INHOPE held its third virtual Hotline Training Meeting (HTM) on 28 & 29 April 2021. INHOPE members are looking forward to the day when they can reunite for an in-person HTM, but the network maintained a high level of engagement even in the online environment.

The first day of the HTM was opened with a welcome from Michael Busch, Senior Expert, European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, Safer Internet. This was followed by Dr. Sharon Cooper - CEO of Developmental and Forensic Pediatrics delivering an analyst training and discussing the soon-to-be published Maturation and Content Assessment Manual. The second session of the day was an interactive workshop to produce concrete input, actions and goals to be included in INHOPE’s strategy 2021-2025.

Boris Radanović, SWGfL, UK opened the second day of the HTM with an enlightening presentation on “How the internet really works and why this knowledge will help us ensure our young people stay safer”. This was followed by a presentation by Kalina Zografska, INHOPE’s Product Manager, on “Changes in ICCAM: Orphan reports workflow” discussing ICCAM Orphan reports – how it works, its impact and how hotlines deal with them.

Samantha Woolfe, INHOPE’s Global Partnerships and Network Expansion Lead, then led a session on “Supporting Reporting Everywhere – raising awareness and ensuring that all citizens know and can report online CSAM through a hotline or a portal” with presentations from Zoe Colpaert, IWF and Carolina Piñeros, TeProtejo on the expansion plans of the respective hotlines.

The next session was on “Caring for Colleagues, Broadening Horizons” with an introduction and personal experience of being an online safety professional (successively content reviewer, strategist, and partner manager) given by Vincent Courson, Google. The introduction was followed by facilitated breakout discussions on Caring for Colleagues in the child online protection space that covered questions such as: What do analysts need? What can managers do to help support their teams? What professional training could be added to ensure resilience and care?

The final session of this HTM was called “Analysts are Rockstars: different organisations, same challenges” and was a dialogue between INHOPE’s Director Denton Howard and Trust & Safety Professional Association (TSPA)’s Director Charlotte Carnavale Willner.