News and views

The Advice Skills Academy (ASA) has joined our Digital Champions Network to help their partner organisations’ staff and volunteers develop their digital skills.

The ASA is a European Social Fund funded project which aims to address higher level skills shortages in specialist advice services and provide opportunities to improve workforce skills, knowledge, progression and productivity.

Jane (pictured with her adorable dog Whisky!) is a Sustainable Transport Officer at Waltham Forest Council. She saw the opportunity to volunteer as a Digital Champion in the Council newsletter and decided to sign up as she wanted to share her skills with local people.

“We have been impressed by Digital Unite’s work for many years and also envious of the training."

Coffee Pot Computing is a group of volunteers who offer support to Eastbourne residents aged 50+ to enable them to get to grips with modern technology and keep in touch with family and friends. They joined our Digital Champions Network as part of the Lottery funded One Digital programme.

Digital Unite has released a range of new guides to help local councillors with navigating and embracing digital technology in their day to day role.

Developed in partnership with the London Borough of Waltham Forest and benefiting from the insight of their own councillors the guides cover a variety of topics:

UNISON has joined Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network to help their members with gaining the digital skills and confidence they need to enhance their employment and learning opportunities.

Article by Kathy Valdes, Managing Director, Digital Unite

As featured in Charity Digital News on Wednesday 9 June 2018.

In 2008 David Last had the idea to combine his knowledge and love of computers with his enthusiasm for helping in the local community. He couldn’t find any suitable local projects that needed volunteers so he approached his local library with the idea to start a computer drop-in. Ten years later, David is still running weekly computer drop-in sessions at Leytonstone library, London.

City West Homes has become the newest housing member of Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network.                                                                      

A team of IT volunteers in Adur & Worthing is benefitting from the training and support on the Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network, thanks to the national Lottery-funded One Digital programme. 

Guinness Care has joined our Digital Champions Network as part of the national Lottery funded One Digital programme

An article for Digital Leaders, published Tuesday 27 March.

From our 21 year standpoint, digital credentialing is one of the most exciting developments in learning for our sector that we’ve seen in recent times. Undoubtedly when skills and achievement are acknowledged, people and organisations flourish. In today’s digital world recognising people’s skills and competencies in a digital way makes perfect sense.

Whilst many people can’t imagine life without the internet, others can’t understand or tap into the benefits that digital can bring.

For organisations, understanding how much it is worth investing in supporting people online is an essential step but not one that is always easy to make. This is partly because the benefits are multi-layered and therefore impossible or complicated to quantify.

In community centres, communal lounges, cafes and church halls across the country Clarion Futures Digital Champions are helping local residents’ use computers in order to access the myriad of benefits that being online can bring.

“I believe it was completing Digital Unite’s online courses and being able to put myself forward as member of the Digital Champions Network that gave me the confidence to approach the library to offer my services and I believe that influenced their decision to take me on.”

With councils experiencing unprecedented budget cuts since 2010 and ever-widening funding gaps, the drive for digital transformation has never been more critical. Increasingly more will need to be done with less. 

Worthing Homes has joined Digital Unite's Digital Champions Network as part of their commitment to providing digital skills support to their residents.

The provider and registered charity is one of a growing number of housing associations joining the Network as part of the national One Digital programme. Other members include Grand Union Housing Group, Hanover Housing Association, Metropolitan Housing Trust and Rosebery Housing Association.

We are delighted to announce that our Digital Champion foundation course, the Digital Champions Essentials and its Welsh equivalent, Hanfodion Hyrwyddwyr Digidol, is now formally CPD accredited.

Following an independent evaluation by The CPD Certification Service, the course was shown to comply with the universally accepted principles of Continual Professional Development (CPD).

Article by Kathy Valdes, Managing Director, Digital Unite as featured in 24 Housing.

Social isolation can be an issue for any age group. Major life changes such as loss of employment, having a young family, health or mobility issues, the death of someone close or new living arrangements can trigger a lack of contact between an individual and society. The impact of social isolation on health and wellbeing can be dire.

The Digital Champions Network is to be used to train and support up to 500 Digital Volunteers in Wales as Digital Communities Wales becomes its newest member.

Go On Worcestershire has become the latest organisation to join Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network as part of the national Lottery-funded One Digital programme.

The Network is being used as part of Go On Worcestershire, a partnership between the Worcestershire County Council and 29 other organisations to ensure as many people as possible have the opportunity and support to confidently go online.

Grand Union Housing Group is set to create their own Digital Champion army as they join Digital Unite’s Digital Champions Network as part of the national Lottery-funded One Digital programme.

This month, Digital Unite's Kathy Valdes was invited by Skills for Care to provide her Expert Insight on how digital skills are an imperative in social care:

"The imperative for businesses to develop the digital skills of their employees is now a matter of survival"

Having the skills to use digital technology is a must-have in today’s modern society. It can save us time and money, make us feel better connected, less lonely and better informed.