Inclusion & Cultural Diversity

Direct links to on-going projects in this IS Policy Area
   ICT-IEM L2

The potential of ICT for the socio-economic integration of groups at risk (elderly people, migrants, youth) 

The strategic policy framework “i2010: A European Information Society for Growth and Employment” clearly establishes digital inclusion as an EU strategic policy goal. Building on this, the 2006 Riga Ministerial Declaration on eInclusion defines eInclusion as both inclusive ICT and the use of ICT to achieve wider inclusion objectives. Three of its main objectives are:

  1. To address the needs of elderly people by increasing their quality of life, autonomy and safety, while respecting their privacy and ethical requirements, through independent living initiatives, the promotion of assistive technologies, and ICT-enabled services for integrated social and healthcare, including personal emergency and location-based services.
  2. To improve the digital literacy and competences of groups at risk of exclusion, notably the unemployed, immigrants, people with low education levels, people with disabilities, the elderly, and marginalised young people, contributing to their employability and working conditions.
  3. The promotion of cultural diversity through the use of ICT  to improve the possibilities for economic and social participation and integration, creativity and entrepreneurship of immigrants and minorities by stimulating their participation in the information society.

These policy developments respond to the fact that in the EU, it is estimated that the number of people over 80 years old will rise from 18.2 million in 2004 to nearly 50 million in 2050. In addition, the migrant population (50 million foreign-born) constitutes an important component of the population (10% and rising), contributing to economic growth and cultural diversity. At the same time, the number of young people (aged 15-29) will decrease from 20 to 15% of the population by 2050. Of these young people, 21% are unemployed, 19 million are at risk of poverty and 6 million are school dropouts.

The IPTS has been providing specific policy support and research activities to support the implementation of eInclusion policies since 2006, focusing in particular on the role of ICT applications and initiatives for the socio-economic integration of migrants and youth at risk, and the role of ICT in support of domiciliary carers of elderly people (to go to the subsection, click on one of the topics below):

ICT for Social Capital and Inclusion

Policy support activities:

  • Support to the launch of the eInclusion Web platform inside the ePractice portal
    The eInclusion team has contributed to the design, content development and animation of the new eInclusion section of the knowledge platform www.ePractice.eu  and to several related activities. In particular, IPTS contributed to the following three ePractice workshops:

Publications:


ICT for integration of immigrants & ethnic minorities (IEM)   

Projects:

  • IPTS is partner of the CIP thematic network on “ICT for social integration and cultural diversity - Bridge IT” (12.2008 - 12.2010)
    Bridge-IT focuses on ICT contribution in three important domains for social integration and cultural diversity: early education of immigrants and lifelong learning in multicultural Europe; immigrants’ labour market integration and economic participation; empowerment of civil society and social capital. The project started in December 2008 and by Summer 2009 it had collected and analyzed a first batch of about 30 good practices in the above fields. In the Fall 2009, three thematic workshops have taken place to prepare and discuss Guidelines based on the lessons learnt from those and other practices and on the partners’ own experience in these areas. In 2010, five national workshops will assess the feasibility of developing these and other initiatives through transnational partnerships. A final conference will present the project’s results and discuss needs and options to enhance policies on ICT for social integration and cultural diversity.

  • "ICTs for learning the host country's language by adult migrants in the EU" (10.2009 - 05.2010)
    This study represents a first step of a broader research programme being jointly developed by IPTS with DG INFSO H3.  The first research topic selected in this context is the contribution of ICTs to address the communication challenges of integration in a culturally diverse Europe, starting from the language barrier faced by many new arrivals, but often also by already established migrants. The present study explores how ICTs can support adult migrants in learning the/a national/official language of the host society and related cultural aspects. The research is developed in two country case studies, with the analysis of selected experiences, in the Netherlands and Sweden.

Events:

Publications:

 

ICT in support of domiciliary carers

Projects:

  • The potential of ICT in supporting informal domiciliary carers, with particular attention to the case of immigrant care-workers" (12.2008 – 05.2010)
    In an ageing society, with increasing numbers of people in need for long term care; shrinking numbers of health professionals and dedicated carers; high level health technology and growing costs for national budgets, two complementary trends are likely to emerge as  components of a supply-side solution to meeting the demand for home care: 1) migrant care labour to complement and supplement  professional health care provision and 2) ICT devices and applications support care functions, like monitoring and surveillance. Following the first exploratory study on Italy, three country studies on Germany, Spain, and the UK have analyzed: the policy context and organisation of socio-health care delivery (mostly with respect to elderly and disabled people) and the role of (unpaid) carers and care workers, including those from immigration backgrounds; the overall diffusion of ICTs to deliver care at home and to support the care givers involved, and in depth a few representative initiatives of this growing trend; the attention paid to, and any specific action addressing the migrant care workers which play a varied, but increasingly important role in domiciliary care provision in these countries.

  • “Immigrants, personal care jobs and ICT (in Italy)” (01.2008 – 05.2008)
    This study looked at the current and potential use of ICT by immigrants in personal care jobs (for service delivery, training, support) and immigrants’ role in mediating access to e-services for the people they assist. Publication forthcoming.

Events:

  • 19 January 2010: Workshop on "Long-term care challenges in an ageing society: the role of ICT and migrants"
    Workshops organised jointly with DG INFSO ICT for Inclusion to discuss the results of the project and the policy implications with relevant policy actors across the European Commission as well as external organizations. For more details, see the description of the project, the agenda and participants list.

Presentations:

Publications:


ICT and Youth at Risk of Social Exclusion

Projects:

  • "ICTs and Youth at Risk of Social Exclusion" (11.2009 - 09.2010) 
    Young people at risk of social exclusion are a priority target of EU eInclusion policies. This reflects two concerns. First, the worry that socio-economic disadvantage and marginalisation might lead to digital exclusion (lack of ICT access and/or inadequate use capabilities) and the awareness that, in today's society, this has worse implications for young people, compared to other digitally excluded segments of society (e.g. older people). Second, disadvantaged young people, besides bearing much sufferance on their own shoulders are a major source of social troubles, economic costs and lost opportunities; all means –including ICTs- are therefore worth exploring to empower them, to enhance their employability, to enable the innovation of the services addressing them and so on. This study represents a first step in understanding better how initiatives using actively ICT to tackle the social exclusion of youth are succeeding in improving their socio-economic inclusion.

Publications:

 

The role of the 3rd Sector in eInclusion

Projects:

  • "The role of Third Sector Organizations in the promotion of ICT-driven initiatives for digital and social inclusion" (Fall 2009)
    This study focuses on the role of Third Sector Organizations (TSO) in developing, promoting and supporting initiatives for digital inclusion, and social inclusion with ICT, as much as ICT specifically appropriated and/or designed to support social and digital inclusion of its users and developers. The sector is a vast domain that superimpose heterogeneous layers such as parts of the "civil society" understood here as individuals acting as citizens, and also collective action more or less formally structured provided by NGO, charity, non profit and community organizations that devote themselves to supply solutions against social and digital exclusion situations.