Problem addressed

Refugees and migrants may have limited access to Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment when arriving in a new country, due to a lack of financial resources or digital skills.  This can delay their integration in their new country by impacting their chances of finding a job and a social network. It may also cut them off from their family and friends in their home country, leading to feelings of social isolation.

Innovative solution

Digital Inclusion is a Luxembourg-based project that adopts a circular economy model to provide donated digital devices, such as laptops, to refugees and other marginalised groups. Digital Inclusion has three main objectives: to make ICT accessible to everyone, by providing technical equipment and enhancing digital literacy; to promote social inclusion through digital technology; and to take action for the environment by repairing, reusing, and recycling digital equipment.

The material support provided by Digital Inclusion is combined with educational support through the Digi4All programme. This combination is important in motivating beneficiaries and supporting their social mobility. Beneficiaries learn how to fix the donated equipment, through refurbishing workshops and ICT skills classes. This educational component started in 2018 and is delivered in multiple different languages (such as Arabic and English). Multilingual classes are tailor-made to meet both the language and IT skills needs of newcomers, allowing the programme to reach a large number of participants. The team conducting the educational activities is interdisciplinary (composed of sociologists and engineers) to respond adequately to the diverse needs of the target group.

Even though the educational programme mainly targets refugees, activities are open to any job-seeking resident of Luxembourg who wishes to enhance their digital skills. Since 2020, most of the Digi4All activities are followed up with participation in a new European Social Fund project, DigiCoach, which adds a greater focus on boosting employability of participants through coaching.

A small core-team of employees, half of which are refugees, manage the project with the help of volunteers.

Key results and benefits

More than 2 300 families have received equipment (donated and repaired devices) as a result of the Digital Inclusion activities. At the same time, more than 1 000 people have acquired a new set of digital and technical skills taught by the Digi4All, which may help to improve their job prospects.

Potential for mainstreaming

The initiative is currently co-funded by the European Social Fund, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy of Luxembourg, the Ministry of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region of Luxembourg, and the Œuvre Nationale (a public body that aims at supporting organisations in the philanthropic field). EU support has contributed to increasing the visibility of the initiative outside the national context. The circular economy business model strengthens the project’s financial sustainability. The project is looking at future scalability options through more direct collaborations with governments and the social sector, to achieve a high level of impact at a low cost.

Given the limited human and financial resources needed, the project has potential for transferability across different national contexts and could be used to support other vulnerable groups, including the elderly or low-income families.

A successful transfer would need to take on board several lessons learned. Beneficiaries should play a proactive part, to empower and decrease asymmetries. Refugees should teach classes to other refugees, for example, thus countering stigmatising narratives around welfare dependency. The project should be driven by a vision based on equality and focused on digital skills and material barriers, which are new potential areas of exclusion and isolation. This not only applies to migrants and refugees, but also to people in poverty and to the elderly, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown. The project’s internal monitoring and evaluation, conducted through interviews, is key to understanding what works, why, as well as how and for whom. Different migratory inflows, for instance, lead to differences in the target groups, which need to be understood and met. The interdisciplinary education team is an important aspect, in this regard.

Digital Inclusion has been recognised as an innovative and successful initiative at the national level with a number of awards, including the ‘Communication & Values of the Organisation’ category at the Diversity Awards Lëtzebuerg in 2019; the ‘Coup de Pouce’ prize and the ‘Etika’ prize for the Best Independent Sustainable Project in 2018; the Start-up Europe Award #SEUA17 in the ‘social’ category in 2018; and the ‘Coup de Coeur’ Award in 2017.