Search to find 1,000 digital champions

The campaign has been developed in support of the Go ON NI initiative which seeks to address the lack of digital skills across Northern Ireland. As part of the campaign, the Mayor was joined by local business leaders and councillors in the signing of a digital charter to signify the City’s commitment to addressing the digital skills divide.

Over 50 community organisations have already signed up and are committed to recruiting in excess of 1,000 digital champions who will take part in a series of free training workshops during the CultureTECH week in September. Digital Champions volunteer their time to share their online skills with friends, family, colleagues and neighbours.

Around 345,000 adults in Northern Ireland lack the basic online skills needed to send and receive email, use a search engine, browse the Internet and complete online forms. The aim of the programme is to deliver a 25 per cent reduction in the number of people below the basic online skills threshold in 12 months.

Derry City Council is also supporting the campaign and staff will be getting involved by volunteering to become Digital Champions.

The Mayor, Cllr Brenda Stevenson, said: “This partnership approach will supercharge our existing digital activity making it easier for people to build their digital skills and confidence, with the aim of reducing the number of people offline. Our mission is to make this city the most digitally capable place in the world to help boost our economy and strengthen our communities. I would urge everyone to play their part in tackling digital exclusion and join the campaign.”

Connor Doherty from the CultureTECH Festival said: “CultureTECH aims to connect the creative and cultural sectors with the technology sector and having the skills to access creative content online is fundamental to that.”

Further information is available online at www.digitalskills.com and www.playdigichamp.com