Laptops and skills for the people who need them most

From isolated initiatives to concerted action

Responsible Internet in the City grew from an idea that had been at the back of project leader Jacques de Wit’s mind for years. As Director of Leer Zelf Online, a social enterprise dedicated to promoting digital inclusion and combatting loneliness, Jacques observed how many organisations worked in isolation, rather than in partnership. “As a social entrepreneur, you often see various groups trying to get to grips with basically the same problem, but each of them within its own niche. If you can bring them all together, you can create a one-stop shop.”

Jacques got together a select group of partners – organisations with a similar enterprise culture – to establish Responsible Internet in the City. The 6 partners now working on the project are: Digi Surfer (recycled laptops and digital skills training), Oefenen.nl (adult education), Steffie.nl (basic explanations regarding all spheres of life, in 19 languages), WERK-portal.nl (work-related programmes), Digisterker (education for the digital society), and Mpower.nu (practical information about living independently).

More than just a laptop

The project has 2 basic elements: hardware and skills. The laptops given to clients are refurbished by people with mental disabilities. Although they come with Windows 11 loaded, the user interface is greatly simplified. From a straightforward start screen, users have direct access to everything they need: information about using a bank account, applying for benefits, learning Dutch, doing arithmetic and finding your way around digital government. Steffie.nl alone has more than 200 modules available, on topics that range from money management to sex education.

Each laptop also opens the way for users to get free internet, by a explaining about publicroam, another organisation supported by SIDN Fund. “It’s all very well giving a laptop with software loaded, but you obviously need the internet as well,” says Jacques. “And internet access in the Netherlands is amongst the most expensive in Europe. That was a barrier we had to remove. Now, all our clients need to do is charge the battery.”

How it works in practice

Laptops aren’t handed out to anyone who wants one. In order to reach the right people, the project team collaborates with organisations already in contact with vulnerable groups. In Amsterdam, collaboration is with anti-poverty organisation SINA, with the homeless shelter the Regenbooggroep and with the residents’ organisation Eigenwijks Geuzenveld. In Rotterdam collaboration is with the district association LampreiBeter!, the Dames van Nu foundation and the Yasmina foundation. And, in The Hague, collaboration is with The Hague City Library and with Quiet Den Haag, an anti-poverty organisation dedicated to fighting ‘silent poverty’.

For example, through Quiet Den Haag, about 40 people were enrolled for a computer skills course involving 6 mandatory half-day sessions. None of them knew that they would be given a laptop at the end. “Initially, the laptops were lent to participants to enable them to do the course. But when they were finished, they were told they could keep them,” recalls Jacques. “All the participants were thrilled and definitely in need of their machines.” In each city, the project is handing out roughly 100 laptops. In Rotterdam, the first wave is already complete; in The Hague, computers will be given through libraries in late April and early May 2026.

But recipients get more than just hardware. As Jacques explains: “On the course, participants often work in mixed groups, made up of people with different levels of knowledge and experience. Those groups then develop into self-help networks. People help each other with questions about their laptops and tips about local facilities that they’ve picked up using the machines.”

Support from SIDN Fund

A plan for Responsible Internet in the City was worked out long ago, but the funding wasn’t available to make it happen. Then SIDN Fund stepped in, seeing the project as both a promising approach, and a vehicle for continuing support for organisations the Fund had helped before. “SIDN Fund recognised that there was a lot of overlap with projects it had assisted in the past,” says Jacques. “The support model that was developed also reinforces our project administratively. SIDN Fund is matching the contribution made by each participating city. So Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague are providing financial assistance and therefore engaged with the project. Without someone at the local authority on our side, we would get nowhere. Co-funding from the local authorities ensures their collaboration.”

Getting more cities onboard

Responsible Internet in the City is a successful pilot, but there’s still work to be done. Discussions are ongoing about rolling out the project to other cities. “One of our aims is to tie in with the low-income support schemes that various cities already run, through which people on low incomes periodically get the chance to apply for a laptop or tablet. But, instead of giving vouchers to spend at a computer shop – an approach that in our experience doesn’t work well – we want to get eligible people enrolled on a course. After all, a laptop isn’t much use on its own. You need to know how to use it.”

Getting that idea off the ground will require patience, because local authorities move slowly. However, Jacques is confident of success. “These things take time. Any project needs 3 years to get going. But the concept works, we know it does.”

For more information about Responsible Internet in the City, visit https://www.eenvoudigopinternet.nl/.