At Sustainable Tech 4 Good, our focus is getting digital devices into the hands of those who need them most, while signposting them to help available for digital skills and connectivity through our partner organisations.

Digital inclusion is essential for education, communication, and access to services and shopping. When money is tight, often online access is out of the question, excluding the disadvantaged from the benefits it brings, preventing full participation while perpetuating lower life chances, thus compounding their disadvantage.

Young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are especially vulnerable to digital poverty due to the lack of access to devices and the internet. According to the Learning & Work Institute’s report, one in five households with children in the UK has no access to an appropriate digital device, while more than one in 20 households do not have any access to the internet.

Spreading digital inclusion to the disadvantaged makes for a more productive society as a whole, where we all benefit from increased economic activity and a better skilled, more engaged workforce for our businesses.

* UN Definition of Digital Inclusion