As the leaves fall from the trees and the sunny, hot summer fades into a distant memory, we reflect on what has been yet another busy and successful few months for the One Digital programme.  

Programme progress:  

In quarter five we continued to recruit and train more Digital Champions and reach more people with digital skills support.  Between June and August 2018 we have:   

Reached 4,480 people 

Recruited 416 Digital Champions 

Engaged with 284 Organisations 

Digital skills in a rural area

In August our Community of Practice Learning Facilitator Kate Gallant visited the One Digital project Digital Gwynedd, run by Citizens Online in North Wales. There can be particular barriers to overcome when delivering digital skills support in a rural area, such as poor connectivity and limited local transport options. Barriers that can make having the skills to access online services even more important. The team in Gwynedd have found that taking a flexible and yet targeted approach, working with local people to support and publicise the opportunities available, can be very successful.   

For more on the project visit see Kate’s blog https://bit.ly/2wv6AVr  

One Digital partnership 

Collaboration is at the heart of the One Digital partnership. Our programme partners are encouraged to work together and share resources, learning and insight to truly benefit from the partnership approach.  

In September two of the One Digital partners, Clarion Futures and Digital Unite, joined forces to run a very successful Member Meet Up event at Somerset House in London with much positive feedback. The benefits of this collaboration were seen at two levels.  

For Clarion and Digital Unite, the pooling of resources and ideas meant they could deliver a more detailed and interactive event than would have been possible on their own. Attendees also benefitted from exchanging experiences and learning from a wider range of organisations at varying stages of their Digital Champion activities. The appetite for future similar events was very strong and the two partners are now looking at delivering similar collaborative events in other parts of the UK.  

Some great #workshopping this morning, now sharing our new #DigitalChampionKnowHow – not our sandwiches though… #whoknewveganwrapsweresogood? @OneDigitalProg @digitalunite @ReflectorOn @ClarionFutures pic.twitter.com/5D5bKIlB2U

— Alastair Walsh (@allyw8) 13 September 2018

Community of Practice  

The Community of  Practice  continues to share learning and good practice from the One Digital programme via the Toolkit and partner learning sessions.  

Currently the Community of Practice is focusing on the development of a knowledge base on approaches to supporting vulnerable groups to gain digital skills.  We continue to provide a space for other organisations to share their experiences and expertise and are looking forward to our November event on ‘Demonstrating the impact of digital inclusion’. 

Get involved  

If you or your organisation is interested in the One Digital programme there are many different ways to get involved. From setting up your own Digital Champion project,  or  becoming a member of the Digital Champions Network.  If you are interested in being part of the digital inclusion solution please do get in touch with us at  info@onedigitaluk.com.

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One Digital is a UK wide partnership which promotes the use of Digital Champions to support people to learn digital skills. For organisations interested in setting up their own digital inclusion project we have developed a free Toolkit, containing a range of useful information and resources.