“The Smile of the Child” Selected by Safe Online to Pioneer First-Ever Regulatory Sandbox for Child Online Safety
02 June 2025
PRESS RELEASE
Athens, June 2 2025
The Project Will Establish an International, Child Rights-Based Instrument for Co-Innovating and Co-Testing across Sectors, Borders and Generations
“The Smile of the Child,” Greece’s premier child welfare organization, today announces its selection as a grantee of Safe Online, a global fund dedicated to eradicating online child sexual exploitation and abuse. The project to be funded by this grant – “Sandboxing and Standardizing Child Online Redress” – is one of 20 projects Safe Online has chosen to fund which recognize the “vision, impact and potential to transform how we prevent and respond to online child sexual exploitation and abuse.”
The COR Sandbox project being spearheaded by "The Smile of the Child" will establish a first-of-its-kind mechanism to advance child online safety through collaboration across sectors, borders and generations. Through the participation of youth, platforms, regulators and online safety experts, this first regulatory sandbox for child digital wellbeing will provide for consistent, systemic care and redress for children from online harm, based on their rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The sandbox is being developed by an international consortium of trailblazers in the field of Trust and Safety. Among Smile’s esteemed partners on the project are:
- The Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University
- The ISPCC (Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children)
- Child Helpline International (CHI)
- The Centre for Digital Policy at University College Dublin
The project also benefits from the guidance of renowned digital safety experts, including Project Lead and Scientific Coordinator Ioanna Noula, PhD, an international expert on tech policy and children's rights; pioneering online safety and youth rights advocate Anne Collier; youth rights and participation expert Amanda Third, PhD, of the Young and Resilient Research Centre; international innovation management consultant Nicky Hickman; IT innovation and startup founder Jez Goldstone; and leading child online wellbeing scholar Tijana Milosevic, PhD.
Costas Yannopoulos, Chair of “The Smile of the Child”, stated, "Because collaboration and truly listening to children have been the hallmark of The Smile of the Child's work since our start 30 years ago, we are delighted to support the COR Sandbox based on these principles. We are honoured to be recognized by Safe Online and eager to work with our distinguished partners to make a tangible difference in protecting children worldwide."
Project lead Ioanna Noula states, “This grant comes at a critical time for child online safety. It creates a unique opportunity to test in practice a regulatory sandbox that centers children’s rights, participation and lived experience online and de-silos the hard work of adults in the public and private sectors of advancing their digital safety worldwide. Importantly, the project is being developed by The Smile of the Child, with its remarkable legacy of delivering evidence-based care in the context of children’s rights.”
About "The Smile of the Child"
"The Smile of the Child" is a non-profit voluntary organization in Greece dedicated to defending the rights of the child by providing essential services to children in need or at risk. With almost 30 years of service, Smile implements a wide range of comprehensive child-centered programming, including prevention education, child protection services, a helpline and physical and mental healthcare, always prioritizing the best interests of the child in accord with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
About Safe Online
Safe Online is an international investment vehicle dedicated to keeping children safe in the digital world. It invests in research, technologies and innovative cross-sector programs aimed at protecting and empowering young Internet users. The organization focuses on strengthening existing systems and catalysing new solutions that help address online child sexual exploitation and make the internet safe for children to explore, learn, and develop. Of its 2025 grantee cohort, Safe Online remarked, “The level of innovation we saw in this year’s applications was extraordinary.”
More information at:
"The Smile of the Child"
Press office, press@hamogelo.gr
Annika Drandaki, annikadrandaki@hamogelo.gr
Ioanna Noula, ioannanoula@hamogelo.gr
Tel. 210 33 06 140
