The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. Charity registered in Scotland SC003558. Registered office Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB.
Place-based digital inclusion
What is ‘place-based’ digital inclusion?
Place-based digital inclusion is about building sustainable solutions to digital exclusion which take into consideration the assets, and needs, of a specific place – with action co-ordinated through strong and trusted partnerships and informed by regular communication with citizens.
By understanding that digital can improve multiple outcomes for people, and through linking services up to provide holistic support for supporting people online, taking a place-based approach to digital inclusion supports a range of community-wide benefits for citizens.
What has SCVO been doing?
Our place-based journey started in 2019, as part of a large programme supporting 29 housing associations from across Scotland. This highlighted the power of digital being used to support the wider community. Following the pandemic in 2020, and our delivery of the Connecting Scotland programme, we started to notice appetite for more localised initiatives to support digital inclusion across our networks.
In 2021 we started a learning project as a test of concept. Taking an agile approach to our project delivery, and following the principles of the Scottish Approach to Service Design, we worked iteratively and in collaboration with a range of places to identify, understand and look to develop solutions to their digital exclusion issues. In February 2022, we released our interim report ‘Taking a Place-based Approach to Digital Inclusion: The Journey so Far’ reflecting our learning from work in Renfrewshire and in Berwickshire.
Since then we have been working with a variety of different 'places' including communities in Dundee, North Ayrshire and Grantown-on-Spey, to refine our understanding and approach. All our learning from this work is reflected in this guide.
Check out our webinar from February 2022, giving an overview of our learning with Renfrewshire and Berwickshire.
Get involved
Our FREE 3-session programme on place-based digital inclusion is designed to support partnerships to come together and design solutions that work for your community. We usually run these sessions in-person, but we can also do it online, and they are usually all delivered over 2 months to prompt action.
In the first session, we will conduct a comprehensive assessment to understand the unique digital needs and challenges faced by your community. We will look at the current level of digital engagement, name barriers, and uncover opportunities for growth. By gaining insights into the specific requirements of your community, we can tailor our approach to maximise impact.
In session 2 we use our discovery outputs from session 1 to start defining our solutions. We will focus on creating your vision for place-based digital inclusion, achievable wins and an action plan.
In our final session we review our action plan, governance of the partnership and additional resources required to achieve and sustain our vision for place-based digital inclusion.
For more information about this work, please contact:
Darran Gillan
Digital Inclusion Development Officer
Darran.Gillan@scvo.scot