The Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network is a partnership between 100% Digital Leeds and Leeds Older People’s Forum. The Network brings together organisations across the city who support older people with digital inclusion, building new partnerships and sharing learning and resources. In July the first Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network meeting of 2024 was held at Virgin Money in Leeds City Centre, with the aim of identifying shared priorities for the rest of the year and into 2025.
Nine organisations attended this face-to-face Network meeting, including organisations that are leading the way for digital inclusion across the city and who are well positioned to share best practice:
These organisations have been working with 100% Digital Leeds for several years and shared their experiences and expertise, as well as how they have acquired multiple funds to help them develop their digital inclusion offers for older people.
The July 2024 Digital Inclusion Network meeting, focused on:
- Shaping the future of the Network
- Sharing best practice
- Supporting organisations with bid writing
- Be Online Stay Safe (BOSS) project update and resources
- The ‘Writing Back’ programme
Shaping the future of the Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network
LOPF and 100% Digital Leeds agreed that there was a need to reassess the Network to ensure the direction and purpose aligns with the needs of the organisations, and continues to be useful in helping them to develop their digital inclusion offers. An Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network survey was developed and circulated to members of the Network a month before the meeting to ensure each organisation had the opportunity to define the Network’s direction. The results of the survey have informed future planning of the Network, including themes to focus on at future meetings, frequency of meetings, priorities, and any challenges organisations are facing. These insights are helping to shape the future of the Network.
As a result of the survey, it was agreed that the Network would meet:
- In person, twice a year in June and November, for 90 minutes. These face-to-face sessions will focus on common issues, barriers, areas of interest, and explore collaborative opportunities. These meetings will be interactive and focus on specific themes to address significant needs that require thoughtful consideration and discussion.
- Online, three times a year in February, April, and September, for 60 minutes. These sessions will be shorter and give updates on specific digital inclusion topics and share resources and learning. There will also be an opportunity to invite guest speakers to share information that could help organisations with their digital inclusion offers.
Sharing Best Practice
A priority of this Network is to create a space where every organisation can share updates, information, knowledge, and support each other. Our aim is to promote active participation, collaboration, and a fair sharing of ideas among all organisations, which will help to drive this Network forward.
At the meeting, organisations shared the following information:
- The digital support that each organisation offers to address the needs and demands of their communities, including sessions on online safety, as well as any challenges or barriers they are facing.
- Your Back Yard and Burmantofts Community Friends shared upcoming projects, such as new digital platforms and digital spaces for older people.
- Leeds Irish Health and Homes discussed the digital health support they provide, including support with NHS services such as PATCHS and the NHS app.
- Holbeck Together asked for advice on data gifting via the National Databank, the best approach when encountering difficulties with signing up, and the support available for addressing issues when they arise. They also shared how they conducted a digital survey with members to identify the barriers they are facing, and how they’re using that to support funding bids. In the survey they found that the most common digital inclusion barrier amongst their members was lack of digital skills and knowledge.
Supporting organisations with bid writing
Leeds Older People’s Forum highlighted the Bid to Win course and the advantages it offers in supporting bid writing. This course is a series of workshops and one to one support delivered by Bid Experts. It is designed to increase understanding of grant and public sector procurement, build upon existing and new bidding skills, and shares tips, tricks and shortcuts to achieving bid wins.
Anyone participating will also benefit from the Masterclass webinars on key topics such as Social Value, Capture Management, AI in Bidding, and Pitch to Win to further enhance knowledge and skills with the aim of securing more grants and contracts.
Upcoming course dates can be found here: Bid to Win – Grants and Public Sector Contracts (futuregoals.co.uk)
More course resources have been added to the Digital Inclusion Delivery Resources Google Drive.
Be Online Stay Safe (BOSS) Project
The Digital Coordinator for BOSS shared the success of the Be Online Stay Safe (BOSS) project. BOSS was a partnership between Leeds Older People’s Forum and 100% Digital Leeds, delivered between March and December 2023. The aim of the project was to address the challenges faced by older people in diverse communities to staying safe online, aligning with the goals outlined in the DCMS Online Media Literacy Strategy.
BOSS focussed on supporting older people more likely to face additional barriers to digital inclusion and media literacy, including cultural, language, and literacy barriers. The project worked to empower older people who might be more susceptible to online scams to feel more comfortable and confident navigating the online world.
The ambition now for BOSS is to share the learning and resources across the Network to enable more organisations to delivery and adapt the content.
LOPF briefly explained how they used ChatGPT to help tailor sessions and develop step-by-step guides for users. The Network found this highly beneficial and agreed to add ChatGPT to the agenda for the upcoming virtual meeting to further explore how to effectively use this tool and how this can free up capacity. The Google Drive includes more resources to support with using ChatGPT.
All BOSS resources, including workbooks, session plans and YouTube videos have been shared on Leeds Older People’s Forum website and are also in the Digital Inclusion Delivery Resources Google Drive. A BOSS Toolkit has also been developed, which focuses on top tips for delivering digital media literacy for older people using the learning from BOSS.
If you would like more information on the BOSS project, please contact Samantha@opforum.org.uk
Leeds Older People’s Forum and 100% Digital Leeds are hosting a BOSS webinar during Leeds Digital Festival on 17 September 2024.
Writing Back programme
100% Digital Leeds connected with Katy Lovelace from the University of Leeds to share the Writing Back programme. This is an email pen pal scheme that connects people over the age of 55 with University of Leeds international students to participate in an email exchange. It aims to provide participants with opportunities to build inter-generational and inter-cultural connections, to tackle loneliness in students and older people, and can help the development of digital skills in older people.
“I had members saying, ‘I’ll never be able to do it’ and by the end they were doing it on their own, sending emails backwards and forwards to their pen pals. People were excited to look at their emails, not stressed. People like sharing their stories.”
Kelly, Outreach and Digital Engagement Worker, Burmantofts Community Friends.
“It went really well, our members and volunteers benefited greatly, with some having formed lasting connections resulting in ongoing contact with their pen pal.”
Karen, Manager, Neighbourhood Action in Farnley, New Farnley and Moortop.
The scheme runs annually from October to July, pairing older pen pals with a new student pen pal each year if they choose to continue participating.
For any organisations interested in promoting the scheme, please contact Katy Lovelace at writingback@leeds.ac.uk for more information.
Next Steps
September virtual meeting
The Network agreed it would spend more time looking at ChatGPT and discuss the opportunities for using ChatGPT as part of their digital inclusion work. This will be on the agenda for the virtual meeting on Wednesday 11 September 2024.
November face-to-face meeting
The face-to-face Network meeting on Wednesday 13 November 2024 will focus on funding opportunities, bringing organisations together to share knowledge and resources for digital inclusion funding bids.
This session is open to anyone who works for an organisation that supports digital inclusion for older people or has a responsibility for identifying and securing funding. The session will aim to enhance skills, boost confidence in digital inclusion bid submissions, and support organisations to potentially find partners for joint bids to create a new role for a digital inclusion officer to work across multiple organisations.
If you would like more information or an invitation to a future Older People’s Digital Inclusion Network meeting please contact either Natasha.hill@leeds.gov.uk or Samantha@opforum.org.uk