Over the past decade, we have invested more than US$100 million in efforts to prevent and respond to online child sexual exploitation and abuse, supporting more than 180 projects across over 100 countries.
Today, we are proud to announce the first 30 grantees from our last targeted funding round (with more to come in the next weeks), which have been awarded $8 million for developing innovative approaches to urgent child protection challenges in the digital age.
As generative AI and other emerging technologies reshape digital environments, they are also reshaping existing and creating new forms of abuse. AI-generated child sexual abuse material is proliferating, increasing the scale, speed, and complexity of child sexual exploitation and abuse. As AI capabilities advance, the full scope of resulting harms and the ways they may manifest, are still emerging.
Exploitation is not confined to the margins of the internet; it is spreading into the digital spaces that shape everyday life. We are not simply at breaking point, this crisis is accelerating beyond the limits of the institutions and technology, designed to address it. .
This funding round has been designed to respond to that reality.
“The crisis of technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse passed a breaking point some time ago. The volume, speed, and new forms of harm have now outgrown human scale, while too much of our response still runs on old playbooks of treating this problem as an issue of online content. I’m convinced progress comes from acting upstream: understanding how these harms connect and what systems drive them, and harnessing AI and technology to strengthen prevention, response, and the systems built to carry that work forward. That conviction is what this cohort is built on.”
Together with our grantees we are building a stronger global ecosystem to end online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
This year, we are investing in a connected portfolio of organisations working across research, technology, prevention, survivor leadership, and systems change. Together, these investments will help strengthen the evidence base, address emerging risks such as AI-generated harms, build sustainable infrastructure, and create safer digital environments for children worldwide.
Through portfolio analysis and consultation with governments, researchers, technology companies, philanthropies, and civil society partners, we identified five priority areas where additional investment was needed.
Exploring the pathways to online risks and harms on social media across 3 continents
The 5Rights Foundation is generating new evidence on how social media platform design contributes to children’s exposure to online exploitation and harm. Through its Pathways research methodology, which combines interviews with children and AI-powered digital avatar testing, the organisation is mapping how young people encounter risks across digital environments in Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. By producing robust, globally relevant evidence and engaging with technology companies and policymakers, 5Rights is strengthening efforts to improve platform accountability and child-centred digital design.
Aselo is strengthening the capacity of child helplines to respond to online child sexual exploitation and abuse through advanced data, visualisation, and AI-powered tools. By improving case management, insight generation, and counsellor effectiveness, the platform enables helplines to support significantly more children without increasing staffing requirements. Through scaling its technology and expanding access in lower-resource settings, Aselo is helping build more sustainable and effective child protection systems globally.
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) is advancing innovative approaches to detecting and removing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) while strengthening support for survivors. Building on its Project Arachnid platform, the organisation is integrating AI-powered facial recognition capabilities and survivor-informed safety planning tools to improve the identification and removal of abusive content, including emerging AI-generated material. By centring survivor experiences and embedding safeguards around privacy, bias, and misuse, C3P is helping shape more effective, ethical, and survivor-centred approaches to online child protection.
The Centre for Social Research (CSR) is empowering adolescents across India to lead efforts to prevent online harms and promote digital safety. Through Youth-Led Digital Safety Clubs operating across five states, the organisation trains youth Peer Champions to deliver peer-to-peer education, develop resources, and lead community awareness initiatives. By embedding youth leadership and child-led prevention approaches within local education systems, CSR is creating scalable models that strengthen digital resilience and support safer online communities.
Cyber Collective is strengthening digital safety and resilience among young people through youth-led education and caregiver support systems. By providing practical prevention tools for parents and educators alongside online safety programmes delivered through gaming, storytelling, and community engagement, the initiative equips children and the adults around them to navigate digital environments more safely. Through culturally relevant approaches and exploration of safety-by-design practices that promote positive social norms, the project is building scalable prevention models that respond to local needs and emerging digital risks.
DK Defenders is expanding access to digital safety education for deaf children through an innovative EdTech programme focused on protective behaviours and abuse prevention. By adapting its learning resources for self-guided use, localising content across different cultural contexts, and developing an Android application, the initiative is preparing for large-scale implementation. Beginning in India, South Africa, and Zambia, the project aims to reach more than 1,500 deaf children and the adults who support them, creating a scalable model for inclusive child protection education.
Reverse AI is generating new evidence on how children experience and navigate risks associated with generative AI across Brazil, India, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Through child-centred research, digital literacy initiatives, and the development of safer design solutions, the organisation is identifying emerging risks and opportunities associated with AI technologies. By translating these insights into practical recommendations, Reverse AI is helping strengthen protections for vulnerable children in rapidly evolving digital environments.
ECPAT International is strengthening global efforts to combat technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse by building the capacity of civil society organisations. Through regional advocacy initiatives, peer-learning networks, workshops, and locally adapted tools across 15 countries, the organisation is improving access to evidence, collaboration, and advocacy support. By amplifying local voices and supporting context-specific solutions, ECPAT is helping strengthen policy responses, improve interventions, and foster safer digital environments for children.
Equimundo is promoting safer online spaces for boys and young men by addressing harmful gender norms and strengthening positive digital engagement. Working with online moderators, game developers, and prevention partners, the initiative is co-designing digital tools that build social-emotional skills, encourage healthy relationships, and foster stronger online communities. By focusing on a population often overlooked in prevention efforts, the project aims to reduce online harms and contribute to healthier digital cultures.
Generation Patient is strengthening the safety and oversight of AI companion tools and mental health chatbots used by young adults. By bringing together young people with chronic conditions, clinicians, technologists, and regulators, the project will identify gaps in existing medical device, privacy, and internet governance frameworks and develop practical policy recommendations. Through a policy brief and safety guide, the initiative aims to reduce risks associated with child sexual exploitation and mental health harms while improving digital safety literacy among young adult patients.
INHOPE is strengthening global responses to online child sexual abuse by improving how data is shared, classified, and used to detect harm. Through Project SOAR, it is scaling the CPORT platform and supporting a coordinated network of hotlines and law enforcement across 52 countries. By embedding safety by design into these systems, INHOPE is enabling faster, more effective cross border action and strengthening the long term protection of children worldwide.
The International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE) is addressing critical knowledge gaps about how platform design contributes to online child exploitation. Through a global, peer-reviewed research study and the development of a practical toolkit, the initiative brings together industry, civil society, researchers, and survivors to identify design-related risks and opportunities for prevention. By generating actionable evidence and guidance, the project aims to strengthen platform accountability and promote safer online environments for children.
Pathfinder Kindred Tech is strengthening the investigation of online child exploitation and abuse through innovative, technology-enabled solutions. By developing and deploying Katalyst, an AI-powered digital forensics and case management platform, the organisation is helping law enforcement agencies triage and investigate cases more efficiently, particularly in resource-constrained settings. Designed to overcome infrastructure and capacity barriers, the platform is expanding access to advanced investigative tools and supporting faster, more effective responses to protect children.
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation is advancing evidence-based approaches to preventing child sexual abuse before it occurs. Through research, early intervention programmes, and support for children, young people, and individuals at risk of offending, the Foundation is generating new insights into effective prevention strategies. By combining police and service data with the perspectives of children and young people, and conducting innovative evaluations of online prevention tools, the organisation is strengthening the global evidence base and informing more effective safeguarding and intervention practices.
Masayang Pamilya Organization, Inc. is strengthening national prevention systems in the Philippines to protect children from online child sexual exploitation and abuse. By scaling evidence based positive parenting programmes and embedding online safety into family support services, the initiative integrates prevention directly into public service delivery infrastructure. Working through community service providers and youth leaders, it enables population level reach, demonstrating how system embedded approaches can sustainably reduce risk and create safer home and online environments for children.
The Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse is adapting its Responsible Behavior with Youth and Children (RBYC) curriculum for implementation in Brazil and Mexico, expanding access to evidence-based perpetration prevention for young people. Through culturally responsive adaptation, engagement with schools and families, and rigorous safeguarding measures, the project strengthens young people’s ability to develop safe and respectful relationships with younger children and peers. By examining effectiveness, scalability, and implementation across diverse contexts, the initiative will generate insights that can inform future expansion and strengthen global prevention efforts.
MAMA is mobilising parents, young people, and advocates across the United States to promote safer digital environments for children. Through its Protecting Childhood campaign, the organisation uses media outreach, community engagement, and coalition-building to raise awareness of online exploitation, addictive content, and manipulative AI-driven technologies. By strengthening public advocacy infrastructure and supporting policy reform and platform accountability, MAMA is contributing to long-term systemic change that prioritises children’s wellbeing in digital spaces.
Mtoto News International Kutunga Design Academy is strengthening child-centred technology design capacity across Eastern and Southern Africa by training 1,500 software developers to build safer digital products and AI platforms. Through practical training in safety-by-design principles and culturally responsive product development, the initiative equips developers with the skills needed to integrate child protection from the earliest stages of technology design. By addressing critical capacity gaps in the Global South, the programme is helping ensure that rapidly expanding digital ecosystems are built with children’s safety, wellbeing, and local contexts in mind.
Kigizo Kenya, led by Qhala Trust, is advancing child-centred approaches to AI safety by developing Kenya’s first benchmark for evaluating generative AI systems based on the experiences, languages, and cultural contexts of Kenyan children. Through co-design with children, caregivers, educators, healthcare professionals, and policymakers, the project will assess large language models in Swahili and Sheng across content safety, manipulation risks, and cultural alignment. By generating locally relevant evidence and standards, the initiative aims to improve AI accountability and ensure emerging technologies better protect children in African contexts.
The Safe Online Leaven Labs Fellowship is influencing cultural narratives around child welfare and online safety by engaging television writers and content creators. Through facilitated workshops, expert-led discussions, and practical skills-building opportunities, the programme equips storytellers with the knowledge and tools to incorporate child safety themes into mainstream media. By shaping the stories that influence public attitudes and social norms, the initiative aims to elevate children’s welfare and protection within broader cultural conversations.
The Stanford Cyber Policy Center is strengthening the evidence base on what works to reduce online harms affecting children and young people. Through a systematic review and large-scale evaluation of interventions, the Centre is assessing the effectiveness of online safety approaches across different contexts and populations. By generating rigorous evidence on both short- and long-term outcomes and sharing findings with policymakers, practitioners, and researchers, the initiative is helping guide future investments and improve the design of interventions that protect children online.
The Brave Movement is advancing survivor-led approaches to technology accountability and online child protection. Through the establishment of a Safe Tech Survivor Council, the organisation is creating a platform for individuals with lived experience of online child sexual violence to directly inform policy development and product design. By ensuring survivor perspectives shape decisions from the outset, the initiative aims to strengthen industry accountability and drive safer digital environments for children and young people.
The Royal will investigate the the prevalence of illegal age-gap relationships between adolescents and adults in Canada and Brazil, particularly when relationships originate online. Through rigorous data collection and analysis, the project will address a significant gap in understanding patterns of risk and exploitation affecting young people. The findings will inform prevention efforts, strengthen youth safety strategies, and support technology companies in developing more effective policies and safeguards for users.
The University of Oxford is generating evidence on effective approaches to preventing online child sexual abuse through an integrated digital parenting programme in South Africa. By working with families and rigorously evaluating outcomes, the project will assess the programme’s effectiveness in reducing risk and strengthening child safety online. The findings will contribute to the development of a scalable, evidence-based intervention that can support families and communities in protecting children from online harm.
Thorn is strengthening investigations into online child sexual exploitation and abuse by developing new technology that helps close critical evidence gaps. By enhancing the ability of investigators to identify victims, connect evidence, and build stronger cases, the initiative supports more efficient investigations and greater offender accountability. The project aims to improve outcomes for children by accelerating responses to exploitation and strengthening the effectiveness of child protection efforts globally.
UNICEF is accelerating private-sector action to protect children online by developing regionally contextualised industry guidelines for South East Asian markets, alongside a voluntary assessment tool and technical support. The project focuses particularly on helping small and medium-sized enterprises strengthen online child safety practices.
The Children AI Safety and Security Rubric is translating child-rights principles into practical tools for evaluating AI systems. By providing developers and governments with structured guidance to identify, assess, and mitigate risks, including technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse, the initiative supports safer AI deployment across diverse contexts. Its focus on low-resource and humanitarian settings helps ensure that child protection considerations are embedded in emerging technologies where safeguards are often weakest.
UNICEF Timor-Leste is strenthening legislation, policies, reporting platforms, industry standards, and frontline capacity to protect more than half a million children and adolescents from online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA), while improving access to specialised support services and justice for victims. The work uses a collaborative, locally owned approach that builds on existing best practices and actively engages government, industry, and young people in developing solutions for safer digital access.
UNICEF Tunisia is accelerating implementation of Tunisia’s National Action Plan (NAP) on child online protection by strengthening professional capacity and promoting child protection standards across the technology sector. Through training for frontline practitioners and engagement with industry stakeholders, the programme addresses critical gaps in prevention and response systems while supporting stronger institutional coordination. By embedding child protection practices within both public and private sector systems, the initiative aims to create a sustainable and scalable model for safeguarding children online.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is accelerating global action to end technology-facilitated violence against children. Working alongside governments, partners, children, and survivors, WHO is strengthening policy frameworks, improving accountability mechanisms, and supporting the development of safer digital ecosystems. By convening stakeholders and embedding child protection into national and global agendas, WHO is helping build the systems and governance needed to prevent harm and ensure safer digital environments for children worldwide.
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We are here to ensure every child and young person grows in to the digital world feeling safe, and is protected from harm.
We support, champion, and invest in innovative partners from the public, private, and third sectors working towards the same objective.
We believe in equipping guardians and young people with the skills to understand and see danger themselves once accessing digital experiences without supervision.