Advancing the Rights of Children in a Digital World
Telenor and UNICEF Norway have agreed to extend their global partnership by three years. The partnership aims to help children and young people develop their skills for an accelerated digital future. The two organizations will continue their joint efforts to promote digital inclusion, online safety, and new skillsets to help young people thrive in a connected world.
Since 2014, Telenor and UNICEF have worked together through a global partnership, which was extended by three years in 2018. This second extension agreement means the partnership will continue until 2025.
Telenor and UNICEF have collaborated on a range of issues, including youth economic empowerment and skills-building, online safety and digital resilience, digital inclusion of vulnerable/outlier groups, as well as climate and environment.
“We are very pleased that our global partnership with UNICEF has been extended by another three years. During the years that we have worked together we have seen a tremendous development in the ways children and young people are embracing digital technology. At the same time, we know that there are many who miss out on the opportunities that connectivity offers. Others are victimized online. In UNICEF we have a partner with global presence and key insights into what it takes to help children survive, thrive, and fulfil their potential in life. We are looking forward to the next chapter in our joint efforts,” says Zainab Hussain Siddiqui, Vice President Sustainability at Telenor.
“Global partnerships such as the one we have with Telenor are of significant value for UNICEF. In addition to their generous financial contributions, their strong expertise enables us to engage in areas where it would otherwise be difficult to succeed on our own. Through the collaboration, we have already been able to improve the lives of thousands of children and young people, by giving them the digital tools and skills they need in life. We are looking forward to developing the collaboration and the important work with Telenor further,” says Camilla Viken, Executive Director at UNICEF Norway.
Since 2014:
In Pakistan Telenor and UNICEF have promoted a highly impactful Digital Birth Registration project, aimed at improving birth registration rates using mobile technology. The births of 2.5 million children were registered throughout the duration of the project between 2014 and 2021.
In Bangladesh, Telenor, Grameenphone and UNICEF have worked together on the Child Online Safety programme, which has educated and trained over one million schoolchildren, sensitized over 270,000 parents and teachers, and created policy level dialogue with government stakeholders.
In Malaysia, digi, Telenor and UNICEF have worked together to deliver “Future Skills for All” - an initiative in partnership with the Ministry of Education Malaysia, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation and Arus academy, to provide hands-on digital literacy training in schools, particularly in underserved areas.
In Norway, Telenor and UNICEF, together with the Red Cross, have been collaborating on the school outreach programme “Bruk Hue” to protect children from online bullying.
