Digital technology has been the almost exclusive medium of the social fabric for several months. While its culture is, by definition, rooted in the face-to-face environment, the social sector was hit hard by the health crisis, causing a necessary migration to digital and remote support.
In a report report submitted to the government, based on a survey ofmany social service providers, WeTechCare shows "how digital technology has enabled social workers to maintain internal activity, disseminate information to the public, provide remote support (especially with the return of the telephone) and, for some, train their public in digital technology in order to give them long-term capacity. The adaptability and creativity of these structures, which were few in number to have initiated their digital transformation, is particularly interesting.
An acceleration of digital practices
"The social world, like all other sectors of activity, has experienced a confinement that has profoundly modified its work practices. Telecommuting, remote meetings, limited travel and webinars have become widespread in the space of a few days to meet the health challenge and to protect employees and volunteers. An emergency transformation shows that it is possible, but it is no substitute for an in-depth transformation.Social actors have often shown remarkable agility in adapting to the context and maintaining their operations.
Many structures, however, were also caught off guard. Benjamin Bitane, head of the training division at Emmaus Connect, reports that before the lockdown, "social workers often had a fixed computer and few had a laptop during the lockdown, particularly because there was a shortage of this type of equipment. We often saw social workers using their personal phones to call the most isolated publics, to maintain social ties." He adds, "Smaller associations were much more flexible and were able to manage to find equipment so that staff could work remotely."
The confinement has, for example, reinforced the choice of social actors to digitize more procedures. It has also been an opportunity for many small social structures to create a website and to make themselves more easily identifiable and reachable in a context of limited travel.
Remote support: the return of the telephone
This support also relied on the telephone for the most digitally illiterate peopleInterviews with mediators who have carried out these accompaniments reveal several obstacles:
- "not seeing what the person is seeing on the screen (where the person is, what they have already done, what they are seeing, often the people being accompanied do not instinctively recognize the important elements on the screen)
- not being able to check if the process worked
- receive requests that are not only related to digital tools;
- find a precise but understandable vocabulary".
A digital transformation definitely underway
All work in the social sector has migrated to more remote, telecommuting work, like many other sectors of our economy."We observed the resilience of organizations equipped to support remote work (laptops, connection, professional network) and the rapid and forced migration of those who were not already doing so. Inevitably, the structures that had already started their digital transformation managed to adapt much faster than the others. For these organizations, the momentum from containment will continue.For organizations that had not yet started their digital transformation, they had to make do with what they had on hand but are now much more open to the use of digital technology in their internal operations.
Digital technology integrated into social support
For several months we had to accompany users by telephone, by videoconference, sometimes in person."These solutions, created in an emergency, have the merit of having made it possible to accompany and reassure many people, particularly geographically isolated people. However, this is a profession that needs to be structured in order to be fully effective and complementary to other forms of mediation.This hybridization between face-to-face and distance learning continues today.
An intensification of uses that highlights inequalities in access and connectivity
The sudden intensification of uses (telecommuting, online courses, social networking) has largely brought back the need for equipment and connection that we tended to say was rather behind us."We knew that there was a problem of access for the inhabitants, but not to this extent. Suddenly, with the free access points closed, social inequalities were reinforced. It is when social structures close that we realize the services provided, and that the inhabitants do not necessarily have the equipment at home. We thought that the digital divide in terms of access was over, especially since the arrival of smartphones.
Containment has undoubtedly allowed advocacy to accelerate its digital transition, the report's authors conclude.
- " The urgency of the situation has allowed the structures to quickly adapt to digital technology, both in their internal operations and in the support they provide to their beneficiaries .
- The social world now has a less fantasized vision of the digital world: it knows that digital technology does not allow everything, that remote support has its limits and that face-to-face contact remains important.
- It has also understood that digital technology is a powerful lever of efficiency, that the people it supports are more motivated to appropriate it and that in the event of a new health crisis, it is a strong link that connects us.
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