To measure the impact of its digital inclusion initiatives, Telia Company collaborated with Malmö University’s Forum for Social Innovation Sweden and Jönköping University. As a first step, a tool specially developed for Telia by the Forum for Social Innovation Sweden was used to assess the impact of Telia’s Digital in Sweden initiative, which aims to equip immigrants with basic digital skills.
Meanwhile, Jönköping University studied the impact of Telia’s Mobile Driving License, which aims to help parents discuss online safety with children aged 6-9.
Digital in Sweden participants.
As a prioritized sustainability impact area, digital inclusion is an integral part of Telia’s business strategy. To help close the digital divide and capture inclusion opportunities, Telia aims to reach 2 million individuals with its digital skills initiatives by 2025. In the World Benchmarking Alliance’s digital inclusion ranking published on March 13, Telia was placed 12th among 200 technology companies assessed, and fourth among those headquartered in Europe.
Sara Nordbrand, Head of Group Sustainability at Telia Company, says: “In 2021, Telia launched a Group-wide program for digital skills, and today we have reached a bit more than one million individuals who are at risk of being digitally excluded or placed in vulnerable situations online. Now we are taking the next steps by scaling our initiatives and developing measures to start describing the impact of the work we do. In this work we are happy to have joined forces with impact measurement experts at the universities of Malmö and Jönköping.”
The impact assessment tool developed by the Forum for Social Innovation Sweden for Telia is now available to all interested parties online.
Sara Bjärstorp, Director of the Forum for Social Innovation Sweden at Malmö University, says: “There are many ways to measure the impact of initiatives aiming at improving a societal challenge like digital exclusion. This tool describes steps that will make it possible for an organization like Telia to conduct impact assessments of initiatives that aim at awareness raising of risks and social change. Measuring impact is not a ‘one size fits all’ concept. All impact assessments need to be adapted to the context and preconditions of the specific initiative.”
In the Forum for Social Innovation Sweden’s assessment, 73% of participants interviewed agreed that Telia’s Digital in Sweden initiative had increased their understanding of Sweden’s digital services and 82% wanted to try Sweden’s digital services as a result. One hundred per cent of interviewees would recommend that other immigrants should participate in the initiative. In addition to outlining the impact of the initiative, the report includes recommendations for next steps.
In Jönköping University’s assessment, most parents agreed that Telia’s Mobile Driving License – originally created together with the child rights organization Friends – had facilitated a dialogue with their children. Parents expressed appreciation for the tool being provided free-of-charge, agreeing that it had increased their confidence in discussing online safety with their children. The assessment also found that children’s digital safety skills and awareness of the need to reach out to an adult with questions or guidance about how to act in unpleasant situations had increased. Telia is using the results of the study to further develop and improve its Mobile Driving License.
Frida Lygnegård, PhD, Assistant Professor at Jönköping University, says: “Even though there was a relatively small sample, these are results that can be considered as direct impacts from the Mobile Driving License at an individual level and at the family level, and could possibly contribute to a larger impact on group and societal level as well, with increased digital awareness and online safety skills.”
