The low level of digital skills of a part of migrants, which is further accentuated among specific categories of migrants such as individuals with disabilities, the elderly, migrant women and illiterate migrants, paired sometimes with their lack of knowledge of the host country language, affects their integration process by preventing them to access online basic services, such as banking, education tools, health records or employment databases. Therefore, providing digital training tools and solutions to migrants to bridge the digital skills gap could lead to a more widespread use of digital platforms, which in turn would facilitate language learning, access to information, and virtual support networks, empowering migrants to navigate their new environments more effectively.

Further to the acquisition of basic digital skills to be able to use digital tools and services, migrants would also benefit from targeted training programmes aimed at developing professional digital skills, which could then improve their employment opportunities and social inclusion.

Proposals should include one or more of the following activities (non-exhaustive list):

1. Activities to increase the digital skills of migrants, in particular for the purpose of employment and including trainings and learning tools for migrants, as well as the development of training material, tools and good practices for professionals working on improving migrants’ digital skills.
2. Activities specifically addressed to increase migrants’ development of skills specific to IT professionals, as well as the development of training material, tools and good practices for professionals working on improving migrants’ digital skills.
3. Activities specifically addressed to increase the digital skills of specific categories of migrants such as women, the elderly, migrants with disabilities and illiterate migrants given their specific needs.
4. Innovative approaches to digital skills learning, specifically as regard reaching and teaching categories of migrants with low digital skills such as elderly, women, illiterate migrants and migrants with disabilities.
5. Conferences, workshops and mutual learning activities aimed at exchanging experience and disseminating good practices in relation to improving the digital skills of migrants in general, and particularly for those categories of migrants who face bigger difficulties such as women, the elderly, migrants with disabilities and illiterate migrants. Proposed good practices and tools to be developed in order to improve digital skills of migrants should take into account the initiatives already funded under other programmes in the area of employment and education, as detailed above, to avoid any overlap.

The target groups of this topic are as follows:

• Migrants as defined for this call;
• Particular attention should be paid to migrant women, the elderly, migrants with disabilities, or illiterate migrants who face additional difficulties in accessing digital services;
• Teachers, trainers, and other providers of courses to improve digital skills who are engaging with migrants.

Additional considerations applicable to this topic

• Applicants are invited to take note of, avoid duplication with, and build on projects previously funded by the EU in relation to integration and other similar initiatives, notably the resources available in the European Digital Education Hub, the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens and the Digital Skill and Job Platform. Applicants are encouraged to adapt, replicate, or scale existing good practices. Innovative approaches are welcome whenever existing practices do not adequately address the gaps.
• To increase the impact of their actions, applicants should pay attention to involving all relevant actors in multi-stakeholder partnerships (e.g., local and regional authorities; public and private service providers, including employment services; social and economic partners; employers; civil society, including migrant-led organisations, and social enterprises employing or addressing the needs of migrants etc.).
• Applicants are recommended to involve the target group (migrants in their diversity) in the design of the proposals, in the implementation and evaluation of the project. The project proposals should specify how such involvement has been or will be carried out.
• The involvement of migrant-led organisations in the proposed consortium either as applicants, partners or in a different way will be considered as particularly relevant.
• The Commission welcomes:
  • Proposals with broad geographical scope, engaging applicants from diverse regions across the EU.
  • Proposals involving applicants from more Member States than the minimum number identified in the eligibility criteria, as long as they are relevant for the design of the action.
  • Partnerships between partners with different expertise and experience on migrant integration, so that synergies can be found , for example  between local and more global partners, and less-experienced partners can benefit from the knowledge of the more experienced.
• Letters of support are not requested for the application and will be disregarded during the evaluation phase.