GMCA receive award at Royal Geographical Society Awards 2022

GMCA receive award at Royal Geographical Society Awards 2022

On Monday 6^th June, representatives from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) attended the Royal Geographical Society Awards 2022 in South Kensington to receive an award for the Digital Exclusion Risk Index tool (DERI tool).  The award was granted to the GMCA for being named the joint overall winners, at the Geography in Government Awards in May, alongside the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The DERI tool was first developed by the GMCA Research Team in response to local authorities finding digital exclusion a significant challenge for residents and communities during the pandemic. Local authorities found they were unable to understand the scale of the challenge of digital exclusion locally and struggled with the absence of a single consistent view or understanding of digital exclusion as a facet of broader social inequalities.

The prestigious Royal Geography Society Awards recognise excellence in geographical research, fieldwork, teaching, policy, and public engagement. The awards are presented annually in recognition of those who have made outstanding contributions.

Councillor Bev Craig, GMCA Lead for Education, Skills, Work, Apprenticeships and Digital said: “The Digital Exclusion Risk Index tool (DERI) is nationally significant in how we understand levels of digital exclusion and inequalities and those areas at particular risk of exclusion so that we can work together to tackle this issue and support our residents across Greater Manchester to get online.

“It is wonderful to see the DERI Tool recognised nationally, especially at the prestigious Royal Geographical Society Awards. I would like to pass on my congratulations to everyone involved in this excellent work helping us to progress in our ambitions to fix the digital divide across Greater Manchester.”

GMCA representatives previously attended the Geography in Government Awards on Wednesday 25th May and came away with two awards, overall winners as well as the award for Advancing Policy Development for the DERI tool which was launched last year. The Geography in Government awards celebrate the geographical work across the civil, crown and public sector and reflect the importance of geography and spatial thinking in the design and delivery of public policy. 

The DERI tool was developed as part of the GMCA’s Digital Inclusion Agenda, to benefit local authorities in providing detailed insight into where digital inclusion initiatives are needed most.

Greater Manchester Digital Inclusion Agenda was launched in October 2020, with a bold ambition to make Greater Manchester a 100% digitally-enabled city region. Since then, the Mayor has made the agenda one of his Mayoral Manifesto priorities and the DERI tool continues to help inform the programme of work and the pilot programmes the team are developing to tackle the issue of digital exclusion in Greater Manchester and help more residents get online.

Find out more about the Greater Manchester Digital Inclusion Agenda

Find out more and access the DERI Tool

Article Published: 07/06/2022 10:18 AM