Global Kids Online: designing an impact toolkit for a multi-country project

For research precisely designed to inform policy and practice, ensuring it has the desired impact is crucial. But tracking impact across many countries and diverse contexts can be difficult. Sonia Livingstone and Mariya Stoilova describe how the Global Kids Online project has built an impact toolkit which draws on recent empirical research with over 12,000 children. The ambition is to inform national and international policy and legislation around digital technologies, with a focus on safeguarding children’s rights. The impact toolkit contains accessible summaries of the approach, definitions, and key steps; an impact planning and monitoring framework, complete with templates and an exemplar framework; and tools for engaging key stakeholders, including guidelines on using evidence to inform policymaking, presenting findings to children, and communication strategies.