Although children have much to gain from digital innovation, their needs and rights are rarely business priorities. In contribution to UNDP’s 2025 Human Development Report, this report culminates findings from our interviews with developers of digital products and services used by children, focusing on those working in the global South. The report explores:
- whether developers are familiar with children’s rights,
- developers' interest and incentives to address these rights in product design and
- the barriers they face
Combining the interviews with desk research and a literature review, the findings reveal piecemeal and partial attention to children’s rights:
- While some developers are already taking children’s needs into account, most of those interviewed were unfamiliar with children’s rights and the available resources that could guide them.
- Market conditions matter. From market incentives in highly regulated markets to costs constraining developers’ capacity to cater to children’s rights, market conditions impact on developers’ ability and motivation to design for children.
- Social and societal conditions also matter. Social and cultural attitudes, as well as a country’s regulatory context, shape developers’ efforts to respect child rights.
- Laws and regulations can set minimum requirements for developers to fulfil children's rights, but they lag behind technological advances and lack robust enforcement. The problems of insufficient legal protections are exacerbated by rapid advances in AI.
Read the report
Our team
Dr Kruakae Pothong specialises in designing social-technical research, using deliberative methods to elicit human values and expectations of technological advances, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and distributed ledgers.
Professor Sonia Livingstone is the Director of the Digital Futures for Children centre. Sonia has published 20 books in media and communications and specialises in media audiences, children and young people’s risks and opportunities, media literacy and rights in the digital environment.