HiDigital and Girl Guides intergenerational digital training – linking older people with technology

Description

Covid confined people to their homes and the lack of confidence afterwards made people afraid to interact and loneliness became a huge problem. This project provided the opportunity for people to re-engage with others and promoted lifelong learning opportunities. Such was the success of the initiative; it has since continued and is an ongoing event in Mitchelstown.
Girl Guides, Vodafone Hi Digital and the community of Mitchelstown came together to support older people in making use of technology. This involved enabling older people to make full use of the digital tools available to them to fully interact and engage with the community at large. Vodafone Hi Digital came on board and recorded a film of the initiative which has been released online.
The intergenerational aspect of this project was of benefit to all participants as older people’s life experience and younger peoples digital experience facilitated the formation of strong relationships. Importantly the voice of the older person was honoured in that the Guides taught the older people skills they wished to learn, not from a prescribed list of items to teach. If participants skillsets didn’t match an alternative learning partner was found.
The importance of community and creating connections ensured a strong focus on the social aspect of the initiative, where the tea and chat held equal importance with the learning and teaching. This enabled connections and relationships to be built between the Guides and the older people. It also helped people to reconnect with relatives and friends abroad, being able to have tea and a chat with a cousin abroad using video chat.
The desire of older people to connect with businesses and community was ably empowered by the Girl Guides digital knowledge which they shared with the older people they were collaborating with. Initially the group met once a week, but demand has led to the group now meeting twice a week.
The event was at all times inclusive, and the importance of a relaxed atmosphere was paramount in the success of the project. Some older people attended with the intention to learn, but decided for various reasons that now was not the time. These people were encouraged to stay and enjoy the social element of the training and no pressure was placed on them to actively learn device usage; however, they would have benefited from talks given on how to protect yourself online and how to identify spam and phishing texts and emails. The younger older person was also facilitated by the project as some of the Girl Guides parents are of the ‘middle age’ who missed out on the digital revolution by 2 or 3 years and have gaps in their digital knowledge.
The film highlights the work carried out by the Girl Guides in Mitchelstown in conjunction with Vodafone HiDigital. It follows the story of Pat and Liz Downes in Mitchelstown and how Pat’s interaction with the Girl Guides enabled him to be confident in using technology and the internet. Pat’s story is representative of many older people in the community.
Since the film was released online on the BBC website interest in developing this project is spreading and Liz, has been contacted by older people nationally. Liz in her role as community digital champion is enabling the setup of similar groups all over the country.
A premiere of the film which showcased this project was held in Mitchelstown in May 2024. The County Mayor was in attendance as well as the National Girl Guide Commissioner who is hugely supportive of the project. The community spirit in the town came to the fore from the inception of this project right up the screening of the film.
The project was initially advertised locally, and word of mouth also played a large part in making people aware of the project. The parents were immensely proud of their daughters who enabled the older generation in the town to integrate digitally. As a result of this project, Liz Downes was asked to sit on the Vodafone Advisory group as the voice of the Older person and through Vodafone there is now international interest in the project, with Liz having had a TEAMS call with a group in the UK in the last week.

Aim of Initiative

This is an intergenerational project which enables older people to become confident in the use of digital technology and Girl Guides to work towards earning their Gaisce Award. Looking at population projections and the growth of the 65+ age group this project is helping people to prepare for the future and the increased use of technology in our daily lives.
It is widely recognised that technology can fill a gap and lead to more real-life connections for people. Both enable older people to age with independence and add life to their years. On the other side of the coin, the Girl Guides were interacting with and learning from the older participants in the project, and this allowed them to earn their HiDigital badge and work towards the Community section of the Gaisce award.

Who is it aimed at

This is an intergenerational project aimed at enabling older people to learn digital skills in a social and relaxed environment and facilitating the girl guides to work towards earning their Gaisce award.

3 Steps critical to success

1. Co-operation of older people and Girl Guides and the enthusiasm they all brought to the project
2. Sponsorship of the project.
   The community hall was made available free of charge and Vodafone sponsored the provision of iPads for use.
3. Networking and facilitating the group to encourage engagement.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. Identifying the specific need of the older person and ensuring that this need was met. It was important that the voice of the older person was heard and that they learned the skills they wanted to learn and not from a list of prescribed teachings.
2. Matching up the skillsets of the Girl Guides with the learning requirements of the older person.
   People have different devices and they want to learn how to use the device they own – the Girl Guides may not have had experience is using every kind of phone or tablet or other device.
3. Time management. The Girl Guides had time commitments outside of this project and they needed to organise their time so that they were available to volunteer for the project.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. Older people learned new digital skills which allowed them to both feel that they were fully participating in a digital world and helped keep them safe online.
2. Increased quality of life for the older person. The project facilitated a lifelong learning opportunity and encouraged intergenerational engagement and socialisation.
3. The Girl Guides were empowered by both the building of intergenerational relationships and the teaching experience. It also allowed them to work towards earning their Gaise award.