Empowering West Cumbria

Client Challenge:

Our continued commitment to supporting local communities by enabling the development of essential digital skills for residents in West Cumbria, thereby addressing digital exclusion in the area.

Solution:

Developing a Digital Champions Network by recruiting and training local Digital Champions inside local charities to support community members in acquiring digital skills.

Outcome & Benefits:

• Enhanced Community Networking: Engagement with over 20 local organisations fostered collaboration and shared resources towards digital inclusion.
• Skilled Digital Champions: 26 Champions from 12 organisations were trained, completing 198 courses with over 50 attendees, demonstrating a robust foundation for peer-to-peer digital skill support.
• Direct Impact on Beneficiaries: Tangible improvements in digital skills among residents, including seniors and disabled individuals, facilitated by Champions. This support ranged from basic digital literacy to more complex tasks, enhancing independence and confidence in digital spaces.
• Foundation for Future Growth: The project established a strong network and methodology that promise to extend the benefits to a wider audience in subsequent phases.

Introduction and Project Statement

The Let’s Get Digital West Cumbria project emerged from a pressing need to bridge the digital divide in a region where digital exclusion exacerbates social isolation. By leveraging Capgemini’s resources and Digital Unite’s expertise, the initiative aimed not only to introduce digital skills but to weave them into the fabric of community resilience. This forward-thinking approach reflected an active choice to embrace digital transformation as a tool for social inclusion, setting a proactive rather than reactive stance against the backdrop of the digital age.

The Let’s Get Digital (LGD) project was set up in West Cumbria in late 2022, funded by Capgemini as part of a contractual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) commitment. Delivery was managed through close collaboration with Digital Unite (DU), specialists in digital inclusion who offer a range of products and services based on a ‘train the trainer’ approach to digital inclusion. These include the Digital Champions Network (DCN), an online learning and engagement platform aimed at recruiting, training, and supporting Digital Champions.

The LGD project has three interdependent elements:

1. Developing a community-based digital inclusion network in West Cumbria
2. Recruiting and training Digital Champions in local communities using the Digital Champions Network
3. Helping Digital Champions to support local people to improve their essential digital skills.

Solution Roadmap and Implementation

Implementing the solution required a multifaceted strategy and included three main strands:

1. Developing a community-based digital inclusion network in West Cumbria

Solutioning began with the cultivation of a community network that united a diverse range of stakeholders around the common cause of digital inclusion. These activities included:

• Developing and circulating a quarterly newsletter around digital inclusion in West Cumbria.
• Brokering connections between organisations with complementary aims to maximise the use of reusable assets.
• Researching and promoting opportunities to attract funds.
• Attending regional forums to communicate shared ambitions.

By establishing contact with more than 20 stakeholder organisations in West Cumbria, and building a shared vision for delivering digital training, the delivery team fostered connections and collaboration towards further delivery.

2. Recruiting and training Digital Champions

The recruitment and training of Digital Champions stood at the heart of the project, embodying the belief in the power of community-led support. Digital Unite supports organisations in the community to do this through membership allocation of the Digital Champions Network.

To date, 21 individuals representing 12 organisations in West Cumbria have joined the Network as project managers. They in turn have registered 26 people (a mix of staff and volunteers) as individual Digital Champions, who have access to a range of e-learning and support tools to help them gain knowledge and skills about their champion role. This online platform contains a suite of learning and support materials for the people managing Digital Champion projects, to help with recruiting, supporting, and monitoring Digital Champions and their activities.

The network became the linchpin of the project’s success, enabling personalized, direct support for community members.

3. Helping Digital Champions to support local people

Two project managers at two partner organisations – AbilityNet and U3A West Lakes – shared insights into how the LGD project was helping them to improve digital skills for beneficiaries in their local communities. AbilityNet is a national support organisation for disabled people which has a track record in digital inclusion. They have a volunteer coordinator already active in West Cumbria who was pleased to engage with the LGD project:

“The DCN is brilliant. The resources are so useful, they help you manage a session.  It’s not necessarily the technical knowledge that is important but knowing how to put people at ease and to inspire confidence. The DCN resources really help with that.” [Project manager, AbilityNet]

Benefits and results of the Project:

The project has laid a solid groundwork for digital inclusion in West Cumbria, with Digital Champions making a marked difference in the lives of beneficiaries by providing crucial digital skills support.

• Enhanced Community Networking: To date, 21 individuals representing 12 organisations in West Cumbria have joined the Digital Champions Network as project managers.

• Skilled Digital Champions: 26 Champions from 12 organisations were trained, completing 198 courses, demonstrating a robust foundation for peer-to-peer digital skill support.
• Direct Impact on Beneficiaries: Tangible improvements in digital skills among residents, including seniors and disabled individuals, facilitated by Champions. Data on 50+ beneficiaries supported by AbilityNet Champions shows beneficiaries being helped with tasks covering all five of the essential digital skills areas as defined in the standard skills framework i.e., information handling, communication, staying safe online, problem-solving, and transacting.
• Foundation for Future Growth: Despite initial challenges, the project established a strong network and methodology that promise to extend the benefits to a wider audience in subsequent phases.

Looking forward, the vision extends to expanding the network of Champions and partners, deepening the impact on the community’s digital literacy, and further embedding digital inclusion into local support ecosystems. The partnership’s ongoing commitment hints at a bright future where digital empowerment is accessible to all in West Cumbria, promising a more inclusive, connected community.

Beneficiary quotes:

To gain some more insight into the impacts this support has on beneficiaries’ everyday lives, three beneficiaries were interviewed. They described gaining confidence in using devices on their own, greater use of digital communication channels to feel more connected in their local communities and communities of shared interest, and feeling more able to access services which were otherwise feeling increasingly out of reach:

“The main difference is that I started online banking. I did not want to, I felt forced into it due to the demise of all the local banks, and the difficulty of getting through on the phone. I don’t think I would have attempted that without knowing I could get help from [the Digital Champion]. I find it very reassuring to know that they are here.”

“I am the secretary of the Rotary Club – I’ve been with them for 40 years – and I have to do a lot of letters and mailing and things. [The Digital Champion] has helped me set up mailing lists and organise the correspondence. It saves me a hell of a lot of time!”

“I have learned to use a mobile phone. I feel much safer now I know I can contact people wherever I am. Without the help from the DC, I am sure I would not have got going with it.”