Identified challenge

As digital access is expanding rapidly across the globe and within Senegal, so do the risks children face online. Despite this digital development, decisions around digital safety policies and programming are being made without any national evidence base and critically, without the perspectives of the children most impacted. Prior to this project, there was no data disaggregated by region, gender, age, or educational status, and no systemic understanding of how children in Senegal were actually experiencing online harm. Consequently, digital safety policy and programming were often built on assumptions. Without this form of evidence, meaningful and inclusive policies and targeted programming to protect children in digital spaces would continue to be built on assumptions.

Our Approach

Bantare partnered with UNICEF Senegal and Senegal’s Child Protection Support Unit (CAPE)  to design and deliver Senegal’s first national baseline study on online child protection (PEL). The research consisted of a participatory methodology through a four-part mixed methodology embedded in the principles of Gender Transformative Approaches. A legal and institutional analysis examined Senegal’s legal framework through the lens of international standards, identifying strengths and gaps in existing laws on cybercrime and child protection, including the 2008 law on cybercrime, and provided targeted recommendations for reform.

Surveys were conducted with 1,149 children, 352 guardians, and 82 focus groups across six regions (Dakar, Kédougoou, Kolda, Sédhiou, Tambacounda and Ziguinchor). Twelve youth researchers were trained in data collection and analysis to ensure findings reflected the lived reality of children. 

A mixed-method assessment evaluated the skills and readiness of 521 service workers across the justice, social protection, education and health sectors operating in the six regions.

A baseline indicators framework was developed as a set of measurable benchmarks drawn from the study’s findings that would be used to track progress and evaluate the effectiveness of the 2 year UNICEF Safe Online programme that followed, ensuring the study would function as a sustained accountability mechanism.

Throughout the study, 122 adolescents participated in co-creation workshops to refine research tools and shape recommendations, ensuring that children’s perspectives guided the entire process.

Results

• Nearly 60% of the children surveyed go online daily, with 24% using the internet on a weekly basis, confirming regular and sustained exposure to digital risks.

• 45.6% of children identified cyberbullying as the most dangerous online risk; 7.8% reported being victims, with girls significantly more vulnerable (9.6% compared to 5.3% for boys).

• 40.3% of children identified online predation and sexual exploitation as a priority danger, 

• 19.5% of respondents cited the risks associated with the processing and sharing of personal information, with 19.41% mentioning cases of online scams, and 19.15% stating that they had interacted with strangers.

• A significant training deficit was identified among frontline service providers, with only a minority having received specific training on online child protection.

Outcomes

The study demonstrated that youth-led, community-led and participatory research produces insights that conventional research approaches struggle to accomplish. Children designing and leading the research process surfaced findings that would otherwise have gone undetected: that online harassment disproportionately targets girls on specific platforms, that local languages shape whether children feel safe disclosing at all, and that guardian confidence in digital safety bears little relation to their actual knowledge. 

This research has allowed for national policy conversations that would not have otherwise been possible.The findings point clearly to two systemic gaps that must be addressed: the need to concretely strengthen institutional capacities and structured support for families to build a protective, inclusive and sustainable ecosystem that guarantees each child a safe use of digital tools. Bantare, CAPE and Polaris Asso are co-organising a national advocacy event in Senegal (Q2 2026) to bring the research findings, trained practitioners and policymakers into the same room allowing the evidence to become tangible solutions. Findings are informing active national policy dialogue, including at the presidential level on the legal age for digital access.