ParentProtect is a project led by Professor Lucie Cluver together with GPI Future Leaders, Lauren Baerecke and Dr Shallen Lusinga. The project is part of a programmatic partnership between UNICEF and the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the University of Cape Town, Clowns Without Borders South Africa, and Parenting for Lifelong Health. Its goal is to develop and integrate content on online sexual violence prevention into digital and blended parenting programmes, and address an urgent need for evidence-based and accessible parenting support to address tech-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse. 

At the start of the project, the team conducted an evidence synthesis and over 60 interviews with key informants, including UN agencies, NGOs, academic institutions, tech companies, and survivor-led advocacy organisations. Insights from these phases of the research can be found in a UNICEF report published in September 2025. The report was presented in 2025 at the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN) Congress in Lithuania and at the Global Cyber Security Forum in Saudi Arabia.

To contextualise their knowledge of real-life issues and challenges faced by caregivers and youth in South Africa, the team ran co-design workshops with caregivers, adolescents, and frontline partners. Efforts were made to include the perspectives of male caregivers and caregivers of teens with disabilities.  A second report, focused on the co-design and content development phase, will be released in 2026.

These efforts will culminate in the release of an adapted version of ParentApp for South Africa, with online safety content embedded throughout the intervention.