eGA supports the Ukrainian community with digital skills
The e-Governance Academy (eGA) supports the Ukrainian community by advancing digital skills.
“We want to help Ukrainians with low digital skills who arrived in Estonia due to the war to better cope with everyday life by using the digital solutions and receiving e-services,” said Kristina Mänd, head of the project “Digital Empowerment of the Ukrainian Community in Estonia”.
“In addition to improving the digital skills of Ukrainians and reducing the digital divide, the e-Governance Academy also wants to support the Ukrainian community and promote cooperation between them in order to help them continue to endure difficult times.”
Within two years, eGA will involve 60 smart young people of Ukrainian origin from Estonia, from whom digital envoys will be trained to pass on knowledge to the digitally vulnerable members of the community. In addition to using everyday Estonian and Ukrainian e-services, young people in Ukraine will learn how to best make local Ukrainians familiar with digital life. Skillful use of digital services and solutions makes it easier for people to communicate with the state, saves time, enables active communication with each other, helps to find information and reduces cybersecurity risks.
“The first 30 digital envoys masterclasses will start this weekend, January 27-28,” Mänd said. “In doing so, we very much wish that young people from Ukraine achieve something important in life by becoming digital envoys and supporting others.”
The e-Governance Academy is an independent, mission-based foundation to increase the openness and prosperity of societies through digital transformation, which was launched in 2002 by the UN Development Programme, the Institute for the Open Society and the Estonian government.
The project “Digital Empowerment of the Ukrainian Community in Estonia”, which will last until September 2025, is being implemented by eGA with the support from the United States Department of State of 236,000 US dollars.
eGA has previously implemented a similar project “DRIVE: Digital Research and Impact for Vulnerable E-citizens” in Ukraine, during which 32 digital ambassadors were trained, who passed on knowledge to nearly 700 people.
