Client

ARC Fund

Budget

Below 10,000 €

Duration

19 Months

Mobile Development of an Online Safety Tool

ARC Fund Logo

The Applied Research and Communications Fund (ARC Fund) is a renowned Bulgarian NGO established in 1991. Since 2005, it has been coordinating the Safer Internet Centre (SIC) in Bulgaria operating a safer internet Hotline and a consulting Helpline for children.

It already provides digital and media literacy training and tools for children, parents, and teachers.

Challenge

The ARC Fund wanted a comprehensive mobile application tool for training 7-to-15-old children. The training is about the major online risks and their respective preventative measures in an interactive and a gamified way. It has a direct link to the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre’s helpline.

Goals

The goals of the project were to raise awareness about the major online risks among 7-15-year old children. It had to empower them to use effective preventative measures for mitigating those risks.

At the same time, they wanted to encourage children to actively seek support from the consultants of the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre and from trusted adults, such as parents and teachers in an effective and a fun way.

Results

The ARC Fund achieved its objectives in four steps:

  1. Development of the first of its kind mobile application for safe internet use in Bulgaria.
  2. Provision of a comprehansive gamified tool for recognizing the major online risks and their corresponding preventative measures.
  3. Involvement of peer-to-peer child trainers and teacher facilitators from 2 Bulgarian schools in in the dissemination of positive online content in a supportive and cooperative way.
  4. Direct connection between children and expert consultants about online safety.

Since launch the SafenetApp has become one of the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre’s major tools for training children about online safety.

It has also proven to be extremely effective peer-to-peer training tool. It has been used in 10 schools for training more than 200 children about the major online risks and the ways to combat them.

Invetix is unique in Bulgaria in that it both has competative expertise in developing mobile applications and it consists of employees that have experience and are motivated to work with children.

– Petar Kanchev, Project Officer

Read how together with National Network for Children we created an online platform that brings together students, schools, and businesses to share experiences and resources.