Building a strong approach to engage remotely with non digital users

Summary of work

How might we better equip/prepare people who are digitally excluded, due to low tech access, skills or confidence, to access and engage with our support services remotely?

Loomio discussion period

7-12 of July

Loomio decision date

13 July

Date for kick-off call

12:00-13:00 July 22nd

Latest start date

3rd of August 2020

Expected contract length

4 Weeks

Budget range

Up to £10,000 for the digital partner(s)

Why the work is being done

This small cluster of two organisations have struggled during lockdown to equip/prepare digitally excluded users to actively access and engage with online service offers. 

Users have limited digital literacy, sometimes living in areas with poor broadband connection, and include stroke patients who have mobility and speech restrictions. 

We want to understand our audience better and know what tools or systems are best placed for building our engagement activities. 

Our activities include: 1:1 conversations, group conversations, building supportive communities (internal and external) that provide peer support.

Problem to be solved

The problem area is wide and includes:

• Building effective engagement approaches that meet the needs of our users and increase our reach to hard-to-reach groups. 

• All tech used for our engagement  activities needs to be easy to access and accessible to people with limited digital skills and devices.

Who the users are and what they need to do

• As a stroke survivor with limited access and ability in using online tools, I need to access the information that was previously provided to me face-to-face by the organisation.

• As an isolated local resident with limited access and ability in using online tools, I want to be able to take part in conversations and groups that were valuable sources of support pre-lockdown.

• As a staff member/volunteer I need to create activities /facilitate conversations that are accessible, engaging and support community building during lockdown and beyond.

Expected outcomes for this work

• Deeper dive to understand the shared challenge area and how this is experienced by the different user groups.

• Identification of key opportunities for shared approaches, tools or infrastructure to engage remotely with our users.

• Identifying other relevant projects and partners this group, or the individual members, could connect to.

• Broadly scoping a Phase 2 piece of work.

• A case study and/or other useful documentation to be shared with the sector.

Any work that’s already been done

• This work forms a part of the support all organisations are receiving from Nesta.

• As a Cluster we have had an intro session to identify our joined challenge. This Miro Board captures our discussion.

Who the Digital Team will work with

At the kick-off session, reps from each charity will be present and we’ll agree on the lead point person from the cluster and the level of engagement from each partner.

How many days can your team commit to this project?

The lead organisation is expected to commit two days a week to this project. Involvement from the other organisations might vary and needs to be agreed as a team.

About the organisations 

Stroke Association - Provide specialist support, fund critical research and campaign to make sure people affected by stroke get the very best care and support to rebuild their lives. This project is submitted by the Volunteering team, who coordinate volunteer-led peer support groups, deliver training, and devise innovative ways to bring clubs and groups together to share experience.

Be Buckfastleigh -  A collaborative community project with the people of Buckfastleigh to develop new activities and opportunities within the local area for people to connect, learn, be active, care and give. During COVID, the focus has shifted entirely to crisis response - pulling together health and wellbeing provision and ensuring engagement with isolated residents.

Essential skills and experience

• Data

  • Needs assessment and audit

• Design

  • Service design

  • User research & user story design

• Digital

  • Digital inclusion and accessibility specialism, experienced building online capabilities with people with low digital literacy or with restrictions in movement, mobility or speaking.

• Maximising connection and relationships remotely.

Nice-to-have skills and experience

• Experience in supporting community and individual empowerment

• Experience working with nonprofits

• Working with coalitions and partnerships

List reporting requirements

• Playback

• Service recipe