Recognizing digital risks
The first step was to understand the reality children and young people experience online. Safeguarding teams at different SOS Children’s Villages locations in Costa Rica all identified unsafe social media use, cyberbullying and grooming as the main risks they face. “We needed a national approach with shared strategies,” says Laura Chaves Zamora, National Coordinator for Child and Youth Safeguarding. Online safety quickly became the topic of everyday conversations, and digital protection was integrated into daily care and risk planning,
“Technology is central to development — and a source of risk we are already seeing,” explains Aida Paredes, Incident Manager at SOS Children’s Villages in Ecuador, where reports from programs also revealed problems with peer harassment online. This led to the creation of Safe Digital Parenting, a national prevention model that prepares parents to accompany their children online, strengthens educators, and connects generations in digital spaces.
Already in 2022, SOS Children’s Villages in Peru launched an annual survey to better understand post-pandemic digital risks and children’s behaviors online. The results of the survey inform the ongoing development of Conectadasos, a nationwide awareness campaign. For example, discovering that grandparents are primary caregivers in many households led to the creation of a grandfather character in campaign materials.
Learning together
A common principle across all programs is that learning must happen across generations.
In Costa Rica, children and adolescents strengthen online awareness and self-protection skills, while Child and Youth Care (CYC) practitioners build digital literacy to guide and accompany them. This approach reduces gaps between children who are digitally active and adults who often feel less confident using technology — enabling learning in both directions.
Ecuador uses a step-by-step capacity development model in which technical teams train educators, who then work with families to prepare them to support children. This structure ensures sustainable scaling and consistency across all programmes. “The goal is that everyone knows what to do - and ideally acts before incidents happen,” says Aida Paredes.
“Technology should bring families together,” says Katia Ortiz, Communications and Digital Strategy Specialist at SOS Children’s Villages in Peru, where the Conectadasos campaign reaches across generations and functions with social media filters and comics for children, safety tips for caregivers, and teacher guides.
The digital protection initiatives go beyond SOS Children’s Villages for even greater impact — raising awareness in schools, universities, and entire communities.
Partnerships and co-creation
Listening to children was the starting point across all three initiatives. Through surveys and in-person assemblies, children shared their digital experiences and insights on online risks, helping shape messages and learning materials. This participatory approach ensured content reflected their real lives and remained relevant across different contexts, also for children with limited internet access.
Collaboration and co-creation were key to making digital safety programmes effective. In Costa Rica, SOS Children’s Villages worked with the Paniamor Foundation, a national expert on digital rights, to develop engaging resources, including games, educational cards, workshops, and a webinar promoting adult accompaniment rather than control in digital environments.
Experts in digital parenting and ambassadors of SOS Children’s Villages in Ecuador Jorge Avilés and Mayra Pazmiño translated complex safety concepts into simple, everyday language for caregivers.
SOS Children’s Villages in Peru partnered with cybersecurity experts ESET and Muñiz Law Firm to bring together technical, legal, and creative expertise for child-friendly digital safety content.
Lasting impact
The digital safety initiatives produce measurable results and long-term cultural shifts.
Costa Rica saw digital vulnerability cases drop from several in 2023 to zero in 2024. “Technology is now seen as a tool for protection and empowerment,” says Laura Chaves Zamora. Staff and children openly discuss safety, understand their responsibilities, and act early when concerns arise. Tools like mobile apps and QR-code reporting strengthen daily practice.
In Ecuador, educators and families moved from uncertainty to confidence, turning digital safety conversations into trust-building moments.
In Peru, the Conectadasos campaign reached more than 28,000 people in person and generated over 4 million online views. SOS Children’s Villages has shared findings from its annual survey to inform policy discussions. Awareness of reporting channels has increased from 5% to more than 20% among respondents, and legal reforms now recognize online grooming as a punishable offence, even without physical contact.
Looking ahead
Digital safeguarding is ongoing. Conectadasos is set to become a long-term educational resource, offering open data and training tools on emerging challenges like misinformation.
The Safe Digital Parenting initiative in Ecuador continues to focus on digital well-being, helping families find emotional safety in online environments.
Educators in Costa Rica are preparing children to proactively recognize and address the effects social media have on their self-esteem and mental health, and to identify AI-manipulated content.
“We are not just preventing harm,” concludes Laura Chaves Zamora. “We are cultivating a culture of digital care that lasts.”