New technologies do not scare them, they have quickly mastered the basics, have been using Viber for some time and love Facebook, while the laptop is their latest challenge – this is the experience of pensioners in Obrenovac, who visited the “Digital Expedition” Caravan this weekend, which was launched two years ago at the initiative of the Prime Minister Ana Brnabić. Digitization is equally important to the Government of the Republic of Serbia in respect of both the development of the country, as well as for citizens to acquire the basic digital skills they need to perform various jobs.
Through thematic lectures and discussions with experts, the oldest fellow citizens, but also all other residents of Obrenovac, had the opportunity to learn everything about digital literacy, the importance of digital skills, safe behaviour in the online world, as well as other advantages of using the Internet and digital space. In addition to those in the autumn of their life, the caravan trainings are also attended by youth and their parents, as well as by civil servants, at three locations in this city municipality: on the main square, in pensioners’ associations and clubs and at the local self-government itself.
Obrenovac, as the sixth station of the “Digital Expedition” Caravan in 2023, was visited by the Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, while the opening of the caravan was attended by the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Aleksandar Martinović, PhD, the Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Mihailo Jovanović, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Lav Pajkić, the President of the City Municipality of Obrenovac, Miloš Stanojević, and the Acting Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, Milan Latinović.
“Today we are in Obrenovac, and we wish for the “Digital Expedition” Caravan to visit every city and every municipality in the Republic of Serbia in the coming years. We started in 2021 and visited 16 cities and municipalities, and we are continuing this year with an additional ten, and hopefully more. What is beautiful about this entire “Digital Expedition” Caravan is that the youth teach the elderly and, in this way, we bridge the gap between the youngest and oldest generations and create channels of communication in our society. Also, we are introducing fast optical internet in every settlement, which his, in the case of Obrenovac, in eight settlements that do not have high-quality internet or which have no internet at all. It is important to us that children stay in places where they were born, and we want people to return to smaller places and buy houses, to study and start their own families, as well as to start their own businesses via the Internet,” the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, has said.
Workshops for primary and secondary school students, who are the most active in the digital space, were held by the National Contact Center for Child Safety on the Internet, the organization Propulsion and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, who also presented them with the brochure “Personal Data is our treasure – how can we protect it?”, created as part of the New Literacy Programme. A digital corner in the form of two desktop computers was donated to the Obrenovac Pensioners’ Association.
The “Digital Expedition” Caravan is implemented with the support of the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, the Office for IT and eGovernment, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European organization Propulsion.
You can find more information on the website: digitalnaekspedicija.gov.rs.
Photo gallery – source: Ministry of Information and Telecommunications
