Hi, my name is Ruqayyah, and in this blog I will be writing a summary describing my wonderful experiences working with Childnet from 2019 onwards. This blog will be from the viewpoint of myself as a young person to my current adult self.
I first joined Childnet in November 2019 as a YAB (Youth Advisory Board) member, which consisted of 13–17-year-old young people. During my time at Childnet I attended a residential with my fellow YAB members where we worked on Project Deshame.
I joined Childnet because I wanted to help other young people become aware of the potential dangers surrounding them online. In addition, I wanted to come out of my comfort zone and socialize with different types of people my age.
I am incredibly grateful to Childnet because thanks to them I was able to not only expand my knowledge on youth internet safety but also, I was able to meet great people and friends during my time as a YAB member.
Project Deshame was a revolutionary project that focused on sexual harassment online within young people. During this residential Childnet successfully exceeded my expectations of comfortability by creating a safe place for us. Throughout my time at the residential I was constantly reassured and validated about my feelings towards online sexual harassment.
Particularly, because we took part in mature conversations regarding our own experiences with online sexual harassment as well as our peers’.
We talked about various topics. We discussed the dangers of sending or receiving unsolicited images, cyber exploitation, sexual innuendos, suggestive comments, and sexual threats.
Moreover, towards the end of the residential we discussed a variety of ways to effectively present our newly acquired knowledge about online sexual harassment to young people.
This is where we came up with the idea of a film, where we’d have a parent and child roleplaying the positive reactions of telling someone you trust about being sexually harassed online in contrast to a negative reaction.
Additionally, after Project Deshame came to an end Childnet provided me with another incredible opportunity. It was a chance to judge the RSE Awards. The RSE Awards allowed me to take part in the Sex Education Forum and I was able to help decide on the type of sex education content that was being presented to young people at schools.
This was an amazing opportunity because I was able to be part of the decision-making process of how to best educate young people about sex within a safe environment.
Furthermore, I delivered a presentation about my time on the Youth Advisory Board to the new YAB board which consisted of a group of 13-15 year old young people at a similar residential to the one I attended. In my presentation I talked about what Project Deshame was, why I joined, and what my time at Childnet was like.
Moreover, I began my work experience with Childnet in summer 2022. During my time at Childnet’s office I aspire to develop my understanding of young people’s issues regarding their online presence.
I chose to come to Childnet for my work experience because I wanted to expand my knowledge of the issues facing young people today so I may be better equipped to help young people navigate the areas they feel vulnerable towards in the future.
