Abstract
In the South African government’s embrace of digital transformation, there has been a significant focus on the digital skills development of vulnerable and digitally excluded communities. Community organisations that have integrated digital inclusion offerings as part of their services have been instrumental in this regard, providing digital skills training and alternative learning options for people unable to afford traditional education institutions. Unfortunately, limited information is available as to the outcomes of such digital skills training interventions in the lives of the intended beneficiaries, as well as recommendations towards assessing such outcomes in under-resourced communities (URC). This chapter presents the findings of a quantitative survey study that sought to contribute to the practice of assessing the outcomes of digital skills training interventions. It provides insight into meaningful benefits derived by beneficiaries of a mobile (digital) literacy training course; salient factors contributing to such outcomes; and the application of methodological approaches and processes to evaluate the outcome of digital skills interventions in URC. It is envisaged that the evidence-based insight emerging from this study allows for a more nuanced understanding of meaningful outcomes that may transpire from digital inclusion interventions, and informs and encourages the practice of more effective digital skills intervention assessment, particularly in URC.
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Notes
- 1.
Limited information is available regarding Internet access at the individual level. National surveys typically focus on Internet access at the household level.
- 2.
In this chapter, the terms ‘intermediary’ and organisation are used interchangeably in reference to community organisations that are involved in digital inclusion interventions.
- 3.
The course was developed by the CoLab for e-Inclusion and Social Innovation based at the University of the Western Cape and funded by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, through the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa.
- 4.
- 5.
It must be noted that the results are presented as a percentage of values received per variable (i.e. per question). Missing values were omitted, hence the inconsistency in the sample size per question.
- 6.
WhatsApp messaging was also explored for survey purposes. However, it requires the registration of a WhatsApp business service, which at that point in time was not within the policy framework of the university due to recent changes in legislation and regulation.
- 7.
Our gratitude goes to the community-based organisations that assisted us in the completion of the beneficiary surveys.
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Acknowledgement
This research project was financially supported by the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA), a portfolio organisation of the South African National Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC).Footnote 7
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Katunga, N., Keating, C., Craffert, L., Van Audenhove, L. (2024). Digital Inclusion Interventions for Digital Skills Education: Evaluating the Outcomes in Semi-Urban Communities in South Africa. In: Radovanović, D. (eds) Digital Literacy and Inclusion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30808-6_12
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