Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), together with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), Google, Facebook, the Film Publication Board (FPB), MTN and Diana Schwarz Attorneys hosted their first Open Day webinar to officially launch their 2020.
Web Rangers Programme. The webinar took place on 4th September 2020.
The Web Rangers had the opportunity to hear from the Deputy Minister in the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, the honourable Ms Pinky Kekana, who gave a keynote speech and encouraged our new Web Rangers to carry on leading the discussion on child online safety.
Phakamile Khumalo, national coordinator for the Web Rangers programme in South Africa also congratulated Web Rangers for being selected and commanded them for wanting to become active digital citizens that use the internet responsibility and encourage their peers to do so. Web Rangers was launched in South Africa in 2016 with the aim to improve young people’s digital literacy skills and empower them to take ownership of their own digital footprints. The Programme is now offered as an online course, enabling all South African children between the ages of 12-17 years old the opportunity to be trained as a Web Ranger from the comfort of their homes, through online training.
“Going online is our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, by changing our approach to training, while still maintaining our reputation of being the leading digital and media literacy initiative in the country that is supported by government, business and civil society. By implementing the programme online, we not only deal with the new reality but also design a programme that can be scaled and work for a new reality,” stated Phakamile.
To keep up with what Web Rangers are doing, follow their work on Twitter
@MediaMattersZA, webrangers.co.za, on Instagram @webrangersza and Facebook, webrangersSA.
For more info on this event or to find out more about Web Rangers, you can contact our
national coordinator Phakamile Khumalo on email phakamilek@mma.org.za
