policy. Together we are focusing on five key areas in our advocacy:
• Digital stress and mental health impacts 50% of Romanian children report online bullying; 17% of OECD teens feel anxious without devices.
• Education gaps only half of 15-year-olds can change privacy settings; teachers lack training.
• Marginalised groups at risk LGBTQIA+ youth, children with disabilities, and those from low-income backgrounds face compounded harms.
• Emerging threats AI-generated abuse material and deepfakes are rising sharply.
• Fragmented regulation Enforcement varies widely across Europe.
Through our partnership we aim to:
• Promote digital wellbeing through SMILE.
• Localise content for cultural relevance and inclusion.
• Create safe learning environments with trained facilitators.
• Empower educators and communities with practical tools.
Every child deserves the access, skills and confidence to thrive online. That means moving beyond one-off fixes to a joined-up, rights-respecting system.
Digital wellbeing is a shared responsibility. By working together, we can ensure every child has the opportunity to learn, connect, and flourish—safely and confidently.
Jeffrey Demarco, Senior Adviser - Protecting Children from Digital Harm, Save the Children
