Library Service starts training elderly on doing business online

‘Digital Literacy: Empowering our Elderly in the Digital Age’, which was officially launched by the Barbados Library Service, will see 10 initial participants take part in a two-week course to teach them all they need to know about paying bills, buying groceries and conducting other business digitally.

The library service’s programme is a partnership with CIBC First Caribbean Bank and FLOW Barbados, which is to provide internet service for the duration of the course.

Library Service Acting Director Jennifer Yarde told participants that the elderly cannot be left behind while the island experiences a significant expansion of online transactions.

“The digital space is gaining pace in Barbados, and use of digital [portals] is continuously increasing,” said Yarde. “It is, therefore, necessary to develop ways to help the older adults, to enhance their digital competencies. As the old adage goes, a society is judged by the ways it treats its elderly – at the National Library Service we care, and to this end have embarked on the Digital Literacy for the Elderly initiative.

“This is significant, as it serves to fulfil the Library’s mandate, to educate and empower the people of Barbados.”

Yarde also stressed, that such initiatives that benefit the general population, cannot take place without significant forms of corporate support.

She said: “Partnerships such as these are vital if we are to ensure that every citizen is able to competently navigate the digital world. The training of our elderly in e-commerce by CIBC First Caribbean, and the free internet provided by FLOW, will go a long in helping those older persons, who find it physically difficult to stand in long lines and make bill payments, or who are forced to run errands on their own.”

Michelle Whitelaw,  Director of Retail Banking Channels at CIBC First Caribbean, said the initiative would help older Barbadians with several tasks they can complete online instead of wasting much of their time queuing at the bank or elsewhere.

“Our aim is to provide our clients with first-class digital banking and make it as simple as possible while ensuring that it is secure, and many of our customers have realized what we are trying to do, and they have embraced it,” Whitelaw said.

“As of February 2021, 56 per cent of our active client base are using the digital channels, and there are 300,000 persons using our website across the world monthly. 33 per cent of our clients actively perform bill payments on the website, and we have seen a five per cent growth in that area, and 40 per cent our of clients transfer money online to others.”

All 10 participants in the programme are over 65. They were selected from their previous visits to library branches across the island while seeking aid in going online.