While 13 million French people have little or no digital skills, the government has started to tackle the subject of digital inclusion head-on. As part of the France Relance plan, Secretary of State Cédric O announced in November 2020 the creation of 4,000 digital adviser positions by 2022 throughout France. Where are we now?
Advisors recruited in the field are placed in all places that receive the public. They share their knowledge on daily digital uses, both on the protection of personal data and on the verification of sources of information, the creation of a CV or the sale and purchase of goods online.
Over the past year, nearly 185,480 people in France have benefited from the support of these France services agents. To date, nearly 3,000 agents have been recruited out of a total of 46,400 candidates, aged 35 on average, according to official data published and regularly updated.
1,000 digital advisors earn Pix certification
The State plan to fight against the digital divide also provided for the financing of the deployment of the tools of the Pix service, which helps professionals in their interventions with people remote from digital technology. This week, Pix and the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT) presented in a webinar an assessment of the Pix tool in digital mediation after one year of deployment.
This Pix/ANCT partnership makes it possible to support the rise in digital skills of citizens. In one year of use, digital mediation players have supported more than 5,000 users towards digital autonomy with Pix. Digital advisors, for example, use the “ABC Diag” test developed by Pix to carry out a general diagnosis of the computer skills of the users they support at the start of their journey.
Pix also makes it possible to enhance the skills of mediators, helpers and digital advisers in professional training themselves. Over the past year, more than 2,500 France services digital advisers have benefited from Pix in their training and 1,000 of them have obtained certification, says Pix. “The network of certification centers has been set up gradually and is still in the process of expansion,” said Marie Bancal, Head of Partnerships and Development at Pix, during the webinar.
In 2022, usage should accelerate. The ANCT wishes in particular to “launch a project on the enhancement of digital skills”, and in the wake of France Relance, “to continue the structuring of the sector and to have a skills certification offer”, indicates Pierre-Louis Rolle, director of the program digital inclusion at the ANCT. For its part, the Pix team plans to work more closely with digital mediation players to co-develop resources. At the same time, Pix wants to step up efforts on recurring themes among users, such as digital parenthood and online schooling, as well as access to health.