Connectem Barcelona reaches the neighbourhood of El Besòs i el Maresme to reduce the digital divide
Connectem Barcelona, the support service to help meet people’s digital needs, seeks to address the emergency situation caused by the rapid digitalisation of basic activities such as education, looking for work or completing administrative procedures resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Following the pilot project carried out in Nou Barris, the service now reaches Sant Martí as a result of collaboration between the District Office, the Fundació BIT Habitat, the Barcelona Mobile World capital Foundation and Parlem Telecom.
Loan services will be available to users of municipal neighbourhood services participating in the project. These organisations will be responsible for lending equipment so that those who need it can benefit from the use of quality internet connections and devices at home. The project will be coordinated from the local neighbourhood centre.
Three people are due to join the service as part of job schemes from May onwards, offering personalised digital support for users.
The project provides continuity for the Connectem Barcelona pilot project, implemented for over a year in the neighbourhood of Trinitat Nova (Nou Barris). The pilot project provided laptops, connectivity and skills for 350 people.
The laptops available for loan have been supplied by Barcelona Mobile World Capital, while the SIM cards come from Parlem Telecom.
The services and organisations which have expressed an interest in receiving the 25 laptops and lending them to users are:
- Associació de Veïns i Veïnes El Besòs
- Associació de Veïns i Veïnes Barri Maresme
- Associació de Dones Ambar Prim
- Fundació Cepaim
- Punt d’Informació Juvenil (PIJ)
- Barcelona Activa
- Estudiants Catalans d’Origen Pakistanès (ECOP)
A public competition is being prepared to extend the service to more areas and get more stakeholders involved, such as the Neighbourhood Plan, to be able to develop a broader digital inclusion policy. In this respect, the first point to be opened by the service in the Besòs area will give more of a dimension to the loan service for laptops and connectivity, helping it to grow sustainably.
