About the project
A European partnership to close the digital divide
Closing the Digital GAP (CDG) is an Erasmus+ Small-scale Partnership in Adult Education that brings together two organisations from the Netherlands and Spain to create an accessible, reusable training programme for adults left behind by digitalisation.
Programme
Erasmus+ KA210-ADU
Small-scale Partnership in Adult Education
Duration
24 months
January 2025 – December 2026
Project number
2024-2-NL01-KA210-ADU-000290992
Co-funded by the European Union
The challenge
Digitalisation affects every area of daily life — healthcare, work, education, banking, dealing with public administration. People who cannot keep up digitally miss opportunities and risk falling further behind. The EU’s Digital Decade vision aims for 80% of the population to have basic digital skills by 2030, but large groups of adults are still being left out.
Women remain underrepresented in the tech workforce: in the Netherlands, fewer than 1 in 5 ICT employees is a woman, and in Spain only 17.8% of the employed population with STEM training are women. Inequalities arising from the intersection of gender and ethnic origin have a particular impact on the digital opportunities of Black women, migrants and people of colour. Closing the Digital GAP exists to change that.
Our objectives
For adult learners
- Train 200 disadvantaged adult learners (100 per country) in tech, digital and soft skills
- Boost employability by making participants’ profiles more digital
- Raise awareness of AI and VR through an open MOOC in EN, NL and ES reaching 100+ participants
- Build cybersecurity awareness and fight misinformation about AI
- Award a digital certificate recognising the skills acquired in the CDG program
For educators and organisations
- Develop a reusable educational programme with IT challenges, webinars and an e-learning platform
- Train 20 professionals through a comprehensive staff training programme
- Strengthen partners’ capacity to integrate AI and VR into adult education, including the international workshop “AI & VR”
- Create a European network of 20 teachers and adult education centres in tech
- Contribute to DigComp, the European Skills Agenda and the Digital Education Action Plan
Who we work with
The CDG program focuses primarily on women — with particular attention to Black women, given their additional disadvantage in access to technology and the greater negative impact of AI and algorithms on their daily lives. Our aim is for 70% of participants to be women and 30% other vulnerable groups, including migrants and people of colour, from Amsterdam and Madrid.
We welcome adults who lack the digital skills to participate in today’s increasingly digital world, people facing barriers in the labour market — school leavers, unemployed people, those working below their skill level — and adult students interested in free courses on tech, AI and VR. The project also reaches adult educators, tech teachers, social workers, adult education centres, IT companies and employment offices in both countries.
Erasmus+ priorities we address
Creating upskilling and reskilling pathways — building accessible training routes that increase adults’ chances on the IT and non-IT labour market.
Improving inclusiveness and accessibility of adult education — using non-formal, enjoyable methodologies that lower the barriers to participation.
Topics: Digital skills and competences · Information and communication technologies (ICT) · Digital safety