Overview
ACOPP is a pan-African multi-stakeholder initiative launched in November 2025 in Cameroon by AfroLeadership. Its mission: equip young people aged 10 to 17 with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to navigate the digital world safely and responsibly.
The program responds to a concerning reality: 50% of Cameroonian students aged 10 to 17 use smartphones with no parental restrictions, engaging with social media, AI-powered applications, and digital marketplaces without any structured guidance on the risks of the attention economy.
ACOPP is directly aligned with Aspiration 7 of the Africa 2040 Agenda: “Every child is protected against violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse.”
Context and Rationale
Africa’s digital ecosystem is expanding at an unprecedented rate — opening vast opportunities while exposing younger generations to growing risks: cyberbullying, online exploitation, misinformation, and privacy violations. In a context where parental digital safeguards are often absent — due to limited resources or awareness — schools and community programs have become the primary line of defense.
ACOPP does not replace parental responsibility: it provides the structured support that many families lack the resources or knowledge to offer.
Cameroon was selected as the pilot country for its rapidly expanding digital ecosystem, vibrant youth population, and growing demand for structured digital education. The goal is to build a scalable model for future rollout across the continent.
Implementation Coalition
ACOPP is driven by a strategic partnership bringing together complementary areas of expertise:
- AfroLeadership — Strategic coordination, policy advocacy, and institutional anchoring
- Cabinet Impact — Community engagement and operational field implementation
- Fujitsu — Technical expertise for curriculum development
- Turing Space — Secure and verifiable digital certification for participants
This coalition model demonstrates how civil society, consulting expertise, technology leaders, and digital security innovators can unite in service of child protection.
Pedagogical Approach
The program delivers a two-part workshop series through interactive, age-appropriate sessions:
- Workshop I — Foundations of Digital Citizenship Core concepts of online safety, digital rights and responsibilities, privacy protection, digital footprint awareness, and password management.
- Workshop II — Advanced Digital Competencies Artificial intelligence ethics, cybersecurity, and digital wellbeing. Special focus on information reliability and algorithmic bias.
Upon completing both workshops, participants receive a verifiable digital certificate issued by Turing Space. The curriculum is designed to be interactive and continuously improved through participant feedback.
Pilot Results in Cameroon
Dewey International School — Douala (November–December 2025)
The first institution to host the program:
- 30 students in Workshop I (November 2025)
- 31 students in Workshop II (December 2025)
Key outcomes:
- 94.4% of participants committed to concrete digital wellbeing practices (reducing screen time, verifying HTTPS protocols, thinking before posting)
- Over 60% reported feeling confident in identifying AI use in their everyday apps
- 78% cited using strong passwords as an immediate action they would implement
Ambassadors College — Cameroon (19–20 February 2026)
Second deployment, enriched by feedback from the initial pilot: more interactive activities, integrated videos, structured breaks, and contextualized examples including the legal consequences under Cameroonian law of sharing private information.
Consolidated results across both schools confirm that the curriculum is accessible, age-appropriate, and effective across diverse educational environments.
Scale and Vision
ACOPP is designed to expand across the African continent, building on the Cameroonian pilot as a replicable model. Each new deployment integrates lessons from the previous one in a continuous improvement cycle.
The program directly responds to the continental momentum: the Africa Taskforce on Child Online Protection, launched in October 2025 in Kigali by UNICEF and GSMA, called for strengthened action from governments, industry, and civil society to build safer digital environments for children across Africa.