“Community Development” and “Dubai Digital” launch the “Children’s Right to Grow in a Digitally Balanced Environment” initiative.

The Community Development Authority, in cooperation with Sage Clinics, announced the “Children’s Right to Grow in a Digitally Balanced Environment” initiative, which is part of the Parents’ Track in the Digital Balance Programme, which was launched by the Dubai Digital Authority within a comprehensive national preventive framework that focuses on the well-being of children and families and ensures their safety and rights to grow with dignity in a digital age.

The initiative, which is the result of a strategic partnership between the Community Development Authority in Dubai, the Dubai Digital Authority and Sage Clinics, and was launched to coincide with the “Year of the Family” aims to support parents and enable them to guide their children towards the safe and balanced use of technology, which contributes to achieving digital balance and enhancing the well-being of children and families in a safe and harmonious digital environment in the UAE.

The initiative comes in response to the increasing challenges imposed by the digital environment on children and families and in light of the growing need to enhance awareness of sound digital practices. It is also in line with the efforts of the Community Development Authority in Dubai aimed at protecting children, supporting families and enabling them to keep pace with rapid social and technological transformations by establishing healthy digital habits and enhancing the psychological and social well-being of children, which contributes to maintaining family cohesion as the basic pillar in raising generations and building a more aware and sustainable society.

The initiative is based on evidence-based principles of psychological and developmental well-being and recognizes children’s need to be protected from harmful content, addictive design, exploitation, and the risks of data privacy breaches, while at the same time protecting family time, healthy development, and overall well-being.
The initiative emphasizes the importance of shared responsibility between families, schools, public institutions, and society as a whole in supporting children to navigate digital life safely and with balance.

Reem Al Awabid, Director of Community Programs Department at the Community Development Authority in Dubai, affirmed the authority’s belief that protecting children in the digital environment is a shared responsibility, noting that the “Children’s Right to Grow in a Digitally Balanced Environment” initiative reflects a commitment to promoting children’s rights by supporting families, teachers, and youth with the awareness and tools necessary to create safer and healthier digital experiences.

Ghaith Matar Al Mazeina, Senior Director of the Digital City Department at the Dubai Digital Authority, said: Enhancing the quality of digital life represents one of the main axes of Digital Dubai’s efforts to build a pioneering digital city that puts people at the heart of the digital transformation process. From this standpoint, we worked with partners to launch the Digital Balance Program with a package of initiatives and activities that contribute to enabling community members to benefit from modern technologies in a safe, balanced and responsible manner in a way that enhances their well-being and maintains family and community cohesion.

He added that this initiative embodies the importance of partnership and integration between government agencies and the private sector in confronting accelerating digital challenges and providing an environment supportive of children’s growth and development. It also reflects the joint commitment to establishing a culture of digital balance and raising awareness of sound digital practices and positive use of technology.

The initiative includes implementing a series of awareness-raising workshops and campaigns directed at parents and educational institutions, in addition to involving young ambassadors, “Friends of Children’s Rights,” in spreading awareness and promoting positive digital practices among children.

During its first year, the initiative is expected to reach more than 5,000 children, train more than 480 teachers, involve more than 1,000 parents, and qualify more than 300 youth ambassadors to contribute to spreading the culture of digital balance within society.

The initiative falls within the “Digital Balance Programme” launched by the Dubai Digital Authority as part of its efforts to enhance the quality of digital life and consolidate the responsible use of technology in society.