O1. Increasing the number of adult education programs by 20%,in physical and online format for at least 150 adults aged 50+ from rural areas and small towns in partner countries, aiming to improve their basic digital skills by the end of the 12-month project. O2. Accesibility to the set of digital learning toolkit as an open educational resource for at least 150 adults aged 50+ from rural areas and small towns in partner countries, aiming at autonomous learning and social inclusion.
According to a recent Eurostat study, the adult population of European countries has few digital skills, in a maximum of 56%. There is also a big gap between rural and urban areas in the European countries, in terms of basic digital skills. According to the DESI (EU) index, 2021 in Romania, 35% have basic digital skills, Italy – 44%, Portugal almost 55%. Only 38% of those aged 55-74 and 32% of the retired and the inactive possess basic skills in this domain. The partner organizations discovered that there is no coherent programme at the country level to solve this general problem. The lack of digital skills among European adults worsened living conditions during the covid 19 epidemic. Therefore many adults and seniors did not know how to ask for medical help or for food supply and remained isolated. These adults from this European target group needed and requested our support for improving their digital skills in their attempt to improve their living conditions and avoid social isolation. This is a European problem with a European solution and European funding. The combination of expertise in the domain of adult education of the partners creates a European educational instrument which cannot be realized by each organisation alone.