Young children are growing up in digital environments that profoundly shape their behaviour, yet they are rarely taught the character strengths they need. Character for the Digital Age addresses this gap by developing and evaluating an integrated program for Grades 1–2 in Colombia that builds four foundational competencies - empathy, emotional regulation, resilience, and critical thinking across school, home, and online.

The project brings together leading Colombian partners (Aulas en Paz, CoSchool, Universidad de los Andes) with the Varkey Foundation to co-create a classroom curriculum, a teacher learning journey, and digital parenting. In 2026, the team will develop program materials and research instruments. In 2027, trained teachers will deliver the program while parents receive accessible digital-parenting guidance. In 2028, Universidad de los Andes will complete its mixed-methods evaluation using validated character strengths measures, scenario-based assessments of digital behaviour, and parent and teacher feedback.

We hypothesize that children receiving the program will show measurable gains in socio-emotional skills and more adaptive responses to early digital challenges. The project aims to advance the field by demonstrating how character education can form the behavioural foundations of digital citizenship in early primary school and by establishing a scalable, culturally grounded model for Latin America.