Offering community-based ICT projects for the unemployed is one of the most important drivers for local ICT development. Projects can include a range of activities that address everything from basic literacy and numeracy skills development to advanced certification for IT careers.

This project description was written by Terry Grunwald for the Scottish Communities Channel in 2001, but is now longer available there. We plan to update here shortly.

What do Technology Projects for the Unemployed do?

• Build awareness of career opportunity explorations for all job areas that are available on the Net as well as career opportunities in ICT itself

• Provide outreach in benefits offices, sports clubs, community centres, pubs, and other locations in the community where unemployed persons may meet, in order to demonstrate what the Net can offer

• Build confidence and self-esteem as a prerequisite to entering a training curriculum

• Use ICT strategies to boost employability

• Offer free or low-cost Internet-based courses and video-based distance learning

• Provide online job finding services

• Offer e-commerce solutions for budding entrepreneurs

• Build partnerships with local businesses and voluntary organisations to develop job skills

Resources

Scottish University for Industry (SufI) and LearnDirect Scotland are the primary sources of information on career-based learning. They list Career Service Companies around Scotland that provide career guidance.

The Department for Work and Pensions has a web site with useful information for those looking for work.

Scottish Enterprise Network has information on e-business.

Models

Ayrshire Electronic Community is collaborating with an intermediate labour market training programme (Conduit) to train unemployed residents in IT skills. They then put them in learning access centres as a work placement assignment where they would provide short courses in IT Basics. See their story on this site.

Key lesson learned: For the initial placement, assign trainees to a set curriculum. They are probably not able to field the wide variety of questions they are likely to get in a general technical support role.

Castlemilk Connections hopes to use trainees from their Electronic Village Project (an Intermediate Labour Market group) as part of their Help Desk support system to the wider community.

Key lesson learned: Though people may be trained on a "package", they then have to apply it in the real world - and that is where they need hands-on assistance and reinforcement of training concepts. "We know we need to provide support every step of the way."