Digital inequality
According to the classic definition, “Digital literacy is an individual’s ability to find, evaluate, and communicate information using typing or digital media platforms. It combines technical and cognitive abilities to use information and communication technologies to create, evaluate, and share information.
The internet has undoubtedly become a perfect platform for finding and executing work in recent years. During the years of the world pandemic and due to constant migrations, numerous people have transitioned to working online.
Due to the digital divide, numerous individuals are deprived of the chance to provide a stable income for their families. Consequently, they break the cycle of poverty despite meeting the requirements for a specific job or having the appropriate education.
To understand the phenomenon, let’s move on to a concrete example: vulnerable women. The Arev Society and the Armenian Fund for Sustainable Development have been implementing the Vulnerable Women Empowerment programs since 2020.
Despite the total number of internet users in Armenia amounting to 2.18 million, constituting 78.6% of the 2.78 million total population, the grand majority, notably 66.6%, are social media users (e.g., 1.4 million Facebook and 1.01 million Instagram users). Similarly, although most vulnerable women are active Internet and social media users, only some can correctly fill out electronic forms, write their resumes, or find the necessary information to prepare their small business plans.
This demonstrates that the absence of computers, mobile devices, or access to the Internet is only one reason for their poverty. So, digital inequalities stem from the lack of devices and the absence of skills for using the Internet and computers correctly.
As mentioned, people prefer to spend their time online for leisure, as they are not interested in or need to learn about the importance of basic digital skills. Many of our potential applicants are often discouraged and refuse to apply when they encounter a seemingly complex application via email or Google Forms.
Indeed, numerous courses and lessons are dedicated to tech-related fields in Armenia.
However, their distribution is unfair. They are hardly specialized and not precisely “user-friendly,” so the input efforts barely contribute to advancing digital literacy among vulnerable social groups.
The poor coordination of the offered resources leads to the maldistribution of knowledge, as the information about them is communicated through portals outside the targeted groups' reach.
Recognizing the importance of empowering vulnerable social groups, the Arev Society, in collaboration with theArmenian Fund for Sustainable Development, successfully launched the 'Digital Literacy Initiative for Vulnerable Women' in June 2024.
The program explicitly targets vulnerable refugee women and war victims, providing them with vital digital skills to improve their educational prospects, enhance employment opportunities, and create small businesses.
The knowledge they harness helps them make informed and confident decisions about their future.
After completing this first initiative, we conducted a comprehensive assessment among our beneficiaries on the usefulness and effectiveness of this course, and thefindings were quite insightful.
Building on these insights and lessons learned, we launched enhancedhands-on training sessions in February 2025, continuing our commitment to supporting refugee women's digital empowerment.