The Digital Poverty Alliance

Scottish Tech Army Co-Founder and CEO Alistair Forbes and Head of Partnerships Kirsty McIntosh were delighted to be confirmed recently as Ambassadors to the Digital Poverty Alliance, a UK wide initiative that, like the Scottish Tech Army, started during the pandemic. Its mission is clear and ambitious - to end digital poverty by 2030.

The DPA is dedicated to finding long term solutions to what they recognise as a complex, multi-faceted issue. Digital poverty comes in many guises - skills, accessibility, motivation as well as the more obvious issues of connectivity and financial barriers. The combination of one or more of these factors compounds that poverty more, pushing people further and further away from access to services, education, opportunity and help. Whilst great work has been done, not least by Connecting Scotland for example, to address the immediate problems surfaced by the pandemic, digital poverty is a deep-rooted problem.

The DPA’s approach is one that resonates deeply with the STA – collaboration. Only by working together can we inspire, inform and deliver change that is sustainable. We are delighted to be involved and support their initiative and look forward to seeing their strategy and programme emerge. Look out for regular updates here in our newsletter and follow the DPA on social media.

Photo by Laura Rivera on Unsplash