Benidorm tenders the ‘Benidorm TIC’, which creates the Office for Senior Citizens and includes free digital literacy courses

Benidorm City Council has started the tendering process for the ‘Benidorm TIC’ project, which creates the Office for Senior Citizens for Digital Procedures and will provide free training courses on digital literacy and new technologies to “reduce the digital divide”. This was stated by the mayor, Toni Pérez, after the Local Government Board approved today the contracting file for this project with which “in addition to giving continuity to a training initiative that has been tested and consolidated over the years, we are taking a step further by enabling a care service focused on the elderly, one of the groups most affected by the digital divide”.

The mayor stressed that “we are immersed in a process of constant technological and digital transformation and we have to focus all our efforts and action to ensure that no one is left behind, guaranteeing that all people, regardless of their age, training or personal and/or economic circumstances, have the skills and knowledge necessary to function in digital environments”.

The project lasts 45 months, divided into three periods of 15 months each. In each period, 75 courses will be offered, with specific content depending on the group they are aimed at: elderly people, young people, children, people with disabilities, immigrant population, etc. These courses will be held in different municipal spaces to facilitate attendance as much as possible, such as the social centres ‘José Llorca Linares’ and ‘La Torreta’, the employment centre ‘Pepita Puchades’ or the City Hall itself.

At the end of each of the periods, the courses offered can be suggested or adapted based on the needs that are detected in each of the groups.

Toni Pérez recalled that “the last edition of ‘Benidorm TIC’ was a great success in terms of participation, with a hundred courses and nearly 900 students, some of whom signed up for more than one training course, thus expanding their digital skills in different areas.” “These figures confirm not only the suitability of the project – he added – but also the relevance of going deeper into it, of bringing it as close as possible to the population and expanding the services with this new Office for the Care of the Elderly, which was a firm commitment of the local government and which will soon become a reality.”

Regarding this office, he explained that, according to the specifications, it must be up and running within a maximum period of 3 months from the award of the contract and will be operational at least two days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. In this office, qualified personnel will advise the elderly who require it on how to carry out administrative procedures online such as renewing documents or requesting public services, among others, using digital certificates, electronic DNI or cl@ve, or on the use of different platforms, how to prepare documentation, etc.

In this regard, the mayor clarified that “the advice will focus on the procedure, not on its content. That is, the elderly will be advised on how to file their income tax return online, but not on the return itself.”

The tender price of the contract is 373,500 euros, financed entirely with municipal resources.