Tanzania’s 116 Child Helpline at the 2025 Global Cybersecurity Forum: Amplifying Children’s Voices in the Digital Age

Imagine a child in Dar es Salaam, sitting alone with their phone late at night, scared to share the online bullying that's making school unbearable. That one call to a helpline can spark real change – from new laws to safer schools. This is the impact of Tanzania's 116 Child Helpline, and it's why C-Sema was represented at the 2025 Global Cybersecurity Forum – CyberSafe Futures in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by Michael Marwa, the Director of the National Child Helpline and Regional Representative of Child Helplines in Africa.

Photo: Left, Dr. Afrooz Kaviani Johnson, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Headquarters in New York; Centre, Helen Mason, Executive Director, Child Helpline International; Right, Michael Marwa, Director of the National Child Helpline and Regional Representative of Child Helplines in Africa.

The Global Cybersecurity Forum is an international platform where leaders share knowledge, shape policies, and inspire collaboration on pressing cyber challenges. This year’s theme, Cybersafe Futures, centered on building safer, more inclusive digital ecosystems, especially for children and young people navigating life online.

During a key panel, Michael shared how data from Tanzania's helpline is directly influencing national policies. Calls from children in private schools have highlighted rising issues like cyberbullying, online blackmail, and mental health struggles. These patterns led to updates in the Law of the Child Act, new digital literacy programmes in schools, Tanzania's joining of the WeProtect Global Alliance, and contributions to the National Plan of Action to End Violence Against Women and Children (2025–2030). A key message was the need to support both children and parents – via community discussions, peer campaigns, radio broadcasts, and simple parenting resources.

Michael also joined sessions on global best practices. A UNICEF discussion on parenting stressed evidence-based tools to help parents guide children, paired with reliable helplines. The Gaming with Safety Roundtable, led by Sheema Sen Gupta, examined how to build safe gaming platforms, with child rights at the core, youth voices included, and collaboration between governments, tech companies, and civil society. A final session on child helplines underlined their role as trusted, confidential spaces, enhanced by technology and data to predict risks and shape policies.

Panelists during the future of child helplines session.

One highlight was how the UK is leading on child safety, making it the responsibility of platforms to protect users. Under the Online Safety Act, new child safety rules took effect on 25 July 2025. Services like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and TikTok must now complete risk assessments for children, implement effective age verification – such as facial recognition or ID checks – and remove harmful content like bullying or self-harm material before it reaches young users. This shifts the burden from families alone to the platforms themselves, creating a safer online space for children.

Michael Marwa during one of the discussions.

The forum made it plain: protecting children online is everyone's job. Helpline data turns individual stories into policy action, multi-channel campaigns build trust, and partnerships ensure support in both digital and real-world settings.

As Michael said, “Protecting children online requires empowered children and confident parents – and child helplines are where both find support.””

Back in Tanzania, the next steps are clear. We must apply these lessons by starting dialogues with mobile network operators, game developers, media outlets, and government bodies. Through these conversations, we can build a robust safety network, helping every child navigate the online world with confidence.

Prepared by C-Sema's Communications Team