Research grant to investigate resilience of digital inclusion initiatives
The Trustees of the Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa (DIAA) are delighted with today’s announcement by InternetNZ of a significant research grant for investigating the resilience of three major digital inclusion initiatives.
The initiatives include DIAA’s Stepping UP digital literacy programme that has been operating for 12 years as well as Skinny Jump that has provided affordable internet to 20,000 households over the last four years and the Ministry of Education supported Equitable Digital Access for Student programme during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns. The common research question for all programmes is to understand how ‘sticky’ each digital inclusion intervention has been; do the programmes have an ongoing impact in changing people’s lives?
Barbara Craig, Chairperson of the DIAA Trust, said that this support from InternetNZ sets a new benchmark in recognising the importance of robust evidence-based research in progressing a national digital inclusion agenda. “Our Trust like many other similar organisations is often so focused on delivering programmes that there is never time nor the resources for substantial research. This grant is a game changer”, she said.
“We also welcome the partnership with the School of Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington to guide this research”, said Ms Craig. “We acknowledge the experience and academic rigour they bring to the table, while keeping our focus on research that is useful to policy-makers.”
Professor Anne Goulding, Dr Jennifer Campbell-Meier and Dr Allan Sylvester from the School of Information Management will be leading the research with support from DIAA. “We have partnered with researchers from Victoria University in the past and have been impressed with their robust approach and their excellent action-oriented reports”, concluded Ms Craig.
About Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa
The Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa was established in 2018 to foster socially inclusive communities where everyone has equitable opportunities to meaningfully engage with digital technologies, and benefit from the use of them.
It aims to enhance the confidence and capability of people living in New Zealand to engage online to advance their own education, employment, health and wellbeing as well as that of their whānau.
The Alliance acts as a catalyst for digital inclusion initiatives, by working with local communities, not-for-profit organisations, business enterprises and government agencies to pursue a shared digital inclusion vision.
Any organisation or individual working to achieve a more digitally included community is welcome to become a partner of the Alliance.
About InternetNZ
Every year InternetNZ community grants provide funding to support community-led initiatives that contribute to more New Zealanders being able to participate in and benefit from the Internet. Their recent grant round sought to increase the evaluation capabilities within the Aotearoa digital inclusion community. https://internetnz.nz/news-and-articles/new-grants-announcement-202021-digital-inclusion-initiatives/
For further information contact
Barbara Craig, Chair, Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa, 021 486 900 barbara.h.craig@icloud.com
Laurence Zwimpfer, Operations Director, Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa, 027 430 6737 laurence@diaa.nz
Jennifer Campbell-Meier, School of Information Management VUW, 022 426 3092 Jennifer.campbell-meier@vuw.ac.nz
Megan Baker, Media Inquiries, InternetNZ, 027 259 14254 media@internetnz.net.nz