The mirage of citizen participation in times of COVID-19

This article aims to show how the pandemic situation has given rise to the digital exodus of activities that were originally designed to be carried out in person, organized by public bodies (town councils, county council and the Andalusian Ministry of Employment, Training and Autonomous Work) and non-governmental organizations (associations, foundations of Andalusia), raising the following questions: Are face-to-face activities transferred to the digital sphere without adapting? Are there triggers to encourage participation? Do you offer a solution in terms of technological tools or digital literacy to access the activity? To give answers to these questions, between April and September 2020 we have analyzed 233 activities, 91 activities of public organizations and 142 of social entities: training course, informative workshops, conferences, orientation, and presentation of resources. In these activities the main areas covered were: employment, social revitalization, new technologies, gender equality, health, entrepreneurship and resources for youth. With these questions, necessary and current, we obtain answers that lead to a lack of transformation of face-to-face activities towards the digital field, which does not take advantage of the benefits of digital tools; Institutions and organizations do not take into account the degree of knowledge of the public with respect to communication channels and that they require them to know how to use, without forgetting the economic circumstance and assuming that each person has the necessary software and hardware to be a connected citizen. In parallel, we have discovered that this acceleration of the digital transformation of face-to-face activities has found social entities devoid of knowledge and materials. On the one hand, it does not have the materials to carry out the subsidized programs, but the administration requires it to develop them, and on the other hand, it does not have the resources to offer citizens quality technological services, since its mission was based on in the face-to-face field, for which they demand training for their workers and collaborators, as well as computer equipment not only so that citizens can participate but also so that the organization itself can develop its relationship with the administrations.