The Bridge-IT Thematic Network

Acronym of the case:

Bridge-IT

Web address of the case:

http://www.bridge-it-net.eu/

Country of the case:

Pan european

Posting Date:

10 January 2011

Last Edited Date:

24 January 2011

Author:

AnaÃ¯s Le Corvec (Interactive Media Lab- university of Barcelona)

IEM | ICT | social capital

Type of initiative

Network

Case Abstract

The Bridge-IT is a thematic network, co-financed by the European Commission, working on ICT for social integration and cultural diversity, with emphasis on ICT for migrants and ethnic minorities (IEM) in Europe.

The Bridge-IT is a consortium of a broad array of organisations aiming to:

Raise awareness among relevant stakeholders on the potential of ICT for social integration and cultural diversity.
Facilitate networking activities for a better understanding among the key players of the value chain, whether at a local, national or European level.
Provide key players with a better vision and tools of how to improve/deploy their own activities at a larger scale, or of how to transfer initiatives from other countries.
Promote the development of better and more accessible ICT solutions, services and content that can contribute to the social integration of immigrants and to cultural diversity in Europe.
Develop policy recommendations based on several project outputs.

A literature review as well as in-depth analysis of 60 good practices were produced in 2009, while the updated version is expected in March 2011. The Network organised three transnational seminars over the future guidelines on Civil society, Education, Labour Market. National groups have also worked to deliver six national seminars. Reading material, photos and videos are provided on the Bridge-IT-net website and the NING platform, both open to everybody.

Description of the case

Domain

eInclusion

Topic

ICT and Cultural diversity

Sector

Culture and Media | Education, Science and Research

Date

December 2008 to March 2011

Date operational

December 2008

Target Users

Target Users Description

The Bridge-IT Thematic Network produced and issued in July 2009 a booklet presenting an inventory of 60 initiatives that aim to use ICT for better education, economic participation, civic engagement of IEM, thus exploiting the possibilities offered by the information society within a culturally diverse Europe. The updated and enriched version of the booklet is expected to come out in March 2011. The socio-economic integration of IEM, operations of intermediaries working with IEM, and finally mutual knowledge and social interaction with all members of the host society are in the focus of the Network. Both the Network and the booklet produced offer elements of reflection to all stakeholders dealing with ICT for social inclusion, economic participation, life-long learning, eGovernment and active citizenship.

Scope

Pan-European

Status

Research

Language(s)

English

Policy Context and Legal Framework

Increasing migration into the EU has raised the question of the potential of ICT for promoting the integration of migrants and cultural diversity in Europe. The participation of IEM in the Information Society is one of the six priorities set by the Riga Ministerial declaration on digital inclusion. Under the generic goal of using ICT to "promote cultural diversity in relation to inclusion" the declaration sets out in particular the following three objectives:

"Fostering pluralism, cultural identity and linguistic diversity in the digital space. Promoting digitisation, the creation of accessible digital content, and wide and crossnational access to digital information and cultural heritage in support of European integration. Fostering multilingual and local content throughout Europe, as well as European values of freedom, tolerance, equality, solidarity and democracy. ICT innovation and good practice exchanges at all levels are important means to achieve this";
"Improving the possibilities for economic and social participation and integration, creativity and entrepreneurship of immigrants and minorities by stimulating their participation in the information society. Particular efforts shall be made to improve the employability and productivity of minorities. Tailored ICT training and support actions can be important in this context".
"Improving digital literacy and competences", and more specifically under point 20 call for actions "tailored to the needs of groups at risk of exclusion, because of their social circumstances or their capacities and special needs, notably the unemployed, immigrants, people with low education levels, people with disabilities, and elderly, as well as marginalised young people, contributing to their employability and working conditions"

Pioneering initiatives aimed at tackling the issues listed above have already been started throughout Europe over the last few years. Previous research found that many initiatives were taking place, forming a rich and heterogeneous panorama of activities across the EU. Nevertheless, these initiatives were found to be highly scattered, and many of them were isolated, poorly known and often did not involve the stakeholders who could contribute to their development. These factors gave the impression that the wheel was being re-invented in different places at the same time. This is the case, for instance, for designed software, hardware configuration, knowledge on open content, and open source software standards, as well as for methodologies used for training personnel, addressing specific target groups, monitoring and impact assessment. These partly explain the need for a European thematic network to stimulate and facilitate "bridging" dynamics between agents and organisations acting and researching on the potential of ICT to improve integration and cultural diversity.

The ICT-PSP call from the Director General of Information Society in 2007 provided an appropriate framework for an initiative that addressed these issues. A consortium of a broad array of organisations that had worked together in previous similar initiatives took on this challenge responded successfully to the call with the proposal "Bridge-IT".

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

Content provision

Overall Implementation approach

Partnerships between administration and/or private sector and/or non-profit sector

Technology choice

Not applicable/not available

Funding source

Public funding EU

Project size

Implementation: €300-499,000

Implementation and Management Approach

The network started initially with 24 partners, coming from more than 7 European countries, and from very diverse backgrounds, such as universities, public entities, private companies, associations, unions, etc.

Three working groups of the Bridge-IT Thematic Network explore the three following topics/challenges:

ICT for new immigrants early education and for life long learning in a multicultural Europe.
ICT for labour market integration of the immigrants and their participation to the economy.
ICT, empowerment of civil society, social capital and cultural diversity

In order to manage such an important network, it was essential to put communication tools in place. For this reason, the network uses the Bridge-IT-net website, as well as a constant mailing communication, and last but not least the NING platform open to the public.

In the Bridge-IT-net website above there is a dedicated section, where one may find the short description of all practices the Network has studied. This inventory of practices serves as a basis for providing guidance to those who are interested in being involved in the further development of ICT-based solutions and approaches targeting immigrants' needs. It provides also elements of reflection to all stakeholders dealing with ICT for social inclusion, economic participation and life-long learning. Besides, it presents practices that can become an inspiring reserve of methodologies for those working with and for IEM that might be interested in integrating ICT in their services and daily work processes.

National and transnational seminars are also part of the work in the Bridge-IT project. In fact, they are made to enhance discussion and debates over the guidelines on how to roll out ICT solutions for social integration and cultural diversity in Europe. The inventory of practices serves as a basis for providing guidance to those who are interested to be involved in the further development of ICT based solutions and approaches targeting immigrants' needs. In each seminar, expert participants discuss the national situation, as well as the possibilities to promote the implementation of new practices.

Impact, innovation and results

Impact

Both the seminars and the booklet - comprising a rich inventory of good practices in Europe - have yielded results, findings and recommendations aimed at promoting ICT for socio-economic integration in culturally diverse contexts. Some of them are briefly described below:

Many IEM are digitally literate and often have similar (or even higher) rates of usages of ICT to the native population.
However, the majority still suffers from the "digital divide", confirming the perspective outlined in Riga.
It is of strategic importance to support intermediaries and service delivery actors dealing with IEM through digital or traditional channels and to develop/adapt online content and services focused on IEM needs and requirements.
A growing appropriation of ICT by IEM groups and individuals has been observed leading to initiatives categorised as: "ICT for collective self-organisation and support".
High ICT take up and use among IEM has also been observed, despite their worse socio-economic conditions, reflecting their younger age profile.
The life of migrants has been modified to such an extent that some researchers now speak of the emergence of the 'connected migrant'.

The project's outcome point to the following dimensions, which should be taken into account by stakeholders dealing with integration issues; by initiatives and services fostering the socioeconomic inclusion of IEM; by researchers studying impact of ICT usages in migrations and mobility contexts; by policymakers at different levels of governance (local, regional, national, European); by practitioners and intermediaries working with/for IEM; and of course by IEM themselves:

Need for more policy co-ordination.
Need to maintain current initiatives focused on "access for all to ICT".
Opportunity to transform traditional PIAP (Public Internet Access Point) into PESCE (Public â€¢ eService Centre).
Initiatives targeting IEM should address their specific barriers and needs.
ICT-supported measures for access to health.
Multi-channel and e-enabled front-liners across all policy relevant domains.
Purposeful digital literacy and training.
ICT supported job-finding measures.

Track record of sharing

The analysis of the Good Practice (GP) interviews with key actors involved in development and implementation of the initiatives, provide some additional preliminary recommendations in order to increase their impact, sustainability and efficiency, and will serve as a basis for providing guidance to those interested in being involved in the development of ICT based solutions and approaches targeting immigrants' needs. These constitute inputs for the next steps to be undertaken by the Bridge-IT thematic network that will concentrate on the definition of guidelines to facilitate the potential of these GP for scalability and reproducibility in other contexts. The interested reader is invited to exchange experiences and lessons learnt at Bridge-IT-net and at the ePractice Community on Cultural diversity and Local Integration.

Lessons learnt

This section will be completed as the project proceeds and the lessons learntÂ become more apparent.

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