The Child Safety Campaign (CSC), a subsidiary of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA), has launched a research study in collaboration with the Department of Statistics and Community Development (DSCD), to measure the awareness level of families and parents in Sharjah about children’s cyber security and vehicle safety.

Targeting 5% of families living in Sharjah (12,344 families), the research study will provide two separate surveys about each topic, providing a valuable source of information for initiatives to improve their safety.

Launching the surveys aligns with the CSC’s dedication to ensure children’s digital, physical and psychological wellbeing, particularly with their high level of activity on the internet and social media websites, as well as the growing dependence on private transport.

The first survey seeks to measure the awareness of parents on the importance of using safety seats and seat belts in vehicles through questions that measure their knowledge of traffic rules and regulations and their level of compliance with those rules, in addition to alerting them to the proper safety measures inside the vehicle, including the various standards and effectiveness of car seats.

The second survey is the first field study on child cyber security in the Emirate of Sharjah. It seeks to gauge the level of awareness of families and parents about the concept of online safety and the measures to be taken while children are using social media platforms and interactive games, providing a reliable integrated database to childcare institutions.

Hanadi Saleh Al Yafei, Department Director at the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah and Head of the Organising Committee of the Child Safety Campaign, said: “We will launch these surveys to explore two very important and sensitive issues. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 1.25 million people die each year as a result of road traffic accidents. Through this research on the use of safety seats and seat belts, we aim to set out recommendations and prevention measures that ensure the highest level of safety to vehicle passengers.”

Al Yafei added: “With regards to cybercrime, children are the most obvious target and are more likely to fall victim to this type of crime. Through this study, we aim to measure the level of families’ awareness about the risks and challenges that face their children while using the internet and the measures taken by parents to protect them.”

Al Yafei pointed out that the CSC’s collaboration with DSCD to carry out the two surveys comes in light of the department’s expert statistics experience in Sharjah and the CSC’s dedication to expand the scope of cooperation and forge new partnerships.

The DSCD will provide technical support to implement the project through a host of experts and consultants, who will follow up on each phase of the study, which will be carried out through an online questionnaire.

As part of the preparations for launching the initiative, the CSC recently organised a training workshop for 47 researchers, who will carry out the surveys, in collaboration with the Scientific Committee of the Child Safety Campaign.