Presentation – CVC2026-602

Beyond access: Centring children’s voices in inclusive digital early childhood practices in resource-constrained contexts

Adedayo Olofinnika, Early Childhood Institute, Nigeria

Background: Creating an inclusive world for children demands more than digital access—it requires intentional efforts to ensure that young children’s voices, rights, and developmental needs shape how digital environments are designed and experienced. This paper centres children’s participation and inclusion as foundational principles for advancing equitable early childhood development in resource-constrained contexts, with evidence drawn from Nigeria.

Aim: The paper introduces the G-SAFE Framework—Guided use, Socio-Emotional Safety, Age-Appropriate Exposure, Family-Embedded Use, and Environment-Aware Design—as a context-responsive model that positions caregivers and educators as intentional facilitators of safe, meaningful, and child-led digital engagement.

Method: A mixed-methods study involving 150 participants—children aged 5–8 (n=30), caregivers (n=90), and educators (n=30)—examined how young children experience learning, communication, and participation across physical and digital spaces. Data were collected through surveys, focus groups, interviews, and child-friendly participatory activities. Thematic and descriptive analyses were conducted. Ethical approval was obtained from the Early Childhood Institute’s Research Ethics Committee; informed consent and child assent were secured throughout.

Results/findings: The findings reveal that digital technologies serve as powerful enablers of inclusion when children’s perspectives are centred and caregiver capacity is intentionally strengthened. However, unregulated exposure deepened exclusion, particularly among children in underserved communities. The findings underscore the importance of centring children’s voices, strengthening caregiver capacity, and developing policies that embed participation rights into early childhood digital governance. The G-SAFE Framework offers educators, caregivers, and policymakers a transferable, evidence-based model for equitable and safe digital engagement—particularly for children in resource-constrained contexts such as Nigeria and beyond.

Conclusion: This paper contributes original empirical and practice-oriented evidence to global discourse on children’s inclusion, rights, and learning, offering insights for practitioners and policymakers committed to building truly inclusive early childhood systems.

Implications for children and families: When your voices are heard, your feelings are respected, and your family is involved, technology can help you learn, explore, and belong—safely and confidently. You deserve digital spaces that are designed with you in mind, wherever you are.

Implications for practitioners: You have the power to make digital spaces inclusive. By guiding children intentionally, prioritising their socio-emotional safety, and partnering with families, you can transform technology into a meaningful tool for every child’s learning and participation.

Keywords: children’s voices and participation, inclusive early childhood development, digital inclusion, safe digital engagement, G-SAFE Framework

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: