Empowering vulnerable groups to participate in digital skills

• Author: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission)
• Pages: 62-63

SOCIAL INNOVATION: INSPIRATIONAL PRACTICES

SUPPORTING PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES

62

© Raul Perez, 2018

An Employing Digital training session

Problem addressed

The demand for digital skills in the workplace is growing

rapidly and it is estimated that 9 out of 10 jobs will require

digital skills in the near future. This means that some level

of knowledge of advanced digital skills such as coding or

debugging will be increasingly required for entry into many

jobs, barring access to people with low levels of qualif‌ications.

For people from vulnerable backgrounds, such as the Roma

community, this could mean an increased risk of exclusion

from the labour market and further economic hardship if they

do not have access to digital and technological training.

Innovative solution

The Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) was established in

the 1960s in order to improve the well-being of the Roma

community in Spain. It accomplishes its mission through a

series of programmes which include the #EmpleandoDigital

programme. #EmpleandoDigital focuses on developing the

digital skills of people at risk of social exclusion through a

digital skills training scheme. The training courses provided

to the community are designed in tandem with major

companies and each one aims at providing the benef‌iciary

with basic and advanced digital skills as well as training for

1 of 23 identif‌ied occupations by Accenture as having the

greatest employment prospects in an increasingly digitalised

labour market. 80% of the benef‌iciaries of the programme

are from the Roma community.

While similar initiatives exist in Spain, the strength of

#EmpleandoDigital lies in the innovative partnership

between public, private and non-prof‌it organisations and the

focus of providing training that is based on occupations that

will be the most sought aer in an increasingly digitalised

labour market. This gives it access to a range of expertise and

funding. The Red Cross and FSG bring expertise on working

with vulnerable groups and a long-standing relationship with

the Roma community. The Accenture Foundation provides

technical assistance and high-prof‌ile support and has also

designed a number of innovative digital tools to support the

implementation of the #EmpleandoDigital project.

Empowering vulnerable groups to

participate in digital skills

Employing Digital

Spain