Support & learning blog

The Digital Participation Charter Fund was first launched 9 years ago in October 2014, but back then we called it the Challenge Fund. The Challenge Fund set out to support organisations that work closely with local communities to “digitising content, building digital networks or... Read more

Fife Council is the largest employer in Fife and the third largest council in Scotland. It is a mammoth task to support almost 18,000 staff with their digital skills to ensure a digitally confident workforce. To help meet the challenge their Digital Skills and Learning (DS&L... Read more

What is clear from this cohort is that digital inclusion support is still a priority for a wide range of organisations. Read more

Hello! I am so excited to be writing my first blog as part of SCVO’s Digital Participation team, to introduce myself and tell you about our Digital in the House programme. Firstly, who am I? My name is Rory Brown, a Community Learning and Development (CLD) worker who has been... Read more

The Minority Ethnic Silver Surfer Project (MESS) at West of Scotland Regional Equality Council (WSREC), has been running successfully since 2014. Each year the project has evolved due to many factors such as the availability of new technology and the rapid changes in our modern... Read more

In July 2019, Peebles CAN was excited to receive Digital Participation Charter Fund support to improve the digital skills of our garden volunteers. This was a fantastic project and, fortunately for our community, it began before lockdown giving people the vital skills they needed... Read more

Last week Lloyds Bank published their annual UK Consumer Digital Index 2020, giving us an overview of the digital inclusion landscape across the UK. This annual publication provides insights to attitudes and behaviours of those who are online and offline, a useful resource for... Read more

Our recent DigiShift zoom was packed with insights and inspiration from charity professionals working with children and young people. This blog pulls together ten great examples of organisations delivering digital services that you can learn from. Barnardo’s - WhatsApp as a tool... Read more

Siobhan Mercer reflects on the insights and inspiration from an Ask Me Anything DigiShift session with the renowned Beth Kanter. The topics covered were virtual meetings, managing remote teams, and maintaining connection and wellbeing while social distancing. Have you ever... Read more

It’s hard to think of any event in recent times that’s galvanised change the way the coronavirus pandemic has. As a society we’ve adapted the way we access services and interact with one another. We’ve seen service delivery models move to digital platforms to enable continued... Read more

Since joining the Digital Champions in Housing Network with SCVO, staff at Langstane Housing Association have made a huge effort to advertise the new service being offered, and it has paid off. We advertised using our social media page and website, issued a press release... Read more

Irene Mackintosh, Mhor Collective @irenewarnermack, PhD Student at the University of the West of Scotland It’s always exciting when a new report comes out (or it is to me, but maybe I’m weird), with new statistics to pour over and thoughts to think, and so I was looking forward... Read more

I have been aspiring for years to bring Orkney Housing Association into the 21st century and undertake everyday tasks more digitally. It got me thinking, how much post do I receive through my own letterbox each week? Answer – hardly any! I receive text reminders for dentist... Read more

There’s nothing like the turn of a decade to prompt you to step back and look at longer-term changes. The pace of digital change is notoriously fast, and getting faster. What does this mean over the longer term? And why is 2020 particularly important? Looking at the last 20 years... Read more

In Scotland, 43% of the workforce are lacking in Essential Digital Skills. Although this is slightly ahead of the UK average (53%) we still need to improve. People who don’t have these skills are more likely to be older, female, be a part-time worker, have a disability or be... Read more

“We don’t build houses, we build communities” That’s what one of our Digital Motivators said to me at a meet-up this week. What’s a Digital Motivator? Good question! Earlier this year we started a new project working with the social housing sector in Scotland. This project felt... Read more

Last month, visitors to this site may have enjoyed a blog about the journey SCVO has been on to create a digitally confident third sector in Scotland by my colleague and Head of Digital, Sally Dyson. As a Digital Participation Officer, a large part of my role is to support... Read more

Sacro is a Scottish community justice organisation which works to create safer and more cohesive communities across Scotland. Sacro provides a wide range of services spanning all aspects of the community justice continuum. These range from conflict resolution to prevent disputes... Read more

Over the past few months we’ve been working closely with colleagues at Glasgow Kelvin College to develop a brand new qualification for the housing sector in Scotland. This new qualification, Certificate in Digital Inclusion Project Management, is a credit rated qualification at... Read more

One of the issues facing those interested in digital inclusion research is the incredible speed at which new publications emerge: the sheer quantity of pertinent information, both coming from the field of practice and from academic study, can be overwhelming. Over the last few... Read more

Sarah Neary, Digital Participation Officer at West of Scotland Housing Association, shares her chat with Lily - a tenant she's helped get online. Lily, 83, has been receiving home visits from our Digital Participation Officer to learn more about her iPad. Here she tells us what... Read more

I’ve been lucky over the last few months to be a member of SCVO’s Digital Champions in Social Housing project. It’s been great to meet other people passionate about supporting our residents and our organisations to get better at digital. I’ve also been lucky enough to receive... Read more

Back in August we were delighted to welcome 19 new Charter Fund organisations on board, and earlier today we joined one of them, The Marie Trust, as they hosted a ministerial visit by Kate Forbes, MSP. Kate Forbes MSP with Frances McKinley, Chief Exec at the Marie Trust The Marie... Read more

This year our Digital Participation Charter Fund had an incredible level of interest and the standards were very high. With a limited amount of funding it’s always disappointing not to be able to invest in everyone. Fortunately, as part of our involvement in the One Digital... Read more

We’ve always been impressed with how committed housing sector staff are to their work, but we were blown away when one Tenant Participation Officer attended our second Digital Motivators Bootcamp in Inverness on the 9th and 10th September with a recently broken ankle - they were... Read more

Southside Housing Association is participating in SCVO’s Social Housing Digital Champions Network. Having joined the SCVO’s digital motivators group back in April, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting digital leaders from across Scotland’s social housing sector to discuss and debate... Read more

Digital technology has long been celebrated for making the world smaller through its ability to connect people all over the world, with the click of a mouse or touch of a screen, in an instant. However, the feedback we were collecting during our IT sessions was uncovering... Read more

The next decade could bring some of the most profound social, economic, political and environmental changes in living memory. In 2030, Scotland’s population will be larger and older. The rise of artificial intelligence and automation will have radically changed the jobs market... Read more

In the spring of 2017 the Scottish Government Digital Participation Team approached North Ayrshire charity CLASP (Community Led Action & Support Project) to deliver a digital participation project. As a result, that summer I started as Digital Participation Officer to set up and... Read more

This is the second of our two-part report on the Digital Participation Charter pilot research - to read part one click here. Charter Commitments We asked participants to give us specific examples of how they had met, somewhat met or exceeded their Charter commitments. “We have... Read more

Currently one in five people in Scotland lack essential digital skills. These are the skills of communicating, handling information and content, transacting, problem solving and being safe and legal online This equips everyone to fully participate in modern day to day life. The... Read more

Last week saw the release of the Lloyds Bank 2019 Consumer Digital Index and the Ofcom Adults: Media use and attitudes report 2019. These two reports contain key insights into the ways that different groups engage with the word through digital means, as well as highlighting those... Read more

Around 1 in 5 adults in Scotland do not have the digital skills that they need to make the most of new digital technology. The divide is becoming narrower but deeper, and the people who don’t have digital skills are also likely to face other types of disadvantage, such as poverty... Read more

Find out how our first Digital Motivators in Housing Bootcamp went and how you can get involved in our future cohorts before applications close on 31st May. "I heard there are more smart phones than toothbrushes in the world!" This was just one of the many interesting discussion... Read more

Every year ‘Digital Leaders’ recognise the work of organisations and inspirational individuals working to make the most of the digital world. Last year Gillian Docherty- CEO for Scotland’s Data Lab was the overall winner. The fantastic work taking place across Scotland is well... Read more

For many of us the digital age has brought about new and ever more convenient ways of going about our day to day lives. Whether it’s doing our online banking, ordering the weekly food shop or buying presents for that family member whose birthday we forgot; digitalisation has... Read more

Diane Webb - Digital Policy Lead at Renfrewshire Council - writes here about sourcing an affordable laptop for a young man starting an apprenticeship. This brings to life the challenges outlined in reports such as “Switched on, digital access for all”, recently published by the... Read more

My late mother was fascinated by the digital age even though at that time it hadn’t gained the public consumption traction that it has today. We were all just dipping our toes in, googly-eyed with awe at all the shiny new technology that promised a life of ease and connectivity... Read more

Two years ago, I applied for a post in Govan Housing Association as their Digital Inclusion Worker. Coming from a CLD background the advert used all my favourite words; empowerment, inclusion and informal education, but I still remember my first thought being “Why would a... Read more

For so many of us being engaged digitally seems like such a natural part of our day. We check the weather and the news, we engage with people we know (or would like to), we bank, we shop…all elements of our everyday lives. But, often the people who could benefit most from being... Read more

Below is a blog by the team at North Ayrshire Women’s Aid, outlining their activities which have been supported by the Digital Participation Charter Fund: 'The Universal Women project began in March 2018, initially as a way to support the women in our service cope with the... Read more

The term “digital by default” trips off the tongue very easily in modern society, however for many members of our communities, going digital can be a very daunting task indeed. Having been appointed as Parkhead CAB’s new Digital Advisor at the end of 2018, I have been working to... Read more

Camphill Blair Drummond offers a home, meaningful activities and opportunities for personal development to adults with learning disabilities and other special needs. Back in April 2017 an email came into the community which introduced the Digital Participation Charter Fund. At... Read more

Maximising benefits and minimising risk or: ‘The invisible thin line between the individual’s rights and our duty to protect’ Towards the end of January, practitioners from across the third sector came together as part of SCVO’s One Digital agenda to focus on the issue of... Read more

At Big Hearts, we use the power of football to engage families and individuals in the local community who are most at risk of social isolation. This includes our work to support Kinship Carers – primarily grandparents caring for grandchildren full-time – and isolated older people... Read more

Officially launched on 30 January by Kate Forbes, Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy, the seventh round of the Digital Participation Charter Fund is now open and SCVO Digital looks forward to supporting further development of essential digital skills across Scotland... Read more

It's 2019 and the Digital Team at SCVO have kicked it off in style. We are working with some great partners to develop a network of digital champions working in social housing around Scotland and we're looking for organisations to join us. These digital champions will be in roles... Read more

With a year to go until Windows 7 reaches the end of its supported life, John Fitzgerald outlines the steps charities should be taking now. Read more

Last week I had the pleasure of facilitating SCVO Digital’s Storytelling Success: Describing your Digital Journey event at the William Quarrier Epilepsy Centre in Govan, Glasgow as part of our digital participation practitioner events programme. We were delighted to host... Read more

The latest research from Lloyds Banking Group identifies that 52% of charities have basic digital skills, a rise of 4% from 2017. This is coupled, at the other end of the scale, with the number of charities reporting as having none of the basic digital skills reducing from 10... Read more

Today the Lloyds Banking Group publish the findings of the latest UK Business Digital Index survey, including a dedicated report for the charity sector. It is hugely encouraging to see the results demonstrate the progress being made by charities in adapting to our digital world... Read more

Sue Holland-Smith of Dundee City Council shares how Get Online Week worked for them. Here in sunny Dundee we have been on a bit of a Digital Skills journey over the past year or so. We have been developing our Digital Champions model through a series of Champions Gatherings... Read more

The last weeks have been pretty immersive (read: chaotic). With Mhor Collective, One Digital and SCVO, we’ve been working with some fantastic third sector organisations to understand the challenges they face when addressing issues of digital inclusion, and- hopefully- work with... Read more

“You can’t get out of homelessness these days if you are digitally excluded” “You can’t have a conversation about how to do things better, without digital emerging. You can’t stop it.” I’ve heard these two statements at events over the past few weeks, from prominent leaders in... Read more

The Workplace Equality Fund is a £750,000 fund to support third sector organisations and private businesses, with a base in Scotland, in reducing employment inequalities, discrimination and barriers in the workplace. The fund is managed by the Voluntary Action Fund and grants of... Read more

Last Monday I was delighted to join the SCVO Digital team in a new role as Digital Participation Officer. I received a warm welcome from my new team members and have been enjoying getting to know everyone over the last week. I have joined the team following six years in... Read more

Street Assist (SCIO) was founded in April 2016 by myself and a group of volunteers who wanted to make a difference at the same time as supporting and assisting people who had become vulnerable through circumstance. The project delivers a non-judgemental, safe environment for... Read more

Lloyds Banking Group, encompassing Bank of Scotland, has launched the third iteration of its UK Consumer Digital Index. It is based on the data of 1 million of its customers and this includes 9,000 1-2-1 interviews. The news is mixed. Overall, as other analyses highlight, the... Read more

I launched DFID’s Digital Ninja network from East Kilbride in late 2015. Back then, it was clear that digital was becoming essential to increase the department’s capabilities. Why? Better digital skills are a UK civil service-wide priority: being able to use modern digital tools... Read more

Below is a blog by the team at Lairg and District Learning Centre, and their experience of the Digital Participation Charter Fund: "It’s been a whirlwind of a year at Lairg and District Learning Centre, with our team of fantastic tutors delivering a huge range of community based... Read more

The pace of change has never been this fast and will never be this slow again*. So, how do we make sure that we keep up? A question which exercises me often. One of the ways is accepting that we can’t. Sometimes we need to use something for a while, take a break, reflect and... Read more

Like all project managers I’m kept busy with the day to day. It can be hard to find the time to sit back, review and reflect. I am therefore super excited that through the One Digital project (funded by the Big Lottery Fund) we have been able to part fund a PhD studentship... Read more

This week we’re opening our 12th Digital Drop-In , funded by the Digital Participation Charter Fund. Through the Drop-In we provide people with friendly, informal help and support with basic digital skills, with a range of partner agencies across Edinburgh. People are free to use... Read more

We live in an increasingly tech-driven world with digital mediums having made their way to the centre stage impacting our daily lives. Digital technology presents huge opportunities, however its success cannot be achieved without connection with people. At Airdrie Citizens Advice... Read more

With 21% of adults in Scotland lacking basic digital skills, tackling digital exclusion is high on the agenda. But where do you start and who is in a position to help? This photo, taken during the recent visit of Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External... Read more

The thought of ‘Going Digital’ for many people can be a turn off, a daunting task or even classed as a chore. However, with all the current changes to the Welfare System and many services migrating online, Glasgow North West Citizens Advice Bureau (GNWCAB) took the opportunity to... Read more

Today (28 March) The Welcoming hosted the formal launch by Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop of a further £200,000 to support Digital Participation Charter Fund projects. We say it over and over but forgive me the opportunity of saying it again – getting people online and developing... Read more

FOTA: How we use Good HQ It’s nearly six months since Friends of The Award in Edinburgh & the Lothians (AKA FOTA) claimed their page on Good HQ. They now have five reviews from a range of people that support the charity, including volunteers, members and service users. We caught... Read more

Good HQ Community Manager Lauren Plüss shares Big Hearts' experience of using the platform to gain feedback for their organisation. Big Hearts: How we use Good HQ Being a finalist in the Scottish Charity Awards in 2017, Big Hearts signed up to Good HQ to help promote their work... Read more

We’re delighted that Citizens Advice Scotland recently repeated their research which digs a bit deeper into the headline digital exclusion figures. Their research was based on surveying more than 1,200 people seeking advice with more than half of the 61 CABx participating. I’ve... Read more

For many years I’ve spent the best part of my weekdays in-front of a computer screen- scanning emails, writing reports, Googling the answers to crosswords (don’t tell anyone). I’ve just been lucky enough to have ten months off work on maternity leave. In that time I have spent... Read more

SCVOs digital evolution programme focuses on supporting organisations to understand how digital technologies can help them transform. So far we’ve taken our soundings from a vast array of leaders who have participated in and shown their interest in our Senior Leaders Programme... Read more

Have you ever pondered the basic digital skills framework and wondered how or even why particular elements are in there? Well, now’s your opportunity to question, challenge and re-shape its content. The Tech Partnership is leading a consultation and refresh supported by a... Read more

The need for third sector organisations to forge ahead using digital across all aspects of their organisations has never been so great. Technology continues apace and shows no signs of slowing. So, what do we do? Where do we start and how do we progress? These were questions we... Read more

Did you feel misunderstood as a young person? I certainly did! Didn't it feel frustrating and isolating? Did you vow that you'd never lose touch with where young people are actually at? Have you lost touch? Are we at risk of perpetuating that misunderstanding and misconception? I... Read more

It’s a big question, with a complex answer. While 8 out of 10 people use the internet on a daily basis, the statistics showing high levels of use hide a deeper digital divide. The latest evidence Yesterday we published new research exploring what digital exclusion looks like in... Read more

In my previous blog, I talked about the process of applying for Universal Credit online and the implications for those without basic digital skills. As a digital service, it’s easy to interact with and its development has been based on the latest standards for building good... Read more

Through a series of unfortunate events, I’ve found myself suddenly unemployed.I don’t have any savings and I’ve built up some credit card debt. This was manageable when I had a job, but now I’m worried how I’m going to be able to pay the bills.I’m a single parent and determined... Read more

Cre8te ran FEMDA, the ‘Female Ethnic Minority Digital Academy’, in conjunction with the charity Saheliya. They said: “We recruited for our first group of learners by holding assessments to make sure the class was the right thing for them. They started their training in January... Read more

Lloyds Banking Group is one of the Digital Participation Charter signatories. As part of their commitment to helping support everyone in Scotland to develop basic digital skills some of their teams are spending time, under the banner of 'Day to Make a Difference', with local... Read more

The digital revolution has already happened and we are living in the aftermath. "The scale of change that has taken place – in how people chose to communicate, watch TV, learn, bank, shop and organise their lives has been likened to the industrial revolution" writes Julie Dodd in... Read more

Digital trail blazing in the third sector Have you ever been the first person to try something? Were you the one who braved a new hair style or fashion trend? Maybe you changed your career later in life (dreams of being an astronaut never die) or moved to the other side of the... Read more

Looking back on two inspirational days of digital sharing Read more

How feedback helped us improve GoodHQ Read more

A how to guide for making the most of Google for Non Profits Read more

Charity feedback platform GoodHQ can help boost public trust in your cause Read more

Glasgow Life built basic digital skills for both workforce and service users, through a six month Digital Internship post. This meant they could create created a mentored online learning resource for frontline staff working with client groups least likely to have basic digital... Read more

Why charities need to embrace the digital agenda Read more

If you want to do better, you need to listen to what people are saying about you Read more

Join us in sharing digital knowledge and skills (and cake) Read more

More top tips from the Turning festival Read more

Queens Cross Housing Association got older people engaged in learning how to use the internet through researching their local history They said: “We worked to engage older people with the internet by harnessing their interest in social history and genealogy. We sought to create... Read more

How to create perfect personas Read more

Join your colleagues to shape the future of Scotland's digital third sector Read more

Invaluable help on navigating the digital landscape Read more

When I received the call to say that our development had been chosen to have Wi-Fi installed into all flats, communal areas and guest rooms it’s fair to say I was really excited. Then the co-ordinator brain took over ... how do I get the tenants interested, excited and involved... Read more

Whole range of online tools available to help third sector organisations connect with supporters Read more

Tech giant onboard to promote digital participation and basic digital skills in Scotland Read more

For charities working with people in disadvantaged communities this RBS sponsored fund offers a great opportunity to develop a project. Read more

On Internaut Day we want everyone to be able to make the most of the amazing resource that is the internet Read more