Problem addressed

The demand for digital skills in the workplace is growing rapidly, and it is estimated that 9 out of 10 jobs will require digital skills in the near future. This means that some level of knowledge of advanced digital skills - such as coding or debugging - will be increasingly required for entry into many jobs, barring access to people with low qualifications. For people from vulnerable backgrounds, such as the Roma community, this could mean an increased risk of exclusion from the labour market and further economic hardship if they do not have access to digital and technological training. The Spanish work force lags behind the EU average in terms of digital skills, and this shortcoming is even more pronounced among vulnerable groups.

Innovative solution

EmpleandoDigital (Employing Digital) offers a tailored digital skills training programme for people at risk of social exclusion. The Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) was established in the 1960’s to protect the rights of the Roma community in Spain, improve their living conditions and prevent all kinds of discrimination against this community. The social action NGO achieves this  through a series of programmes including Acceder, which focuses on promoting labour market inclusion among the Roma community through tailored Individual Employment Plans (IEPs) and the establishment of strategic alliances with potential employers. #EmpleandoDigital, launched at the end of 2017, brings the Acceder programme into the digital era, focusing on developing the digital skills of people at risk of social exclusion through a digital skills training scheme. While similar projects exist in Spain, the strength of #EmpleandoDigital lies in the innovative partnership between public, private and non-profit organisations, giving the project access to a range of expertise, as well as funding sources. #EmpleandoDigital was developed as a pilot project by FSG and the Spanish Red Cross, in close collaboration with the Accenture Foundation. The Accenture Foundation provides technical assistance, and high-profile support to the project.

FSG was one of the first social action NGOs to secure funding from the European Union to improve the wellbeing of the Roma community. While the programme is designed to assist any individual at risk of social exclusion, the involvement of FSG has meant that the programme has benefited from expertise on engaging with the Roma community, which makes up 80% of the beneficiaries. The training courses provided to the community aim to improve the digital skills and knowledge, focusing on training the basic digital skills demanded in almost every position today at the labour market, designing innovative training courses in occupations that include new digital components (in logistics, supermarkets, hotels, etc.), creating software development courses (Java/Javascript) adjusted to people with initial low levels of education and experience, or using the virtual reality to improve the training processes in specific employment pathways.

The initiative’s technology partner, Accenture, has designed a range of innovative digital tools to support implementation of the programme, including a data analysis tool to evaluate the effectiveness of actions in Individual Employment Plans. The tool uses data from interventions with over 300 000 beneficiaries of the employment programmes over the past 19 years to predict the probability of actions succeeding in the different IEPs. It also calculates the most successful sequence of activities, based on numerous variable factors of participants.
Another tool, ‘+Social value’, aims to measure the social impact of the employment programmes on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The tool analyses the effectiveness, efficiency, quality and Social Return On Investment (SROI) of the programmes. A variety of Virtual Reality (VR) tools are also used in training.

Key results and benefits

From 2017–2019, #EmpleandoDigital was deployed in 12 out of 17 Spanish regions, with over 300 professionals from 26 employment teams in FSG and the Red Cross directly involved in the project. A total of 9 826 people at risk of exclusion participated in the project, improving their digital skills and knowledge. Of these, 5 924 people improved their digital skills through basic courses, and 2 328 have taken an advanced course. A total of 235 people attended one of the 23 courses in occupations that are being modified by digital transformation. Furthermore, 48 people participated in the 4 software development courses in JavaScript and Java – 12 of these are already working in a technical role, 9 of whom have an employment contract of indefinite duration.  

The project has also achieved greater recognition and visibility of the challenges facing the Roma community, breaking down stereotypes of vulnerable people and their presence in the labour market and reinforcing the commitment of employers and public employment services to increasing their employability through professional training.

Potential for mainstreaming

The programme is co-financed by the Accenture Foundation and the European Social Fund. The first cycle concluded in 2019. EU funding has played a key role, giving the programme the financial security to experiment with different training courses. EU funding was also important in securing the collaboration with Accenture Foundation, which had been under discussion since 2012.  Key conditions for successful transfer to another context would be access to a reliable and flexible source of funding and a strong public-private-non-profit partnership, which is central to the programme’s operation.

Programme representatives are looking to share their experience with other countries with a large Roma community. The programme was awarded the ‘Vocational, Education and Training Excellence Award’ under the ‘European funding for excellence’ category by the European Commission in 2019.