The Ghana Internet Society Foundation, in partnership with the Cyber Security Authority and other development partners, including UNICEF Ghana, has held the 2026 National Online Safety Summit to assess how existing regulatory protocols have contributed to creating a safe digital ecosystem, particularly for child users.
The event aimed to review progress made in this collective effort and explore ways of leveraging both state and private sector agencies to safeguard the country’s digital ecosystem amid a rapidly evolving global technology landscape.
Speaking at the event, the Founder and President of the Ghana Internet Society Foundation, Emmanuel Adinkra, said the rationale behind the summit was to create a national platform for policymakers, industry players, and private sector practitioners.
“The main idea behind this Summit is to create a platform for all relevant stakeholders in the digital ecosystem in Ghana to jaw jaw about contemporary trends in today’s fast-changing information technology space and how to put in place pragmatic policies and control measures to create a safe experience for users of the Internet, particularly our young ones who fall prey to unsuspecting schemes online, as data suggests over time.”
Also speaking at the event, the Child Protection Officer at UNICEF Ghana, Joyce Odame, said her outfit, in partnership with both state agencies and private sector partners, has deployed a number of interventions aimed at creating a safe and conducive digital environment for underage users.
“We have also been leveraging private sector–led innovations and products to train teachers and instructors across the length and breadth of Ghana on how they can guide and monitor students on aspects of the Internet they can subscribe to, while eliminating easy access to bad or disruptive content by empowering institutions like the Cyber Security Authority, the Ghana Police Service, and other youth-oriented organizations in the fields of information technology and social services.”
She further highlighted the impact of these initiatives.
“These innovations and partnerships, supported by data from the field, show that the message is having a sustained impact on the development of the target groups we are working with for the foreseeable future.”
The two-day event featured online sessions on the first day, involving multiple stakeholders such as the Ghana Police Service, the Cyber Security Authority, UNICEF Ghana, TikTok, and other global partners. The in-person sessions on Day Two were held at the Alisa Hotel in North Ridge, Accra, with strong participation from students selected from both Junior High and Senior High Schools in Accra.
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Story by Sika Togoh | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Gabriel Tecco Mensah
