Connecting Communities Project in Tower Hamlets

Alexandra Boothroyd and Rayhaan Lorgat

27 March 2023

The ‘Connecting Communities’ inclusive broadband project is a digital Universal Basic Services (UBS) pilot aimed at tackling digital exclusion in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The project developed in two phases, which both trialled the delivery of key elements of digital access and education to families experiencing digital exclusion. Phase one took place between March and May 2020, during the UK’s first COVID-19 lockdown, and was delivered to 70 households in two primary schools in Poplar. In phase two, the intervention was extended to a further 130 households in nine primary schools. Roll out remains ongoing.

The project formed part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Digital Inclusion Strategy, and was developed as a cross-sector partnership between the housing association Poplar HARCA, the LETTA Trust, Tower Hamlets Council, the East End Community Foundation (EECF) and internet provider Community Fibre.

The Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP) Prosperity Co-laboratory (PROCOL) UK’s latest report on phase two of the ‘Connecting Communities’ project illustrates how digital UBS is improving livelihoods in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

The IGP produced a report “Stories of Change from the Connected Communities Inclusive Broadband Project” in 2021 evaluating phase one of the project. In May 2022, the IGP was commissioned to undertake a final evaluation of the project’s second phase. The research was carried out between May and July 2022, by IGP Honorary Senior Research Fellow Dr Penny Bernstock, former IGP research intern Israel Amoah-Norman, and two Citizen Social Scientists based in Tower Hamlets, Pratimas Anil and Sultana Rouf.

This evaluation drew on a range of research methods, including surveys and semi-structured interviews, and had two main aims:

1) To evaluate the impact of digital access for participating households using IGP’s citizen-led prosperity framework, which identifies digital inclusion as a pillar of livelihood security, the foundational elements of prosperity in east London;

2) To explore both the potential and challenges of scaling up roll out from the perspective of stakeholders including service users, schools, project managers and funders.

Digital inclusion is an important pillar of livelihood security; access to ‘information’ is therefore included in the IGP’s framework for Universal Basic Services (UBS). The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of equal access to the digital realm, and this will only become more pressing as our societies become reliant on digital technology and data. Recent figures from Ofcom suggest that connectivity has increased: the percentage of households without internet access declined from 11% post pandemic to 6% a year later. The Lloyds Bank Digital Consumer Index (2022), meanwhile, estimates this figure to currently be at 1%. Both reports acknowledge geographical variation in digital access, as does the Prosperity in east London (2021-2031) wave one data, which found significant variation across five lower-layer super output areas (LSOAs) in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. This data also illustrates variation between ethnicities.

At the borough level, access to the internet is 95% in 2021, up by 12 percentage points from 2013. From this figure, levels of internet access differ amongst age groups: 99% of those aged 18-34 had access compared to 57% for over 60s.

The qualitative results from the ‘Connected Communities’ project demonstrate the positive aspects of the scheme in terms of improving people’s access to education, employment and other services. Examples of responses from surveys, interviews and semi-structured interviews are available below.

“It is very important Chromebook and laptop or computer because we rely on technology, it enabled him to join his class, he could talk to the teacher. If my son could not participate it could have impacted on his life. In the future he would have suffered. So, it was very helpful and great for our community. Our children.” (Participant, Semi-structured interview)

“Families feel ‘valued’ and cared for. Parents can access information more readily about their children’s school and to access services – e.g., GP/local council/ etc.” (Respondent, School Survey)

“I can think of the schools that weren’t able to access this project immediately. They were sending home a pack of paper and there is no way children who were working with a stack of paper were getting the same quality of instruction that children who had the device had.” (Stakeholder Interview)

The findings from this report ultimately highlight that the implementation of UBS is a feasible way to enhance people’s capacities and capabilities, and increase social and democratic participation. The Mayor of London has recently implemented a policy that echoes UBS, through the provision of free school meals for all primary school children in London over the course of a year as part of a proposal to alleviate the impacts of the cost of living crisis. More broadly, local authorities across the UK are engaging and piloting universal provision of services such as transport, food and digital access.

Read the latest report of the final evaluation here.

Watch a video summarising the project here.

Picture: Markus Spiske on Unsplash