Kenya hosts the first Google Web Rangers Africa Summit

Google Kenya kicked off, the first Web Rangers summit in Africa, aimed at spreading awareness on internet safety and promoting responsible digital citizenship in the continent.

The Summit set to run until on Friday, outlines the Google-led digital literacy program dubbed Web Rangers functions of promoting and educating the youth on the internet as an empowering tool.

In her message for the summit, Ms.Fatuma Hirsi, the Principal Secretary Broadcasting and Telecommunication,  congratulated Google for conceptualizing the program and  commended it for building products that enhance internet safety.

“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,” Hirsi.

The program trains on how to create campaign videos for online topics such as diversity and inclusion, trust, tolerance and responsibility.

Doron Avni, the Director, Public Policy and Government Relations, EMEA Emerging Markets and founder of Web rangers said that Google is deeply committed to protecting children on the Internet and providing all users with safe experiences.

“The Internet aids children with their school work and helps them connect with friends across the world offering a creative outlet. At the same time, it exposes children to 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 time maximising the benefits they can accrue from it,”  said Avni

The summit intended to run for three days will help equip the rangers on how to tackle real life policy issues like cyberbullying, sexting, sharing personal information online and catfishing.

The program was launched in 2015 and has since spread to 176 schools in Kenya alone having succesfully trained 30,000 students and 1,500 teachers.

Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju will close the summit on Friday and deliver a message from His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta. He will present certificates of recognition to the Web Rangers and the Web Rangers will present to him a Charter on Rights and Responsibilities Online that they have developed.