At TPAS Cymru we have seen great effort from Housing Associations and Local Authorities across Wales to enhance and improve the digital inclusivity within the communities in which they operate.

This was clearly evidenced at our recent Participation Awards, with Clwyd Alyn Housing Association winning the Digital Involvement award for their fantastic ‘Digital by Default’ initiative. It’s great to hear about all the wonderful ‘digital inclusion’ work going on out there but we don’t always get to see this work in action for ourselves.  So when I recently heard about a great service being delivered in my home town I was keen to find out more.

I read about Newydd Housing Associations’ Digital Inclusion Service on my local news feed where it was receiving recognition for recently achieving Digital Charter Accreditation.  I dropped into one of their weekly sessions being run at my local library and met with Scott Tandy, Newydd HA’s Community Regeneration Officer who runs the programme.

Working in partnership with Hafod HA, Wales and West HA, Rhondda Cynon Taff Council, Vale of Glamorgan Council and Communities First, the initiative has helped approximately 165 people since April alone and many more before that.  The sessions are delivered by voluntary ‘digital champions’ and Scott explained that the spectrum of the digital advice and support they provide is diverse.  It can range from help with sending an email, setting up a Skype account or navigating windows 10 (Something I could do with some help on myself).

Even with an extensive knowledge to draw upon, communicating information and teaching a wide variety of people with varying abilities is challenging.  It was therefore great to hear how much investment is made in the ‘digital champions’. All the volunteers undertake ‘Digital Champions Training’ from Digital Communities Wales and are then shadowed by other more experienced volunteers until they are comfortable to deliver alone.  They are also supported by detailed guides made by Scott and can share their own experience via their Facebook group.

Scott spoke very highly of the volunteers and their dedication and commitment to delivering this service. It was evident to me that his own passion and enthusiasm for the value of the initiative also played a huge part in its growth and success.  He told me that he found this work ‘very rewarding’ because it really is having a positive impact and improving digital inclusion. We discussed that with initiatives such as this it is sometimes hard to demonstrate the difference they are making to people’s lives but by sitting in on one of the sessions it was obvious to me how beneficial the service is to the people it supports.

I sat in on a session where Scott was assisting a local man Mark to effectively use his smart phone, including the email function so he could easily email his sister. The way Scott was able to explain the technology functions and answer a variety of questions was really impressive.  Mark was really grateful for the help he had been given and was keen to come back the following week after practicing what he had learned. It was clear that he enjoyed attending and was genuinely keen to learn and become more digitally active.

With more and more now exclusively online, services such as this one will become increasingly important.  Scott explained that a lot of the work they do involves helping service users to navigate websites such as Universal Job Match to search for jobs search, setting up online accounts and making payments etc (things that can confuse event the most digitally savvy of us). For me, this highlights how massively disadvantaged many people in our communities would be if services like this didn’t exist.  Evidence shows that social housing tenants in particular are still disproportionately digitally excluded, negatively impacting on their ability to access information and opportunities available to those with the equipment and skills to better navigate our digital world.

At TPAS Cymru we believe that the importance and value of creating digitally inclusive communities is well established across the Welsh Housing Sector.  There are numerous examples of fantastic projects and initiatives addressing the ‘digital divide’ such as this one delivered by Newydd and its partners. Of course there is always room to do more, but judging by the commitment and dedication I have seen from staff and volunteers so far it is a challenge the sector is well equipped to do. Perhaps we can even save a few iPads from becoming over priced coasters along the way!