12 Black migrant women took the plunge to STOP being Bullied by Technology – Tafuta Participatory Social Impact Study Closing Session
On Saturday 30th April 2022, our DT Tafuta program participants and Digital champions showed up to celebrate 7 weeks of saying No to being “bullied by technology” in an Essential Digital Skills Training Program. They said NO to being in the dark about how the internet works. They said Yes to cookies and No to phishing and internet scams.
We shared, we learned, we broke bread, we made friends and above all, we reduced and bridged the digital gap together. This was the final session of the Participatory Study part of the DT Tafuta Feasibility study and project. A huge thank you to Critical Social Policy and Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services – LCVS for supporting WODIN in supporting BME women in transforming their lives in a holistic way, especially with learning essential digital skills and sharing their stories.
Women present throughout the program tested various areas of their knowledge on all things digital and learned essential digital skills to improve their communication online and better their employment chances. This activity happened in week 8 of the 3 months project.
The Tafuta Project evaluation and closing session kicked off at 1 pm with our guest of honour and event facilitator Mrs. Rose Ssali asking deep questions of the participants regarding their Journey with WODIN and the Tafuta project.
Mrs. Ssali is the CEO of Support and Action for Women’s Network – SAWN based in Greater Manchester. She is the Chair of Mama Health and Poverty Partnership – MHAPP a cohort of Black Women Lead organisations changing BME people’s lives in the North West. Rose is an all-around amazing inspirator, an advocate for Black minoritised women’s rights, focused on empowering the BME woman. She is a project manager per excellence, an educator, a cancer survivor, and a woman of all seasons. You can learn more about the positive impact and good work she and her team are doing at www.sawn.org.uk
Mrs. Ssali guided us through a self-assessment and project evaluation process that got the participants to open up about the essential digital skills program and the benefits to them, their communities, families, and lessons for WODIN going forward.
Watch the Tafuta Project Evaluation and Closing Session Below
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The questions she asked and the participants’ responses are shared below.
13:00 – 13:15. Checking in with the ladies and introducing the day’s presenter/facilitator by the project moderator.
13;15 – 13:20. The presenter checking-in and asked people to discuss what they are excited about today and how far they have come in the project. Giving the participants a chance to share…
13:20 – 13;49 Participants discussed what they are excited about and how far they have come in the project.
14:55 Closing The Session
Below are excerpts of their experience before and after the Tafuta Program on learning essential digital skills.
Where were you regarding Digital Skills before WODIN Tafuta and Where are you Now?
– I have learned about phishing, cookies, and sharing my story. I am very excited that I can teach other people about what I have learned.
– I no longer disturb my kids to help me with digital stuff all the time. I can now access my emails alone without help. I know about spreadsheets.
– It has been a blessing being on this project. I have learned a lot of new technical skills.
– I didn’t know I could use different passwords. I used to have the same password for everything I logged into online, now I have created strong passwords and I don’t have to remember them all, all the time.
– I thought I knew my digital stuff. I realized I didn’t know about phishing and mental health as regards technology. I thought we were going to catch fish or something! 🐟🛶
– I didn’t know about cookies, I thought I was expected to buy cookies all the time, so I would just close the laptop! 😅
– I never knew social media would affect my mental health. And now I know to limit myself to better look after my mental wellbeing and sanity.
– I’ve learned to know who is sharing what on WhatsApp group messages. I am able to respond accordingly and I am also able to send and reply to emails. I am loving my phone right now, I know how to use it better.
– I can communicate better, and I have different passwords for my different important online websites. I had no idea what cookies were. But now I know about cookies.
– The only thing I knew about technology was just to switch on a gadget – I felt bullied by technology but now I know a bit better.
– My knowledge was limited to what I wanted to know about using a computer at work. But now I am teaching my kids about LastPass, and Dropbox and that is very inspiring for me too.
Observation: The participants felt more comfortable meeting online than meeting in person. Mainly as a health and safety measure, as covid is still a problem in the communities. Also, the distance to the in-person meeting venue was a challenge for some – (Accessibility). For 40% of the participants, child care was a major challenge for both virtual and in-person sessions. In fact, we had a little one attend a live session, due to the mom not finding alternative childcare. This is something that needs addressing in future projects. Could WODIN find a way to help participants with child care?
Other outcomes of the Tafuta Project besides the technological aspect were – New relationships and friendships have been built. Social Isolation has been reduced especially in the in-person sessions.
All participants stated that they feel encouraged in encouraging each other and their friends to attend future similar digital skills projects and to create wider awareness about Women and Digital Inclusion – WODIN’s work.
What session benefited you the most?
The majority of the participants stated that they benefited the most from the sessions mentioned below.
– I benefited the most from the cookies session.
– I enjoyed the mental health session.
– The phishing session was an eye-opener for me. Messages and phone calls.
– The storytelling session was interesting, taught me about marketing and story sharing online and how to engage with the right people.
We then talked about how participants felt about the end of the Tafuta workshops?
Most felt like they would be missing something on Saturday afternoons for a bit. They would miss the connection with other participants. But also they were honest and stated:
I feel like my weekends are going to be open to do other stuff again.
One of the participants stated;
It was good that the sessions were recorded and we have access to the slides and an eBook. So, now I can go back to them and learn more and more even though the sessions are done.
What do you think WODIN would have done better?
To the above question the Tafuta participants mostly agreed and stated:
– I needed more time for deeper explanations. If it wasn’t for the files and recordings, I would have struggled with remembering some of the things because a lot was new to me.
– I enjoyed the face-to-face sessions more than the online Zooms because I fail to follow closely online. I am a hands-on person.
DT Tafuta Project Evaluation – Did this project meet your expectations?
– I felt my expectations were met. Everything we learned was put into practice by me. – I now don’t have to ask my children to help me with everything on my phone and I now I don’t have to squint so much because my new tablet screen is wide and I get to enjoy watching stuff on it.
– I didn’t quite know what to expect as I joined in the 2nd session, but I got up to speed and enjoyed every session thereafter, and My expectations were exceeded.
– I quite do not know how to use the tablet yet but am getting there, I hope to get a 1-1 session to get my head around it. I love it though and look forward to sharing the lessons with others.
– I am happy I can revisit the lessons via the hub WODIN provided us and can invite others to learn too. My expectations were exceeded, thank you WODIN.
The training sessional replays can also be found on the WODIN YouTube Channel feel free to subscribe and hit the bell to be notified when new lessons are added.
What would you like to offer WODIN?
– We can tell more people about WODIN – Advertising WODIN programs and services to our communities and on social media platforms. Getting as many people as we can to participate in future programs.
– I would like to volunteer for WODIN.
– Create awareness – make a black women conference.
This really fun and reflective session ended 2 hours later. With a celebration of all our participants. They each received an Award Certificate. And the 4 who attended all 100% 8 sessions were offered a £15 Asda voucher each, courtesy of Women and Digital Inclusion CIC. A welcome addition to the end of a much-needed program.
We appreciate Mrs. Ssali for holding the space and helping us all evaluate this project in real-time, and share our wins and challenges. We appreciate LCVS and CSP for funding this project. The final expected output of this project; is a Feasibility/Social Impact Study which will be published by 31st May 2022 as a result of this program.
All participants were invited to be part of the coming Upya Project and other WODIN Projects in the future.
If you would like to get involved in WODIN activities or future projects, please email admin@wodin.org.uk or call 07879 053346. You can also learn more about WODIN Projects 2021 right here
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