On September the 14th DigitAll brought various Belgian governments together with about 30 companies on the topic of digital inclusion. BNP Paribas and Proximus were the main partners that work together alongside Close the Gap and 30 other companies to narrow the Digital Divide in Belgium. All these parties signed the Digital Inclusion Charter because we all want to undertake concrete action in this increasingly digital world, to fight digital exclusion.

Our own Didier Appels got the chance to sign the Digital Inclusion Charter in Close the Gap’s and CTG Circular’s name. By doing so, we affirm our commitment to promoting Digital Inclusion in Belgium, something we entirely support as Close the Gap.

The nine statements that we will completely support, along with so many others are the following:

1. Identify and share best practices to improve digital inclusion.
    
2. Identify constraints to digital inclusion and define common actions to eliminate those constraints.
    
3. Urge the top management of the own organization to own and drive the commitment.
    
4. Improve digital inclusion within the own organization by promoting internal education and sharing actions and progress.
    
5. Promote digital inclusion outside the own organization to increase the number of signatories to the Digital Inclusion Charter and to strengthen its impact.
    
6. Provide support to campaigns that aim to prioritize digital inclusion, as the general public is still insufficiently aware of the digital divide.
    
7. Gradually implement a procedure within the own organization to assess the extent to which digital inclusion is promoted among employees, customers and beneficiaries.
    
8. Undertake action to increase trust in digital tools, improve the feeling of online safety/ security and protect users from potential abuse.
    
9. Monitor the implementation of the Charter and, after three years, evaluate the Charter together with the other co-signatories to take stock of the situation and define possible follow-up actions.