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Good practice Imported

Azbuka Interneta: Digital Literacy for Russian Pensioners

Russia · Moscow · See the Russia profile · See the Moscow profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 59% 68/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A decade-old nationwide partnership between Russia's largest telecom, Rostelecom, and the state Social Fund teaches basic computer, smartphone and e-government skills to pensioners through volunteer instructors in libraries and social centres across 76 regions.

500,000+
Cumulative people trained since 2014
76 regions of Russia
Regions covered
60,000+
Free textbooks distributed
35,000+ participants across 79 regions
'Thank You, Internet!' competition participants (cumulative since 2015)
2
WSIS Prizes won (2020, 2023)
~48,900
Annual enrolment (2022)
~38,300
Annual enrolment (2024)
<2%
Annual reach relative to Russia's pensioner population
Azbuka Interneta: Digital Literacy for Russian Pensioners

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Rostelecom & Social Fund of Russia
Period
2014-present
Keywords
digital literacy, seniors, pensioners, e-government

Context

Azbuka Interneta ('ABC of the Internet'), launched September 2014 in six Russian cities, is a social/charitable digital-literacy programme run by Rostelecom, Russia's largest majority state-owned telecom operator, with the Social Fund of Russia (former Pension Fund).

Objectives

Provide free digital-literacy training to pensioners covering device use, internet safety, video calls, online shopping, and increasingly e-government services such as pension applications and telemedicine bookings.

Activities

Free courses taught mostly by volunteer instructors such as librarians and social workers; an annual 'Thank You, Internet!' competition has run since 2015.

Results

By its 10th anniversary in 2024, more than 500,000 people had completed training across 76 regions, with 60,000+ free textbooks distributed and 35,000+ competition participants across 79 regions since 2015; the programme won WSIS Prizes in 2020 and 2023. Annual enrolment declined from roughly 48,900 in 2022 to about 38,300 in 2024, with yearly reach under 2% of Russia's approximately 33 million pensioners.

Conclusions

Because the programme is run by a state-linked telecom and state pension agency, most public reporting is self-published rather than independently evaluated, and no third-party assessment of learning outcomes was found.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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