New funding for project will make more people digitally enabled in Scotland
An investment of £520,000 from the Big Lottery Fund will enable more people across Scotland to get online.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisation (SCVO) will manage the cash to help more people connect with the online world by training hundreds of people in charities across the country as digital champions.
With research showing some 77% of the public are offline because they don’t feel engaged and 26% of computer beginners not using their new digital skills without ongoing help, people who aren’t online yet are now becoming harder to engage and need personal long-term support.
SCVO will use this investment of over £528k to work with organisations in every local authority area to run a programme of training and support for over 600 charities and third sector organisations.
Three different streams of activity will support these organisations to create digital champions and transform the way they engage with digital.
The investment is part of a UK-wide Big Lottery Fund £2 million digital skills programme
Fiona Hyslop MSP, Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, backed the programme.
“Getting online is more and more important to let everyone in Scotland take part in society, as well as using digital services, product and social networks,” she said.
“But nearly one in five Scots still don’t have internet access, and 16% don’t have the basic skills they need to make the most of going online. These digital inequalities mirror and reinforce the social inequalities in Scotland.”
The investment is part of a UK-wide Big Lottery Fund £2 million digital skills programme, One Digital, which has been developed by SCVO along with digital skills provider Digital Unite, and Citizens Online, Age UK, Ability Net and Affinity Sutton.
Sally Dyson of SCVO, added: “This is an important step towards changing the lives of some of the million people in Scotland who lack the skills to get things done online.”
A launch event will take place on 11 February at 9.15am at Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC).
