Gateshead Council’s Digital Transformation and Support Fund

News - 23 November 2021

Gateshead Council has launched a £200,000 Digital Transformation and Support Fund to support small and medium sized voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations to identify the training and digital innovation their organisations need to help them grow and thrive.

Workforce development

The Fund is split into two parts, the first will focus on the development of the workforce and free training for the sector.

Gateshead Council, working with Connected Voice, will complete a training needs analysis with the voluntary and community sector which will be used to create a Work Force Development Strategy. This will inform the procurement of training courses the VCS organisations that deliver services in Gateshead will be eligible to access free of charge.

Digital transformation

The second focus will be on digital transformation and will support up to 25 VCS organisation that may be at risk of falling behind in terms of digital innovation.

Each successful participant will be supported by an IT consultant to undertake a Digital Maturity Assessment. The assessment will cover their current ICT systems and infrastructure, cyber resilience knowledge, data management, digital culture and behaviours and digital impacts on service delivery.

Organisations will receive a support plan which clearly outlines areas for development, priorities for the organisation such as one-to-one training, specification development, documentation writing and for some, a small amount to invest in software or equipment.

The deadline for applications is midnight on Friday 10 December 2021.

Find out more and apply at www.gateshead.gov.uk/article/19845/VCSE-Digital-Transformation-Fund