Volunteers help tackle digital divide Thursday, December 10, 2009 - 10:00

The Digital Activist Inclusion Network (DAIN) project comes at a time when digital participation is being recognised as vital for life skills in the 21st Century and is being launched at a NIACE event - Tackling Technology Together - in Nottingham on Thursday 10 December 2009.

DAIN - part-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and led by the East Midlands Workers' Educational Association (WEA) - will train and support over 100 Digital Activists; volunteers who will in turn encourage people to use technology for the first time. Digital Activists will be offered a short training course; gain valuable work experience in their local communities; and have the chance to be selected to take part in a European study trip.

DAIN will operate in eight areas across the East Midlands to deliver 200 community-based Information & Communication Technology (ICT) courses a year, helping to widen participation in employment and learning.

Mary Moss, NIACE's lead on Digital Inclusion, said:

"This project looks at approaches to digital inclusion and the role of volunteers. With the launch of Digital Britain and the development of the plan for National Digital Participation, this project will be able to contribute a great deal of practical experience of ‘what works'. Our international partners are helping us to identify projects in Europe where similar initiatives have had significant social impact."

"We would like to hear from enthusiastic, unemployed people with experience of ICT, who can commit a few hours a week working with the WEA to deliver this project. Those with an interest can contact dain@wea.org.uk or visit www.dainproject.org.uk for more information."

Martha Lane Fox, the Government's Digital Inclusion Champion, said:

"There is both a moral and economic imperative for the wider community to take the issue of digital inclusion much more seriously. It is our job to champion the four million people in the UK who are currently socially and digitally excluded so that they too enjoy the benefits of being online. I welcome the news of the Prime Minister's plan to provide an extra £30 million in funding to UK online centres to help at least one million of this group to get online."

DAIN's third UK partner is the East Midlands Third Sector strategic body for the European Social Fund (CEFET). Its four international partners are led by Germany's Institute for Innovation in e-learning, Institut für Lern-Innovation.