Vodafone Foundation and Save the Children Partnership Announcement

London, 28 February 2025 – Vodafone Foundation and Save the Children have today announced a groundbreaking partnership to launch a new Europe-wide digital skills and resilience training programme for children aged 9 to 16.

This new collaboration will focus on upskilling children beyond digital skills, with bespoke content addressing online safety, digital rights, and ethical online behaviour. Both partners will seek to integrate these important elements into educational systems worldwide, helping to shape a healthier, safer digital landscape for young people today, while positively impacting their lives tomorrow.

Bespoke educational content will be developed that combines Vodafone Foundation’s successful approach to driving inclusion through digital learning with Save the Children’s expertise in child protection, wellbeing and children’s rights.

The training is expected to go live from September 2025 in Albania, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Türkiye. It will be integrated into Vodafone Foundation’s ‘Skills Upload Junior’, a Europe wide digital skills education programme that has reached over 7.5 million children in the last five years.

Joakim Reiter, Vodafone Group Chief External & Corporate Affairs Officer, and Vodafone Foundation Board Trustee, explained: “Every half second, a child makes their first click online and enters a world full of opportunities but also risks. We want to guide and equip children with the knowledge and skills to navigate this digital landscape safely and in a healthy way, especially for those with limited access to technology.”

Moazzam Malik, CEO of Save the Children UK, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Vodafone Foundation on this hugely important project. Combining Vodafone’s technological capabilities with Save the Children’s expertise in children’s protection and wellbeing in the digital space, we will strive to ensure children have the tools to create safer, more equitable environments both online and offline.”

This new partnership comes at a time when the need for digital skills, literacy and resilience among young people is rising. European Commission research suggesting that around 29% of young people lack basic digital skills necessary for safe and effective internet use¹ and only 39% of educators in the EU feel well-prepared to use digital technologies in their daily work².

In Europe, according to the EU Kids online 2020 survey, around 1 in 10 children become victims of online bullying every month, and an equal number say they never feel safe online³. 26% of young people report feelings of loneliness and exclusion related to passive scrolling of social media⁴.

The partnership will take a series of approaches to the challenge, with deliverables including:

This new collaboration forms part of Vodafone Foundation’s ambition in Europe to ensure that everyone has the digital skills they need to feel like they belong, breaking down inequalities and enabling everyone to feel safe, happy, confident and connected. A key part of Vodafone Foundation’s commitment to driving inclusion through digital learning and connecting for good.

The Skills Upload Jr programme works in nine countries to help students gain the confidence to explore their curiosity, whatever their background, gender or where they call home. It supports teachers to use digital skills across the entire curriculum with tools from smart devices to artificial intelligence, robotics to augmented reality.

¹ Young people - digital world - Statistics Explained
² deap-communication-sept2020_en.pdf
³ Cyberbullying among young people: Laws and policies in selected Member States
⁴ ‘Passive scrolling’ of social media leads to greater sense of loneliness – Child in the City