"La Strada" volunteers will visit dozens of schools, to talk to their peers about online safety

A group of teenagers and youth will visit dozens of education institutions in the country during the following months, in order to talk to students about how they can stay safe in the online space. The volunteers were trained by the experts from the International Center “La Strada”.

During the seminar, teenagers learned how they can secure their accounts on social networks, why it is important to protect one’s reputation on the Internet, but also what are the cybernetic viruses and copyright. At the same time, the second part of the training focused on techniques for teaching the topic “Promotion of a safer Internet for children”.

Maria, one of the participants in the course mentions that, the most productive part of the training was the simulation of seminars. “When you are in front of an audience, and must compress the information to fit within 45 minutes, sometimes you lose control of your ideas. Your thoughts mingle and you are intimidated by the staring eyes of the public. Nevertheless, I can proudly state that with the help of our instructors I faced this challenge. Really strong emotions are waiting for us in the very near future, when we start informative activities in the education institutions throughout Moldova. The most important thing is that we all want to feel this excitement when you know that people understand you, that your message gave roots and you made a step, even a small one, to a safer and better world”, said Maria.

Cristina is also looking forward to starting her visits in schools and lyceums. “Volunteering is a part of my life. While volunteering I get new knowledge in different fields and on different subjects that are important for the society, I meet new friends, emotions and many other new and useful things for my personal development and for motivating others to do the same. I chose to be a peer-to-peer educator because it gives me the chance to interact, express my opinion, ask, get informed and inform others. My presence in front of other children, whom I will help to understand how to browse safely on the Internet, will make me feel useful. I will do everything I can to make sure that after our meetings with students, they are able to avoid cases of online harassment and scams, able to secure their accounts on social networks and know where to report an abuse”, says the young girl.

The training took place within the “Peer-to-peer” Program of the International Center “La Strada”. Thus, those who were students for a few days, will be soon instructors for their peers in the field of online safety.

Up to now, the International Center “La Strada” trained dozens of generations of teenagers who voluntarily go to schools and lyceums to tell students how not to end up victims of domestic violence, human trafficking or online abuse.