On Monday, 21 November 2022, we had the opportunity to attend the launch event of The Digital Collective (DigiCo) at the Google office in Brussels. The Digital Collective (DigiCo) is a Brussels-based not-for-profit organisation advocating for digital inclusion at the European level. DigiCo partners with public and private organisations to tackle the digital skills divide in Europe.
As one of five organisations that have so far been supported by DigiCo, Grenzenlos Digital e.V. has launched the Intro project, which teaches basic digital skills online to people with refugee biographies. Besides our association, there are four other organisations in Europe that pursue similar goals and are part of the Digital Collective: ReDi School in Munich, GuG.cz in the Czech Republic, Le Monde des Possibles in Belgium and Stichting Lezen en Schrijven in the Netherlands. In Brussels, we had the opportunity to exchange ideas and get to know each other personally. There was also an exciting social programme that revolved around strategic measures to promote digital inclusion.
The programme started with an opening speech by DigiCo co-founder Gori Yahaya and a key note by Karen Massin (Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for EU Institutions at Google). This was followed by two rounds of discussion. In the first panel, specific projects were presented that aim at the digital qualification of migrants. The second panel focused on the interplay between digital skills and labour market integration. The entire event was recorded and can be viewed on YouTube:
The Digital Collective is now officially launched and focuses its efforts on promoting the digital inclusion of vulnerable groups and those who have so far remained invisible in the digital sphere. To achieve this, DigiCo would like to establish further partnerships in 2023 and invites interested organisations and individuals to contact and join the Collective.
For the self-assessment of digital skills, DigiCo provides the platform Skillify, which was developed according to the digital competence framework established by the EU. Skillify allows everyone to test their digital skills in five areas and identify potential gaps.
If you want to learn more about the mission of the Digital Collective, you can watch the following short video (in English).