Hi Digital: Irish Girl Guides and Vodafone Foundation create intergenerational friendships in Kildare

Since partnering with Vodafone Foundation in 2023, Irish Girl Guide Units have helped over 4,000 older adults in their communities through the Hi Digital programme. Irish Girl Guides believes strongly in the transformative power of forming friendships and doing ‘good turns’ for others. This reflects one of the organisation’s core principles: service to the community. The Guide Movement encourages greater involvement in their own communities.

Through Hi Digital, Irish Girl Guides Units connect with older people in their communities, like the members of the Kildare Men’s Shed, individuals they might not otherwise have the opportunity to engage with. The youth members work hard teaching the older adults everyday digital skills such as email, WhatsApp, and using the internet. In working with the older adults, the Guides and Senior Branchers build connections with them and learn the important role that technology plays in keeping us connected to friends, young and old! The older adults in turn provide stories and life lessons to the younger generation.

The Kildare Men’s Shed session demonstrates how Hi Digital not only empowers older adults to navigate technology but also strengthens community bonds across generations. This exchange is part of what makes Hi Digital so impactful for everyone involved.

North Longford Unit Leader, Mary Lillis said “it became very apparent very early on, that the program was about much more than just teaching Hi Digital skills”. Her Unit not only worked on digital skills, but also made baked goods, played music, and built bonds between Irish Girl Guides members and the older adults in their local nursing home.

To see more about Hi Digital check out www.hidigital.ie and for more about the Irish Girl Guides go to www.irishgirlguides.ie

About Irish Girl Guides:

Irish Girl Guides has 8,000 members across Ireland. Guiding started in Ireland in 1911 and operates throughout the 26 counties with 1,400 volunteer Leaders providing an informal educational programme of fun and challenging activities that foster confidence and leadership skills in girls and young women, enabling them to develop to their full potential and to become responsible citizens.

Vodafone Foundation: 

Vodafone Foundation uses the power of connectivity to change lives and address some of the world’s most important and pressing problems. Founded in 1991 with a simple mission to invest in the communities in which Vodafone operates, today the charity works globally to connect people and ideas with technology and funding – to help those who are already doing good work to achieve results faster, more cost effectively and with an even greater social impact.

Sources:

• – New Evidence Shows a Crisis of Loneliness For Older People in Ireland, Aware
• – Internet Coverage and Usage in Ireland 2024, Central Statistics Office (CSO), 01/10/2024