DIGITAL ACCESS: Digital Skills for People Living in the 3rd Age - Effective Digital Access to Public Services

“DIGITAL ACCESS: Digital Skills for People Living in the 3rd Age – Effective Digital Access to Public Services” aims at training elderly people to develop specific digital skills needed to access public services online. The project developed a new training programme targeted at people living in the 3rd age in order to support their adaptation to the digital-oriented changing world and ensure that they can easily identify and access the right services, take advantage of the benefits the Internet offers, and feel confident for using online tools to manage their health and life quality.

The project objectives include:

• To train elderly people to develop digital skills needed to access public services online
• To provide a tailored solution for overcoming barriers related to access, skills, confidence and motivation of elderly people to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet and the digital services
• To apply a confidence-building approach by developing virtual assistance based on elderly people’s real life scenarios
• To provide support to the elderly for gaining up-to-date personal competences and transversal skills, leading to a significant step towards active ageing

Year(s): 2017-2019

Target group(s): Elderly people ; Training and education providers working with elderly people ; Organisations providing public services

Website or other online channels: http://digital-3rd-age.eu/

Methodology

The project activities were focused on developing:

• Public services roadmaps providing information on the most relevant online public services in 5 EU countries
• Training programme for improving basic digital skills and developing specific skills for digital access to public services
• E-learning and e-assistance platform with a Virtual assistance tool for digital inclusion of the elderly
• Effective methodology for high-quality work with elderly people by applying confidence-building approach and interactivity
• Policy recommendations for improving active ageing and digital literacy of elderly
• Triggering word of mouth events for presenting the project results and supporting their exploitation at local, national and European level

Type of product

Online resource Video clips / Films

Brief description of the outcomes

Online public services roadmaps

The Roadmaps provide information on the most relevant online public services in 5 EU countries – the UK, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic. Each Roadmap includes information on the skills and means needed to access the public services, security risks and tips related to each service as well as the benefits they offer to people who use them. Different services from each Roadmap are also developed as demonstrational video materials within the Digital Assistance Tool.

 

Digital assistance tool

The Digital Assistance Tool is an instrument that supports the digital inclusion of people living in the third age. It contains video materials from the 5 partner countries which demonstrate in practice the access and use of different online public services. The Tool is developed as animation scenarios with people accessing actual public services online.

 

Training programme

The Training programme is designed to develop the proper digital skills necessary to effective digital access to public services and to improve the digital knowledge of elderly learners. The programme is intended to develop and improve basic digital skills, specific skills for access to online services and skills related to online safety, researching specific information, etc. The modules of the Training programme are divided into 3 levels – beginners, intermediate and advanced, and they are available in English, Bulgarian, Spanish, Czech and Greek.

Impact on target groups / Transferability potential

DIGITAL ACCESS has developed a set of informative and educational products which support people living in the third age in their adaptation to the digital world and ensure that they can easily access the right services, take advantage of the benefits the Internet offers and feel confident for using online tools to manage their health and life quality.

The DIGITAL ACCESS products are freely available in 5 languages – English, Bulgarian, Spanish, Czech and Greek, on the online platform of the project www.digital-3rd-age.eu.

Promoter of the initiative: CATALYST IN COMMUNITIES LTD (UK) ; KU TU EOOD (Bulgarian partner)

Country: Bulgaria Czech Republic Greece Netherlands Spain United Kingdom

Languages available: Bulgarian Czech English Greek Spanish

Website or other online channels: www.kutu-bg.eu