Train the Trainer programme

On Wednesday 1st February 2012, the PICP and the Australian Federal Police launched the Pacific’s first ‘train the trainer’ event on cyber safety on the Gold Coast, Australia.

As a result of the workshop, Cyber Safety Pasifika now has a team of ten trainers based in five Pacific Island countries that will conduct training and deliver presentations to their home communities, raising awareness of cyber safety and social networking issues. You can see the new training team here.

The event’s press release provides more details.

Xavier Maras, a former PICP-S Pacific Project Officer, game the following speech at the event:

At the recent 40^th Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Conference in Pohnpei, Micronesia, the Chiefs of Police from twenty Pacific Island Nations acknowledged the importance of youth and the impacts that the internet is having as the accessibility grows, offering great opportunities both socially and economically while also posing a great risk.

The Pacific is an increasingly vulnerable target for a range of offenses which are new to the region: cyber predators, travelling foreign sex offenders, Transnational crimes, fraud and terrorism recruitment.  Research undertaken to date indicates that the proportion of the total population that have accessed th It is important that we focus on educating children and young people within our own communities to be responsible digital citizens, promoting safe and responsible use of technology in the Pacific.

The Chiefs of Police at their annual conference held in Pohnpei, Micronesia last August signed a declaration of support acknowledging the need to keep the youth of the Pacific safe and secure by providing them with the skills and knowledge to navigate the digital landscape safely and responsibly.

Today I represent my Chief of Police, Takasy Reim the current Chairman of the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police in acknowledging the importance of training on cyber crime issues and cyber safety and thank the Australian National Rugby league for their support in ensuring that the vision of the program in promoting a safe, secure and responsible environment for our children is realized.

The vision of the program in promoting a safe, secure and responsible environment for our children will be realized when we endeavor with interest in preventing this threat from establishing a firm foundation in our peaceful environment, the Pacific. We need to be more protective of what we share on the internet, active in spreading awareness sessions to our children about cyber issues and safety, firmly hold on to our confidential information, inspire our children to look up to their role models for a better future, re-focus our children’s views on more important educational matters, invite genuine involvement with our partners both domestically and internationally and create swift communication avenues to assist each other relevant information about cyber issues and safety.

With the supports of our Pacific friends and neighbours, Australia and New Zealand, we are confident and have faith in the unity we do possess in our strengths, this will foster efficient and effective means to minimize this new phenomenon or threat in our “peaceful” environment, the Pacific Ocean.

In short, I have an acronym for the word “Pacific”. P stands for protection; A stands for awareness, C stands for confidentiality, I stands for Inspiration, F stands for Focus, I stands for Involvement and lastly C stands for Cooperation. That is Pacific—“Peaceful”. We both know that we cannot afford to stand on the sideline and watch the negative effects of cyber technology on our children.

Thank you.