End Digital Poverty Day: Why we signed the Charter for Digital Inclusion

Every year, the Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) hosts End Digital Poverty Day to raise awareness, build community engagement, and garner support for tackling digital exclusion head-on. This End Digital Poverty Day, we’re taking the opportunity to share why we recently signed the DPA’s Charter for Digital Inclusion.   

Digital exclusion has deep and wide-ranging consequences for people and society 

An estimated one in seven people are deprived across two or more dimensions of digital poverty, according to research by Deloitte and the Digital Poverty Alliance. Digital exclusion impacts people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds. 

Those excluded can be isolated from friends and family and have reduced access to education, work, social security, healthcare, banking, housing, and more. The situations caused by digital exclusion have been described as a “Catch-22”, a “double loop of inequalities”, and a “vicious circle”, as exclusion from digital technology can worsen people’s existing challenges and make them more difficult to resolve.  

Research has shown how digital exclusion adversely impacts older people, younger people, children, people with disabilities, women, asylum seekers, people leaving prison, and people with no formal qualifications, as well as people experiencing unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and health conditions, and people living in rural areas.  

The way our society uses digital technologies is causing and worsening widespread inequalities, and it isn’t right. Signing the Charter for Digital Inclusion helps organisations work strategically to ensure everyone can make the most of digital, no matter their background. 

Organisations need to use digital technology differently 

When it comes to digital inclusion, it’s clear that organisations need to use digital technology differently: 

These are just a few examples. Their relevance to charities is underscored even further when considering how digital exclusion worsens existing problems for marginalised people, core to much of the work of the sector. 

Signing the Charter for Digital Inclusion commits us to embedding digital inclusion into our operations, taking responsibility for building a better digital society. 

Co-ordinated action creates greater change 

To sign the charter, organisations commit to at least three of the below actions: 

With organisations across sectors focusing their efforts on the same five objectives, change in those areas is more likely to accelerate. Organisations can use their existing strengths to contribute to the overarching strategic plan, maximising change towards creating a society where digital opportunities are accessible to all.