The Centre for Social Sciences Research (CSSR) and the  Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa  (IDCPPA) at the University of Cape Town invite you to join us for a lunchtime seminar on 5 May 2026 at 12:45pm. The seminar will be presented by Lauren Baerecke and Anna Booij.

About the Seminar:

Safer Together: Co-designing digital safety content for parenting programmes in South Africa

What do parenting programmes for the digital age actually look like? What role can they play when platforms, risks, and predatory tactics evolve faster than any curriculum can keep up?

Preventing and responding to digital risks is an urgent global child protection priority. This seminar shares a collaborative co-design process to develop content addressing technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse within the blended-digital parenting programme 'ParentApp'.

Content was developed through a four-phase co-design process: a global evidence review and consultations with 50+ professional stakeholders; participatory workshops with caregivers and adolescents in South Africa; iterative content development; and user testing and stakeholder validation, including with disability-focused partners and male caregivers.

Caregivers, adolescents, and stakeholders highlighted a range of risks - from grooming to Al and pornography exposure - but emphasised that the hardest challenges are relational. Intergenerational digital literacy gaps, low trust, and discomfort discussing sensitive topics were identified as some of the key barriers parenting programmes should address.

Drawing on these insights, the seminar reflects on what parenting programmes can realistically contribute to the broader digital safety environment - strengthening the relational foundations that make other protective strategies more effective. We will also showcase the resulting content and how it is integrated within the app experience.

Speakers

Lauren Baerecke is a researcher based at the CSSR working on the implementation and evaluation of public health programmes - drawing on over a decade of experience advancing practical, evidence-based approaches for low-resource settings. Her current work focuses on the design, adaptation and testing of digital parenting programmes for the prevention of tech-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Anna Booij is an international development specialist at Clowns Without Borders South Africa, with more than 15 years' experience designing, adapting, and evaluating programmes across Africa, Asia and Europe. She leads the co-design and contextualisation of evidence-based parenting interventions, including digital and in-person Parenting for Lifelong Health programmes.

  5 May 2026
 12:45 - 14:00 SAST
   CSSR Seminar Room, 4.29 Robert Leslie Social Science Building, UCT

Hosted by the Centre for Social Science Research and the Institute for Democracy, Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa