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This Digital Navigator Program Toolkit provides guidance for setting up and managing successful digital navigator programs. The toolkit was created by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) who have experience training, supporting, and learning from hundreds of digital navigators and programs providing digital navigator services across the country.

In this episode of the Technology in Human Services podcast I spoke with Bo Ning about his role as a Digital Navigator at Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, or ISANS.

Since the pandemic started, many organizations have pivoted possibilities and options to create digital specialist roles. These new positions were filled by admin staff or settlement practitioners whose roles changed to incorporate digital support and orientation for both clients and colleagues. Digital Navigators are emerging as an essential role in the Immigrant and Refugee-serving sector and in the future of a hybrid service delivery model.

Immigrant and refugee-serving agencies provide important services, they also coordinate with and refer to other human service providers. Coordinating complex services can be challenging. In Windsor, Ontario, community agencies are tackling complex system navigation with the goal of creating more effective and client-centred services.

I originally presented this at the Arab Community Centre of Toronto's Josoor Project Conference in March 2024: "Digital Inclusion: From Research to Application - Opportunities, Challenges and Strategies." You can view the video as well as read my full remarks in text.

What's in the CFP related to digital that should be acted on?They'll fund your tech. But what should you ask for? I don't have a crystal ball or insider view of IRCC, and they're being vague in some areas. But there are a few areas that seem fairly clear to me where I want to make recommendations. I'm also pointing out areas of the CFP that you need to make sure you actually find and read.

IRCC appears to be funding two basic digital supports that you need to apply for in your proposal - Digital Navigators and Device Lending. I'm going to outline why these are going to be crucial for you to ask for and operationalize. And where in the CFP documentation IRCC outlines what you can ask for.

Digital transformation is more than the tech or software used to deliver services: it’s approaching current models for service delivery in ways enabled by technology. This makes digital transformation a human process as well as a technical one, requiring human support to implement. A settlement sector organization in Nova Scotia, ISANS, is addressing the human element of digital transformation in their support of staff and clients.

The articles in this series should provide you with some inspiration and ideas. You should want to learn more about the projects and research. Hopefully they will encourage you to share what you’re working on. There is so much innovation in our sector. Too much of it stays under the radar. With this publication, we’re looking to reveal some of the innovation to you. Let’s make this a starting point for an ongoing sector conversation.