In the DigitalScouts project, six partner organisations in five EU countries aim to promote the digital participation of older people by developing and testing a training programme for those who train and support older people.
However, while the training content was being developed, another important step had to be taken to ensure the project’s success: from the early planning stages of the adult education project, co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme, it was clear that in Romania not only training was needed, but also equipment, which many people could not afford.
The association Computertruhe e. V. was found and immediately agreed to support the DigitalScouts project. The association emerged in 2016 from a project within the Netzwerks Flüchtlinge Waldkirch (Refugee Network Waldkirch). The main aim of the association is to provide people who cannot afford hardware with equipment that has been taken out of service by companies or private individuals, thus enabling them to participate in the digital world. “The members of Computertruhe e. V. spend their free time refurbishing discarded, donated computers and other hardware, reliably destroying all personal data on them, and then making the equipment available free of charge to people in need and to other non-profit organisations.”
The hardware needed to run the project in Romania was quickly processed and made available by Computertruhe e. V. “We are very pleased to be able to make a small contribution to the DigitalScouts – Enhancing the Digital Literacy and Participation in Europe project with some refurbished laptops and smartphones. We know from our own experience that older people in particular often do not use digital technologies to the extent that they could, in order to benefit adequately from the opportunities that digitalisation offers, for example in the social, cultural, political or health sectors. There is a great need for support services tailored to the needs of older people” says Marco Rosenthal, chairman of Computertruhe e. V.
The project coordinator from the ISIS Institut für soziale Infrastruktur is very grateful for the straightforward help and valuable advice from the association. Getting the donations to Bucharest, however, was a challenge that was greatly underestimated. “I had thought about customs regulations, but I didn’t realise that you can’t use a parcel service to send such a donation abroad, because the built-in batteries are classed as dangerous goods,” says Jana Eckert, who is leading the project.
As a solution, she decided to take her children and the hardware donations on a holiday trip by train to Vienna, where a couple who are friends of the Romanian partner organisation were on holiday and were able to take the equipment safely to Bucharest in their car.
The senior citizens’ organisation Omenia, which will run the training with project partner GEAC, was delighted when the equipment arrived. The room where the pilot training for digital scouts (trainers and supporters of seniors) and the subsequent training for seniors will take place is currently being renovated, but the equipment that arrived has already been presented to some interested seniors. A technician was quickly found to install the necessary software on the laptops. Stickers were also provided to adapt the keyboards to the Romanian language.
Omenia has long dreamed of having the technical equipment to run computer courses and other educational activities for its members. Once the room is ready and the ten smartphones and eight laptops are up and running, Bucharest’s ‘digital scouts’ and seniors will be able to enjoy using them and develop their teaching and digital skills together, both within and outside the project. Everyone involved in the project is excited about this long-term impact.