The Cibervoluntarios Foundation and the AEB Foundation, of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), are launching ‘Expertclick’, a training program in the use of new technologies for people over 55 living in rural areas.
In the first phase of the plan, 200 people from rural areas will be trained through 25 programs consisting of a total of 50 workshops, which will emphasize the use of mobile devices. In 2019, the plan will be extended to provide training to seniors throughout Spain.
This project, which responds to the analysis of access, uses, and demands of seniors online, aims to empower this group with digital skills so they can browse the internet safely and confidently and perform everyday tasks, especially those related to healthcare, public administration, and online banking.
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), the increase in technology consumption among those over 65 is driven by tablets. Only 13.2% of seniors owned one of these devices in 2015, a proportion that rose to 42% in 2016. This age segment is already above average in the use of tablets for transactions with administrations and banks.
“People over 55 must be a key agent for the development of society in the new digital era, and we want to help them reach their potential through this type of training. In this way, we will increase their online social participation for the benefit of society as a whole,” said the president of the Cibervoluntarios Foundation, Yolanda Rueda.
“Our goal is to provide seniors with the necessary tools so they can take full advantage of the benefits that new technologies offer to improve their quality of life,” said AEB spokesperson José Luis Martínez during one of the training workshops in Braojos de la Sierra (Madrid).
