A couple of months ago, six European cities came together to wage war on the digital divide on their territories and to promote digital citizenship. They joined forces for the EUDIGIT – European Digital Citizens project and invited TheMayor.EU to support their cause and give it greater visibility. Given the circumstances amid the coronavirus pandemic, the importance of digital citizenship has become even more apparent.
Kickstarting a much-needed network
The time has come to officially launch the partnership and we invite you to join us online next Wednesday, 7 October. The kick-off meeting will give you more details about the partnership and how individuals and institutions can contribute.
You will also learn about the state of play of the European digital policy and single market, what is the digital society and what services can local governments offer. The event will be livestreamed from Marseille and will be available on the event’s Facebook page from 9:00 to 12:00 CET.
Counteracting the digital divide and promoting digital citizenship in six EU cities
Despite all our efforts, the facts continue to be alarming: 169 million Europeans do not possess basic computer skills. There is a close link between digital exclusion and EU citizenship especially among disadvantaged people that could affect the feeling of belonging to the ‘EU project.
The six European cities – Rotterdam (NL), Genoa (IT), Varna (BG), Hamburg (DE), Cluj-Napoca (RO), led by Marseille (FR) understand this problem too well. That is why they decided to form the EUDIGIT network and act together to mitigate it. We, from TheMayor.EU, will be helping them along the way.
EUDIGIT has set out three main objectives:
- Strengthening EU citizenship and citizens awareness;
- Contributing to the reduction of the digital gap in cities;
- Co-building digital policies with citizens.
Over the course of two years, the project partners will organise several events on the topics of the inclusion of youth, elderly and disabled persons, the gap between rural and urban areas and local communication tools. Workshops and citizen and expert consultations will contribute to the creation of common local policies.
All comments and ideas on how to improve this project are appreciated and welcome on [email protected]. If you are a representative of a local government, an expert, a practitioner or a citizen interested in the topic of the digital divide, make sure to watch our kick-off meeting on 7 October and learn how to get involved.
EUDIGIT partners’ efforts have received financial support of 126 000 euros under Europe for Citizens Programme.
Source: TheMayor.EU
