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COVID-19 has widened the digital divide in the UK and around the world. A growing gap exists between people with or without digital skills; between people who can afford to participate meaningfully in digital life and those who can’t.

 

The divide has affected the way charities support the people they exist to serve, and many are working hard to close the divide. We look at some inspiring examples.

 

 

Hammersmith & Fulham Age UK, Staying Connected Project

 

An estimated 11.7 million people in the UK lack the digital skills needed for everyday life. Older people, particularly those living in poverty, are disproportionately disconnected from digital life.

 

In 2019, Age UK Hammersmith & Fulham launched, ‘Stay Connected’, a digital inclusion project funded for five years by the National Lottery Community Fund.

 

Paris Gibbs, Marketing and Communications Co-ordinator, explains that “there are older people choosing between heating, eating, and internet access” in the borough.

 

Two years into its five-year term, Staying Connected has supported more than 2,500 older people to gain digital skills. Staff and 30 trained Digital Champion volunteers have delivered one-to-one sessions in people’s homes, or via Zoom or phone calls as well as group sessions at their community centre.

 

When teaching digital skills, their approach is to meet older people where they are – providing them with devices if needed, and teaching them how to bank and shop online, or reach their families via WhatsApp.

 

Through the pandemic and beyond, Age UK Hammersmith and Fulham have found ways to overcome digital exclusion and help older people find joy and connection online. Friends made at regular virtual bingo sessions have become friends in the real world.

 

 

Grassroots Suicide Prevention, Stay Alive App

 

When it launched in 2014, the Stay Alive App was the first of its kind. It was designed to reach people at risk of suicide with a toolkit of resources. The app includes a safety plan, a ‘reasons for living list’ and a section signposting more than 600 other organisations – including local community organisations – that can help.

 

Stay Alive has surpassed expectations. With more than 300,000 downloads it has reached more people, more cost-effectively than Grassroots Suicide Prevention might have at the local community level. The app has helped 76% of users at risk of suicide to stay safe.

 

The challenge for the small team at Grassroots Suicide Prevention is to maintain and improve the app and look to other digital and non-digital channels to continue the mission. Suicide prevention will never be a single channel or single tool solution.

 

Alex Harvey, Head of Digital and Development, has a “smart and passionate team” but feels the weight of choosing between investment in training for his team or outsourcing app development.

 

Currently, work on the app is funded by the National Lottery through the Digital Fund. As updates or new features are needed, the issue of sustainable funding for established services is an ongoing challenge for Harvey and his team.

 

 

Barnardos Innovation Lab, Co-design online

 

One of the enduring challenges that Barnardos exists to solve is the gap in measured outcomes between care-experienced and non-care-experienced young people. Young people who have been in care are consistently less likely to reach positive destinations – employment, studying, training, or looking after family.

 

To begin to close the gap Barnardos Innovation Lab has worked on co-designing solutions with care-experienced young people in the London Borough of Brent. Their challenge was to run the co-design process online.

 

Originally, they planned to meet for two hours each week on Zoom, using a Miro board to capture thoughts and ideas. They found it was difficult to create trust and rapport via Zoom. Their co-designers were reluctant to turn cameras on and share personal experiences that might lead to new thoughts and ideas.

 

The process was altered to become more conversational and after ten weeks, progress had been made and ideas suggested.

 

In her blog on the project, Rhiannon Creasey, Service Designer, concludes that the experience was a “helpful reminder that space is an important enabler of creative, imaginative work”

 

 

Digital Challenges

 

Going digital is particularly challenging for people living in poverty, but even the standard procedure for claiming Universal Credit requires an email address.

 

No one should have to choose between feeding their children and getting online. Charities have a vital role to play in supporting lower-income households to get connected.

 

Many charity service users and staff have been faced with an urgent need to improve their digital skills. Charities are facing tough decisions around the costs to bridge internal digital skills gaps or buying in external expertise. Especially when they find that existing ways of working just don’t translate well online.

 

Despite significant challenges, digital communities are finding joy and connection, fueling our hope that the challenges the sector faces today can be overcome.