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City of London | Citizens Online

British Telecommunications plc | Bone Wells Urbecon Ltd

September 2010

Community ICTChampion: City of LondonCommunity ICT project

7301_Q_city_london_eval_summ_01_Layout 1 28/09/2010 17:03

Community ICT Champion: City of London Community ICT project

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About This Report

This report was written by Bone Wells UrbeconLtd and the City of London Delivery InnovationTeam in order to document the results of atwo-year project to evaluate the impact of acommunity ICT champion project onresidential estates in the City of London andthe impact on local public services delivered bythe council and its partners. The project wasrun by Citizens Online in partnership withBritish Telecommunication plc and the City ofLondon. This is the executive summary.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the following without whichthis project evaluation would not have beenpossible:

• Citizens Online

• British Telecommunications plc

• City of London project board and workinggroup members

And particular thanks to: Liam Barnes – the Cityof London eChampion, Elisa Conti and AbdulRahim who delivered the evaluation of a broadmulti facetted project over a 2 year period.

Full Document

The full report can be downloaded athttp://www.esd.org.uk/InnovationToolkit

Terms and Conditions of Use

© Copyright City of London 2010

You may use this document free of charge forany purpose subject to the conditions of aCreative Commons Attribution Sharealikelicence i.e. that you:

1. Acknowledge the City of London and BoneWells Urbecon Ltd as the original source.

2. Preserve this licence in any copies, prints,distributions or derived works.


31: An Analysis of Social Disadvantage and the Information Society, Oxford Internet Institute, 20082: http://www.esd.org.uk/solutions4inclusion/

Executive Summary

The Challenge and Opportunity

Clear research evidence demonstrates thatthose who are most socially disadvantaged arealso least likely to have access to and engagewith information and communicationstechnologies such as the internet1. This is animportant issue for councils and local servicedelivery organisations. Those who need themost help are being increasingly excluded frommodern new public services. As mainstreamsociety increasingly enjoys the benefits of theinformation age in their education,employment, health and wellbeing, those onthe margins are being further disadvantaged.For the frontline workers who are supportingthem, their job is becoming more challenging.They have reduced opportunities forengagement, consultation and communicationif they themselves, or their clients, can’t accessthe modern communication technologies andservices that are becoming ubiquitous in otheremployment sectors and areas of society.

With every challenge is an opportunity. Localservice delivery organisations can actively usetechnology in inclusive and innovative ways tosupport the most disadvantaged. There aremany excellent and inspiring examples2. Thesemight involve helping people by using ICT inthe frontline, helping people to use ICT to helpthemselves – or a combination of both. Eitherway, the prize is significant. Targetingdisadvantage provides the greatest opportunityfor councils and community partnerships todeliver the most social impact, and the bestprospect of significant reductions in publicservice costs.

Local Community ICT Champions -Background

The concept of establishing a local ICTchampion is one that has considerable pedigreeand that has been implemented in a number oflocal authority areas across the UK. Theconcept is straightforward. The ICT championworks with:

• local organisations to improve access tocommunity based ICT facilities for residentsand frontline workers in a disadvantaged area.

• the local community and its residents toestablish a programme of engaging andstimulating learning activities, both formal andinformal, that meets their needs and interests.

• frontline workers across public sector andcommunity organisations to help them to usethe community ICT facilities to enhance theircommunication and engagement with theresidents that they need to support and thatare traditionally the hardest to reach.

The key questions are: What is the social andeconomic impact of a community ICTchampion initiative? What are the measurablebenefits to residents, the community, the localauthority and its partners? What are the keylessons around implementing such an initiative?

This report provides a summary of the findingsof an evaluation of a 3-year community ICTchampion project on residential estates in theCity of London, undertaken by Bone WellsUrbecon Ltd. It draws on quarterlymeasurement reports, two annual reports and abusiness case analysis produced over theevaluation period.


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The City of London Project – Everybody Online

The City of London Community ICT projectcommenced in September 2007 as apartnership between industry (BT), the thirdsector (Citizens Online) and the public sector(the City of London). The project focused onthe most deprived residential communities inthe East of the City of London borderingTower Hamlets and in the north of the Citybordering Islington.

A simple governance structure was establishedto regularly manage the different perspectivesand requirements of all project stakeholders:

• a small steering board of service directorsand representatives from partnerorganisations; to ensure alignment withcommunity strategy and departmentalobjectives and priorities.

• a working group of frontline workers andcommunity organisations; to agree, plan andco-ordinate community ICT facilities andactivities.

• a user group of residents; backed by surveysand consultations with residents to developinformal and engaging activities in thecommunity.

The project had a part time project managerwithin the City of London to support thecommunity ICT champion. The ICT championwas not employed by the local authority butby a charity, Citizens Online3, giving thefreedom to balance the interests andperspectives of residents, different localauthority departments and local servicesproviders, but not be dominated by any one.

Over the 3-year project period, some of theactivities included:

• Improving community ICT access; installingPCs, electronic whiteboards and othertechnology in a new community centre –covered at marginal cost as part of theoriginal build. Securing recycled technology,in particular from the local authority, forother community centres, key communityvolunteers and local sheltered housingschemes. Raising awareness and improvingaccess to other community ICT facilities suchas libraries and a local museum.

• Supporting the community and it’s residents;the ICT champion, working with partners, andexisting community organisations, arrangedregular informal and engaging activities fordifferent groups including: the Bangladeshicommunity, homeless, elderly residentsincluding those in a number of shelteredhousing schemes, teens and school age,unemployed, and social housing tenants.Activities ranged from ‘Silver Surfers’, ‘Wii andTea’, Digital culture events, music production,video and magazine activities, community website, online shopping and digital photographyetc. These were all led by the community’sspecific interests and needs. The project alsocreated many volunteering opportunities.

• Supporting Frontline Workers; the projectteam organised specific activities to support ahost of front line workers from partnerorganisations and the local authority. Forexample: youth workers (e.g. ICT resources forhome work clubs), the local PCT (healthy livingevents, access to online health services), Adultand Community Learning Team (informal andformal classes e.g. Myguide, eCitizen and EqualSkills), libraries department (virtual libraryactivities), Supporting People (homeless hostelwork), Crime and Disorder ReductionPartnership (intergenerational activities, safe ITinitiatives), Housing Officers (e.g. active agingactivities and community web site), CitizensAdvice Bureau (ICT support for outreachworkers), Economic Development(employment and CV building sessions).

3: The project was delivered by Citizens Online based on their experience delivering over 20 community ICT champion projects across the UKthrough their ‘Everybody Online’ programme. http://www.citizensonline.org.uk/everybody_online


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Over the period the project partnered with keynational organisations with an expertise insupporting people using technology includingStartHere (simple access to services in thecommunity). Abilitynet (assistive technology),Digital Unite (experts in ICT in shelteredhousing), UK online centres (for national getonline week), Age UK (computer recyclingscheme) and Looking Local (service delivery viaDigital Interactive TV, mobile phones and othertechnologies). The project also tapped into theemployee volunteering capacity of localbusinesses.

Headline Findings

There is extensive evidence showing that theproject had a positive effect on increasing theICT skills and Internet usage in the City; itgenerated positive social outcomes for residentsand the community; and it supported frontlineworkers to deliver more effectively andefficiently. Against each of the key activity areas:

Community ICT Access ImpactThe project was successful in attractingsignificant additional ICT resource into the areaincluding: recycled PCs, local grants, servicekiosks, assistive technologies, redirected andprioritised funding, staff time (e.g. sparecapacity of ICT training team in the localauthority to run community training events),volunteers time etc. The monetary value ofthese additional assets and resources isestimated to be at least £20k per annum overthe 3-year period. Setting the project up in acommunity and charitable organisation, ratherthan running it out of the local authority wasan important contributor to attracting theseadditional assets for the community.

There was a clear measured impact of theseadditional assets and resources. Annualhousehold surveys in the areas in which theproject was based recorded a 10% increase inInternet use. The largest increase was recordedamongst the 55+ (only 36% of those falling inthis age group used the Internet in 2008

compared to 61% in 2010) and the DE socio-economic group (from 50% to 66%). Thesetarget groups were the ones particularlysupported by the project.

Measured Benefits for Residents and the CommunityThere was considerable participation andengagement with the project – over the periodthe project supported hundreds of residents,delivered hundreds of sessions of activity and anumber of well-attended annual events. Insurveys 56% of participants reported they weremore likely to take part in other communityand social events; and 62% believed that theactivities would help them to accessinformation and to keep updated with whatwas going on in their community.

There was no shortage of communityvolunteers to the project – with moreregistering an interest in supporting activitiesthan could be accommodated. 44% of allparticipants reported that they were likely touse their new skills to volunteer for similarprojects or for other community initiatives.This virtuous circle of participants becomingvolunteers was confirmed in practice with 12volunteers getting involved in 2009, of whom


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the majority had been through one of theactivities as a participant. Some of thesevolunteers were helped into work on the backof their volunteering experience.

There were around 6000 visits, and 42,000 pageviews of the community web site in 2009 – fora community of 4000. There were alsoimportant contributions to the web site bylocal residents for example young people’sartwork was published.

The project had a clear positive impact on ICTskills. The group of residents the projectworked with had lower skills compared to thewards’ average. However, the project helpedthem to get closer to the area’s average. At theproject’s inception only 61% of residents knewhow to use a mouse to launch programmescompared to 83% (ward average); at theproject’s end this figure went up to 100%.Before attending the ICT activities only 36%knew how to manage files and folders; thisfigure more than doubled when exiting theactivities. 46% of attendees had used emailcompared to 68% after completing the ICTtraining.

Other key findings include improved socialoutcomes. The activities:

• Increased the confidence and the self-esteemof participants: 85% of the attendees feltmore confident in their skills.

• Had a positive impact on the attitude towardseducation: 53% wished to enrol in furthertraining and education.

• Addressed a lack of confidence in applying forjobs: 18% felt more confident in applying for ajob (80% of the unemployed residents).

• Helped residents to access online publicservices: 53% were accessing or expressed aninterest in using websites such as NHS-Choices and Directgov.

• Encouraged family learning: 50% of theBangladeshi ladies attending the sessionsthought that, with their new digital skills, theywould be able to help their children withhomework and check what they were doingon the Internet.

• Improved the wellbeing of participants: 68%felt that the activity would help them topursue their hobbies and interests(particularly important for the elderly).

The project directly supported at least 3people into work over the period. However,many of the above social impacts shouldcontribute to further employment and training.

Benefits for Frontline WorkersAlongside working with different LocalAuthority departments within the City ofLondon around 20 new partnerships wereestablished over the life of the project withother service delivery organisations such asschools, a local Primary Care Trust, RegisteredSocial Landlords and volunteeringorganisations. Frontline workers and keystakeholders were interviewed to understand ifthey were benefiting from the project and inwhat way. Overall, they were very satisfied withthe Project’s outcomes and its innovativeapproach. They reported that it was particularlysuccessful in:


• Engaging hard-to-reach residents. The groupssupported experienced barriers in accessingmainstream services and trainingopportunities; the project offered valuablesupport for breaking down these barriers andmaking mainstream services more accessibleto marginalised communities.

• Community cohesion and bridgingintergenerational divides. The Bangladeshiwomen living in Portsoken took part in severalevents with different community groups andimproved their communication and relationalskills. Older residents learnt how to use ICTfrom younger attendees.

• Promoting effective partnership workingacross different LA departments, andbetween public, private and third sectororganisations working on the estates.

• Improving residents’ attitudes towards usingonline public services, which could promotechannel shift and support efficiency targets.

The City of London Estates and HousingSchemes approached were extremely satisfiedwith how the project was working for them.They found the project a valuable complementto the activities they organised for residents.

The Business Case for a Community ICT Champion

A cost-benefit analysis and value-for moneyassessment of the project was carried out. TheICT champion approach has been comparedwith alternative options including recruitingmore community development workers andembedding community ICT approaches intodifferent departments across a local authority.The key findings are that:

• The community ICT champion approach ismore effective than the alternatives across arange of indicators, including improvedresident self-esteem and confidence,improved skills, improved participation and

engagement with services and increasedparticipation in community (e.g. volunteering,attendance at community events).

• If governed by a steering board the approachhas an excellent strategic fit by helping a localauthority or community partnerships todeliver against a range of targets andobjectives. It is also a popular project amongkey stakeholders, such as frontline workers, asit helps them to deliver more efficiently andeffectively against their areas of responsibility.

• The community ICT champion works for thecommunity rather than for the local authority.As a result the community runs and owns theproject and the project can attract moreinward investment to the community thanthe alternative approaches.

It has been estimated that the project canbreak even over a three-year period. Theprimary costs related to the project are theemployment costs for the ICT champion. Thebenefits relate to the monetary value of a) theinvestment attracted to the community, b) thewider economic benefits of getting peopleinto further education and employment, c)economic value of community volunteering, d)the net economic benefits to residents ofpersonal internet access, e) public serviceefficiencies. There are many additional benefitsthat are not financially quantifiable (increasedself-esteem; increased likelihood of applyingfor jobs, etc) but where there has beenmeasured improvement over the course of thisproject – Annex A provides a list of indicators,and Annex B presents a ‘Benefits-Beneficiary’footprint for the project.

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Conclusions and Lessons Learned

The community ICT champion hasundoubtedly delivered benefits across a hostof indicators, for the community, its residents,local service delivery organisations and thelocal authority. There are many lessons thathave been learned and some areas forimprovement identified – the most importantof which are:

• Expand coverage without diluting impact;frontline workers, when asked how theproject could improve, were keen to explorehow it could reach more residents. There is abalance to be struck between breadth anddepth of support by an ICT champion. Clearlyone champion can only achieve so much.However adopting a rolling approach ofkicking activities off, which are then sustainedby community volunteers and or supportedby mainstream LA resources is one approach.

• Harnessing the full potential of volunteers;this project used volunteers extensively, yet itcould not meet the full demand from thecommunity for volunteering opportunities.Clearly there are diseconomies of scale thatneed to be managed – when the number ofvolunteers increases beyond a certain amountthe benefit they can provide a single ICTchampion can be offset by the additionaladministrative burden. However trainingvolunteers and residents to support theirpeers independently is important to theongoing sustainability of the project.

• The need for the project to the run by acommunity organisation; is a critical successfactor to ensure that the champion is free tobalance the needs of all the variousstakeholders and not become overly focusedon any one local authority target to thedetriment of other areas. This also importantto attract additional inward investment,resources and assets.

• The need for a project manager with theLocal Authority; to ensure that the ICTchampion has good access to, and workingrelationships with frontline workers across thevarious departments of a local authority.

These last two points are particularlyimportant. An ICT champion approach isconsistent with councils handing over morecontrol and delivery of services to thecommunity. The Champion is effectively a formof community development worker who isfrom the community, works for the communityand answers to the community. With a strongfacilitating link back into the local authority thisapproach is a good example of a councilhelping the community to help itself.


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Annex A – Range of Benefits Measured by the Evaluation

• Improved Wellbeing

• Improved ICT Access

• Increased Volunteering in Community

• Increased community participation in activities and services

• Financial Benefits of Internet Access

• Additional Resources and Investment Accrued to Community

• Improved ICT Skills and Confidence

• Contribution towards positive inspection outcomes

• Contribution towards community targets

• Residents progressing to other activities

• Increased employability of Residents

• Increased take-up of public services like NHS Choices

• Increased interaction between different parts of the community

• Active partnerships to support residents

• Increased residents with new qualifications

• New community events delivered

• Increase in residents accessing remote library services

• Increased intergenerational contact

• Participation in active aging activities

• Frontline worker satisfaction that project is supporting them

• Councillor satisfaction that project is delivering for ward

• Clear evidence of support for most vulnerable

• Help to market public and community sector services

• New opportunities to engage youth with IT, new media and games

• New community equipment and facilities to enhance training


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Annex B – Project Benefits Footprint


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Contact usesd-toolkitLocal Government Improvement and DevelopmentLayden House, 76-86 Turnmill Street, London EC1M 5LG

Tel: 020 7296 6572www.esd-toolkit.org.uk

The full document is available on www.esd-toolkit.org.uk

© City of London 2010.


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