Rural Women Online

In the last two years, evidence has emerged outlining the critical barriers encountered by women living rurally and remotely that are impacting their online presence and participation. From a number of workshops, we learned that since COVID-19, a lot of these women were experiencing feelings of loneliness and inadequacy from not being able to connect with their loved ones or find employment after losing their jobs. For many, there was never a need or opportunity to be taught, but as the world became more reliant on digital technology, this changed drastically.

We were approached by the non-profit organisation, Victorian Women’s Trust to design and develop RWO which would act as a central hub for fast-tracked access to three things: 1. Training through a short self-directed curriculum that covers a wide range of IT knowledge to help users navigate the online world 2. Support through a real-time helpdesk session once a week that addresses phone and email enquiries while offering instructive advice and 3. Mentoring through a one-on-one program that provides up to 30 hours of aid to select participants

RWO is set to launch not long after this year’s election. While the impact of the initiative is yet to be measured, it aims to address and improve the current digital literacy level of all women in rural and remote areas - not only in Victoria but eventually all of Australia.

An intuitive backend platform was developed allowing a seamless hand over to the team behind RWO to manage bookings, mentors, and workshops on-going.