The proliferation of digital technologies dramatically impacts the way children and youth across the world play, learn, work, interact, communicate, explore, and access information and services. As technology becomes increasingly accessible across global majority contexts and in remote and impoverished parts of the world, more children and youth—including those from historically marginalized communities—are joining the online community and expanding their social, educational, entertainment, and informational horizons. But greater access to these digital spaces also increases the risk of exposing children and youth to harm in both the digital and physical world. 

The PCYDH Primer introduces USAID and its partners to the risks and rewards that exist for children and youth in an increasingly digital world, highlighting USAID’s role and responsibility to help prevent and respond to digital harm.

The goals of the primer are to provide an overview of what digital harm is, why it is important to address, and to guide USAID staff and implementing partners on how to minimize potential digital harm to children and youth in USAID programming. The primer is built for USAID staff working across all sectors and stages of the program cycle as well as for civil society organizations, non-profit organizations, and implementing partners who design, implement, or evaluate programming.