Listening to young people's experiences has become more important for the Safer Internet Programme over the last few years – they give important input on awareness-raising strategies, tools and materials as well as first-hand knowledge about how they use online technologies and their conception of risks and how to deal with them.

During the Safer Internet Forum 2009 in Luxembourg, the first pan-European Youth Panel on online safety was organised by Insafe on 21 October. This was the first time that a panel has been organised with such wide geographical coverage (26 European Countries) under the Safer Internet Programme.

National youth panels exist in most European countries, as part of the awareness raising mandate of the Safer Internet Centres. The aim of these national panels is to ensure that young people's voices are heard and that their ideas and perspectives are taken into consideration when new awareness activities are being planned and policies made. By proactively consulting the key target group the activities funded under the Safer Internet Programme can better meet the challenges of promoting safer and responsible use of online technologies and create policies and awareness messages that adequately meet their needs.

A European youth panel on online safety was arranged on Safer Internet Day 2008, with 27 young people (aged 12-19) from nine countries. One of the main conclusions was that the young people wanted to learn more about online safety in schools.

This initiative has been made possible through the support of the Safer Internet Programme (Information Society and Media directorate of the European Commission) and three organisations from the private sector: Liberty Global, Microsoft and Vivendi.

More information will follow once the official reports are published by the Safer Internet Programme.