Four hundred vulnerable households in Trinitat Nova are to receive electronic devices, quality internet connections and digital training. This is the first of the measures in the programme ‘Connectem Barcelona’, a pilot project to reduce the digital divide and promote digital inclusion in the neighbourhoods.
The pilot project is set to start in September and run for a year, allowing for the monitoring and assessment of the impact of digital support and skills-acquisition programmes designed to get maximum benefits from connecting to the network. The conclusions drawn will allow for the definition and quantification of digital policies to eliminate the digital divide all around the city.
Connectem Barcelona is part of the city’s approach to a fair digital transition, which seeks to eliminate the digital divide and is actively supported by 30 organisations, including companies and other entities which have been involved in the design and launch of this project.
Most telecommunications operators have been involved, as have hardware and software manufacturers, organisations representing the tech ecosystem in Catalonia and third-sector entities from the neighbourhood of Trinitat Nova and the district of Nou Barris.
Digital precariousness
This pioneering initiative aims to combat the new source of social inequality represented by digitalisation, made more evident by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Various studies, such as the Survey on the digital divide in Barcelona (2020), which shows that 8.1% of Barcelona’s population have no access to internet, highlight how digital precariousness increases vulnerability and raises concerns over the gap in use.