Much needed Essential Digital Skills Training – Part of DT Tafuta Social Impact Study
You would be surprised how many people in your community are in need of Essential Digital Skills today.
The venue was the St Margaret Mary’s Huton Function Room (offered to Wodin graciously Free, massive thanks to the Parish Management). The date; Saturday, March 26th, 2022, and the event was another digital inclusion workshop organized by Women and Digital Inclusion – WODIN on Basic and Essential Digital Skills – Mental Health and Wellness and the Digital Space.
This was the fourth of a series of workshops on and about Essential Digital Skills training as part of the Tafuta Project, sponsored by Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Service – LCVS Innovation in Communities Fund, mainly targeted at post-covid recovery in Liverpool communities in the UK. This WODIN project was also a Participatory Study linking into Digital exclusion and Employability of Black Migrant Women in Liverpool.
Psychiatric Practitioner and CEO of Mind Body and Soul (MBS) Justine Kigozi was the facilitator of this workshop. What she shared with the 12 attendees of the event was timely because these black migrant women, participants of the DT Tafuta Project, are a representative sample of at least 5 BLACK communities:
Uganda, Caribean, Nigerian, Ghanaian, and Congolese communities.
70% of these participants did admit that they had huge gaps in some essential digital skills. Nor did they understand the potential effects of the digital space on one’s mental health and wellness, prior to this program.
They also did agree that, in this era, the current UK system was a little fairer, in that people are offered skills and tools irrespective of their race.
8 of the participants received Lenovo Tablets to enable them to attend the virtual sessions, practice their new skills, communicate easier and also become digital champions on the project completion.
You need to be careful about the messages/content you consume online and more so the messages you share or may send for any reason” she warned. Calling on participants to guard their minds and mental health strongly.
“You need to understand that every message you read or share has an impact that could have a long-term ripple effect on yours or someone else’s life. So do not send a message you wouldn’t be proud of the next day. Always take a moment to reread, correct typos, and be sure it is the message you want going out with your name on it.”
All the participants were black immigrant women.
One of the participants Veronica welcomed the WODIN initiative to teach black migrant women the essential digital skills because as she put it:
“…ignorance is no defense, although I still have a ways to go, I am now more confident about what I am doing online, and also love getting out and about, meeting new people and connecting online too”.
Mrs. Kalungi, Projects Lead, and event organizer said WODIN will be organizing more workshops and training on Digital Inclusion, Supporting women in business – SWIB, Physical Fitness, and Sport in the coming months. Our hope is many more black women and communities benefit from the programs.
As part of the organization, she said 1000 flyers on the essential digital skills and coming SWIB program had been printed and distributed across Liverpool so that the programs should have a bigger impact among Liverpool residents.
Reach out to learn more about our Essential Digital Skills workshops and other programs by Women and Digital Inclusion – WODIN
For further information, please contact WODIN at admin {@} wodin.org.uk or on 07879 053346.
You can learn more about WODIN Projects 2021 right here
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