#EmpleandoDigital+

The Project “#EmpleandoDigital+ - Digital transformation in the labor insertion of vulnerable groups” (2020-2023) focuses on innovation as an essential resource to respond to the employability needs of the most vulnerable groups in Spain.

Employing Digital + is a project developed by Fundación Secretariado Gitano and Spanish Red Cross, financed by Axis 6 of the Operational Program for Social Inclusion and Social Economy (POISES) of the European Social Fund, and co-financed by the Accenture Foundation.

In a context that has shown the depth of the digital divides, this project aims to be a lever to promote employment and digital citizenship for people in vulnerable situations, contributing directly to equal opportunities, the fight against poverty and social exclusion.

The origin of this initiative is the pilot project “#EmpleandoDigital – Socio-labor itineraries from analog to digital” (2017-2019) that arose with a clear objective: to update, improve and innovate the processes and methodologies of the employment programs of the two promoting entities, the Red Cross and Fundación Secretariado Gitano, to be able to continue successfully supporting the people with whom it intervenes, in a context of complete transformation due to new technologies.

Problem addressed

#EmployingDigital+ addresses two major challenges:

Digital inclusion; Move towards a more just and egalitarian society, so that the opportunities offered by the digital society are also for people in the most vulnerable situations.

Digital training of professionals; Commit to the digital upskilling of socio-labor intervention professionals to equip them with the set of digital skills necessary to better connect people seeking employment with the job opportunities of the digitalized society.

Improving the labor insertion of people at risk of social exclusion means aspiring to ensure that they are not excluded from the job opportunities offered by digitalized work environments.

Committing to the digital upskilling of socio-labor intervention professionals means equipping them with the set of digital skills necessary to better connect people seeking employment with the job opportunities of the current era.

Innovative solution

The #EmployingDigital+ Project has worked around the following objectives:

Promote the incorporation of people in social difficulties into the market in digital transformation, through market analysis and specialized prospecting in technological sectors and in the process of digitalization.

Improve professional skills for the technology sector of the most vulnerable groups, designing and developing training actions adapted to occupations linked to the technology and digital sector.

Transform people from vulnerable groups into digital citizens (e-citizenship)

Create blended orientation and support itineraries, facilitating the active participation of women in vulnerable situations through technology.

Improve the profile of professional socio-labor insertion teams with particularly vulnerable groups, adapting their digital skills to the needs detected.

To achieve these objectives, five preferred actions were developed throughout the project:

Working groups with technological and digital companies to detect needs, forecast positions, define competency profiles and adjust alliances.

Training in emerging occupations; non-technological occupations but linked to the development and rise of the technology sector.

Training in jobs in the technology sector adapted to vulnerable groups, designed and taught together with large companies in the sector.

Implementation of a digital competency framework model for employment support professionals based on DigComp.

Design, development, implementation and testing of online training solutions to improve skills and knowledge, which allow the use of digital resources of the administration, skills for teleworking and skills for online training.

Design and systematization of a methodology through personalized blended itineraries for women in social difficulty, far from cities or who live in rural areas and/or with little or no support network for conciliation.

Key results and benefits

The impact and scope of the project translates into the following achievements:

392 People belonging to vulnerable groups trained in technological occupations and emerging occupations, more than 47% women.

137 People have managed to access jobs in the technology sector.

2141 Professionals from the employment support services of both entities impacted through training and/or tech awareness.

157 companies in the technology sector have collaborated with the project or have participated in knowledge exchange sessions.

1 Digital Competence Framework for Labor Integration professionals "DigCompLabor"

Potential for mainstreaming

Fundación Secretariado Gitano and Spanish Red Cross are open to sharing lessons learned with any institution. This program is fully scalable in any country.

PROJECT RECOGNITIONS

The good reception of the project and its results and impact are also reflected in the different recognitions it receives:

Winner of the VET Excellence Awards 2019 from the European Commission, in the European Funding for Excellence category.

Recognized as good practice by the European Medici project.

Becomes part of the resource catalog of the UNESCO-UNEVOC The Bridging Innovation and Learning in TVET (BILT) project

Winner of the "Digital Skills Awards Spain 2020" awarded by the Association of Companies in the Digital Technology Industry Sector in Spain (AMETIC) in the category "Digital skills for inclusion".