What is Web Rangers?

Web Rangers is a digital literacy programme designed to allow young people to gain critical skills and knowledge around online safety that they use to create innovative campaigns that promote safe internet usage and champion their rights in the digital world. The programme is about creating young digital citizens who know how to use the internet responsibly and encourage their peers to do the same.

What makes Web Rangers different from other digital literacy programmes?

The Web Rangers’ programme puts the spotlight on young people and recognises them as key players in their safety in the digital world – Which makes it an exciting and unique project lead by young people for young people. It is an initiative that closes the gap between access to the internet and digital literacy, through a coordinated strategy to increase youth awareness and their capabilities when it comes to online safety and digital literacy. The Web Rangers programme, therefore, offers selected South African schools a unique opportunity to become champions of critical digital literacy skills necessary to navigate the complex and dynamic life of the 21st century.

Programme Activities?

The programme is 9-month project.

MMA together with partners select schools in to participate in the project (using a criteria).

From each school, 10 learners, aged between 12 and 17 years, are selected to represent their school in the project. The Project involves important key activities such as:

Step 1 – Attending Web Ranger workshops: Everything starts with increasing Web Rangers’ digital literacy and building their digital citizenship skills.

Step 2 – Web Rangers Build their Campaign Teams: Campaigns are conducted in each school group – so all Web Rangers from their school work as a team in executing the campaign!

Step 3 – Design Campaign: Together with their team, Web design a campaign to promote awareness and empowerment around Internet safety for your peers and other learners at your school.

Step 4 – Run Campaign: Once they have designed their campaign, they have to run it. Web Rangers should record everything that they do during the campaign

Step 5 – Submit to the Competition: Ultimately the campaigns form part of a competition. At the end of the 4 months, Web Rangers schools submit their campaigns (via video) to a panel of judges who will select the best campaigns to win prizes.

At the end of the project, MMA together with the partners select the best campaigns and award prizes accordingly.