Creative Communities for Digital Inclusion (CCDI) - Portugal

Creative Communities for Digital Inclusion (CCDI) is an approach to promote digital inclusion, responding to the needs of people and their communities.

Digital exclusion can be an obstacle to different forms of participation, autonomy and communication, with impact on the exercise of citizenship. The most vulnerable population groups require concrete actions to promote inclusion and digital literacy, especially elderly people, young people at risk, people of cultural and linguistic diversity, people with special needs, with low income, unemployed or with precarious employment, etc.

These communities intend to raise public awareness of the importance of digital, by diagnosing the digital skills of the population and defining different levels of proficiency. The initiative trains also technicians involved in the coordination and development of the KICs, and mentors for digital inclusion of different vulnerable audiences (higher education students, children and young people, and other people from civil society). Finally, it also develops pedagogical resources and content for training and creates technology to support the actions of digital inclusion and training for the digital competence of the vulnerable population.

Objectives of CCDI initiative

The main objectives of CCDI are:

• Increase digital competences between vulnerable populations in Portugal
• Increase social ties, solidarity and citizenship;
• Promote the development of intergenerational ties;
• Better use of digital services and tools;
• Promotion of more resilient communities
• Development of cultural competence (at personal level, the organizations involved and the community) through a collaborative approach, that aggregates different perspectives;
• Increase youth participation and encourage positive attitudes of participation (mentors)

In 2019, 10 pilot programs were created in Portugal and a report was prepared on the impact of the project on the community. Some of these communities are still in operation, namely in the north of the country, in Barcelos and Guimarães.

The CCIDs are being developed under the Inclusion Axis, coordinated by Sofia Marques da Silva. The Inclusion Axis is one of the organising axes of the National Initiative for Digital Skills 2030 (INCoDe.2030) which comprises four other axes: Education, Qualification, Specialisation and Research.