Substantial funding Nij Begun for digital coach project Groningen and North Drenthe

Not everyone can keep up in the increasingly digital society. And those who miss the connection are facing a growing disadvantage. A large project around digital coaches is changing that. In all municipalities in Groningen and North Drenthe, there will be room to train people with a distance to the labor market to become digital coaches. The initiative for this comes from the Digital Literacy Coalition (DLC): a network of organizations that are committed to increasing digital skills in the region. The extensive project can count on 2 million euros per year.

Social Agenda of Nij Begun

During a successful pilot last year in Veendam, four digital coaches in Veendam and Pekela showed how powerful personal, patient digital support close to home is. The coaches there helped 225 people and gave them more digital independence. These people also indicated that they felt less lonely. The digital coaches themselves gained important experiences, strengthened their position on the labor market and were able to move on to a paid job or further education. Within the project, the digital coaches are given a temporary job to help others in their own network close to home and informally with the development of their digital skills. Think of help with applying for a DigiD, filling in forms or learning to use apps with family. In addition, they play a role in referring to non-formal additional learning opportunities at libraries, for example.

The project is built around the approach to digital literacy and inclusion in the Social Agenda of Nij Begun. From this autumn, structural funding will be available to build a network of digital coaches in Groningen and North Drenthe. Residents with welfare benefits follow a training to become a digital coach and then get a paid job to start working as a digital coach.

Critical skills

Marcel Broersma, professor of Media and Journalistic Culture, initiator and chairman of the DLC, is extremely pleased with the financial support from Nij Begun. Broersma: ‘There are 2.5 million people in the Netherlands who lack the basic skills to really have access to the online world. The same number lacks the critical skills to understand what works and what doesn't, what the dangers are, but also what the possibilities are of online communication. And as a result, you as a citizen are increasingly sidelined. With this project, we can strengthen existing local networks and involve many people in our digital society again.’

Broersma previously devised a successful pilot project with digital coaches in Veendam and Pekela. He then designed, together with DLC programme coordinators Arnout Ponsioen (Hanze) and Alex Smit (RUG), the plan to roll this out within the social agenda of Nij Begun in all municipalities in Groningen and North Drenthe. The Digital Inclusion Lab that he leads, monitors, evaluates and researches the effectiveness of the project.