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AGE Platform Europe – the voice of older persons at EU level

AGE Platform Europe is a European network of non-profit organisations of and for people aged 50+, which aims to voice and promote the interests of the 200 million citizens aged 50+ in the European Union (Eurostat, 2018) and to raise awareness on the issues that concern them most.

AGE’s vision encompasses an inclusive society, based on well-being for all, solidarity between generations and full entitlement to enjoy life, participate in and contribute to society. At the same time, each person’s rights and responsibilities throughout their life course have to be fully respected.

The network’s work focus on a wide range of policy areas that impact on older and retired people. These include issues of anti-discrimination, employment of older workers and active ageing, social protection, pension reforms, social inclusion, health, elder abuse, intergenerational solidarity, research, accessibility of public transport and of the build environment, and digital technologies (ICT).

The network members seek to give a voice to older and retired people in the EU policy debates, through the active participation of their representative organisations at EU, national, regional and local levels, and provides a European platform for the exchange of experience and best practices. They furthermore inform older people on their rights as EU citizen or resident and on EU policy making processes and recent EU policy development.

Through the involvement in several EU projects, the network members also seek to promote older people’s participation in the development of projects and devices intended for them (‘user involvement’).

Source: https://www.age-platform.eu

Access date: 01.03.2022

Seniors go digital

New Opportunities for Low-skilled adults to acquire essential skills and in response to the recent migration movement across EU and the effects that it has on social inclusion, access and participation, the SENIORS GO DIGITAL project pioneers to design, implement, monitor and evaluate a TOOL KIT that will support organisations and authorities to design, develop and monitor their own INCLUSIVE STRATEGIES based on their needs in order:

This project aims to:

  1. to offer disadvantaged seniors opportunities to acquire, re-skill or up-skill their digital competences in order to be able to become active citizens and socially included in the digital world.
  2. to design, implement, monitor and evaluate a TOOL KIT that will re-skill or up-skill seniors’ digital competences to guarantee their activeness, social presence, e- governance, e-access, e-participation and personal development.
  3. to pilot-test the ‘ONE STOP SUPPORT CENTRES’ in partner countries, both online and in-house that will offer various innovative, targeted and high quality lifelong learning opportunities for the acquisition of digital skills and competences.
  4. to support in a systemic way active aging, access, social inclusion, participation and personal development through the use of the digitalized learning eco-system, as well as through the e-services, e-governance, e-participation and e-communication provided in each partner country.
  5. to upgrade the lifelong learning opportunities provided by adult organisations, as well as enhance the teaching material and resources used in order to meet the needs of senior citizens.

Target groups:

  1. direct: adults 60+ (seniors) retired, unemployed, marginalised, in rural areas, with few opportunities, low-skilled etc.
  2. indirect: adult educators and related organisations in the field of adult education such as NGOs, VET centres etc.

Results:

  1. Reports: research reports (from Italia, Sweden, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece) to identify the seniors’ profiles and needs in relation to the current scene in each country and 1 comparative report with the main findings to map the provision, gaps and challenges of adult learning for digital active aging.
  2. Teaching and learning material: a report which presents principles and guidelines for designing Guidebooks, e-learning material in relation to the needs of seniors’ citizens and the curriculum. The curriculum consists of 5 modules:
  • Compuer Basics and Problem Solving
  • Communication and Collaboration
  • Safety
  • Information and Data Literacy
  • Digital Content Creation

which have been translated in each partner language and a guidebook is provided for the e-Services in each partner country. The training course was written along with checklists for the course creator and the adult educator concerning the development and the delivery of teaching material.

  1. E-learning platform and the eco-system for the assessment and validation process: http://seniorsgodigital.iit.demokritos.gr/
  2. TOOL KIT for developing, implementing and monitoring innovative strategies for offering and supporting the up-skilling programmes

The project Partnership includes organizations from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Sweden,

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under Erasmus+ Programme.

Source: https://seniorsgodigital.eu

Access date: 04.12.2020

Digital Skills for People Living in the 3rd Age – Effective Digital Access to Public Services

The project “Digital Skills for People Living in the 3rd Age – Effective Digital Access to Public Services” aims at training elderly people on developing specific digital skills needed to access public services online, and thus to better adapt to digital-oriented changing world and to feel confident using online tools to manage and improve their health and life quality.

Tangible results:

  • Public services roadmaps providing information on the most relevant online public services in 5 EU countries
  • Training programme for improving basic digital skills and developing specific skills for digital access to public services
  • E-learning and e-assistance platform with a Virtual assistance tool for digital inclusion of the elderly
  • Effective methodology for high-quality work with elderly people by applying confidence-building approach and interactivity
  • Policy recommendations for improving active ageing and digital literacy of elderly
  • Triggering word of mouth events for presenting the project results and supporting their exploitation at local, national and European level.

Intangible results:

  • Improved ability of people living in the 3rd age of effective digital access to public services;
  • Increased digital literacy of elders;
  • A step forward active ageing: by obtaining digital skills senior citizens can feel a better accomplishment and personal satisfaction into their lives leading to a more active and healthier 3rd age;
  • Knowledge and experience gained by partner organisations in the field of transnational cooperation, project management, innovative practices to inclusion of elder people;
  • Exchange of good practices and lessons learned on active ageing and social inclusion within and across nations.

Digital Access outcomes are available as free on line resources.

Source: http://digital-3rd-age.eu/

Access date: 28.02.2022

Digital senior citizen

Digital senior citizen

The project focuses on adult education and well-being of seniors aged 65 and over. These persons are at unfavorable situation in terms of digital skills because while younger generations acquire these skills practically from their childhood, older persons did not have the opportunity like that simply because computers and the Internet did not exist when they grew up and digital competences were not included in their educational paths. Even those who graduated the universities are among the low-skilled in the field of digital literacy. This fact severely limits their lives, preventing them from taking full advantage of the time spent in retirement. Moreover, the most attention is now paid to education of young people, and when computer classes for seniors are organized, they are usually not tailored in any way to the specific needs of this target group. They’re basic and technical, just like any other beginner’s computer science class, no matter what their age or ability is.

Project goals:

  • extending the competences of adult educators by preparing open educational resources (OER) containing an innovative, tailored to the needs of the “Digital Life” education course,
  • broadening the competences of adult educators by providing them with the Digital Story Telling methodology to train students at unfavorable situation, in particular seniors,
  • developing open educational resources (OER) adapted to the needs of adult educators and seniors in order to support the development of digital skills of both groups,
  • disseminating the results with the aim of reaching as many adult teachers and seniors as possible across the European Union.

The project developed the following results:

  • “Digital Life” course for adult educators, as an Open Educational Resource (OZE) [5 modules]
  • “Digital Life” course for seniors, as an Open Educational Resource (OER), [3 modules that will help listeners feel more confident in the daily use of ICT]
  • Handbook for adult educators “How to Conduct Digital Life Training”.

Project implemented in partnership: MITRA FRANCE (France – coordinator), Eesti People to People (Estonia), Danmar Computers (Poland), CESIE (Italy), Centre for Education (Spain) and UNIVERSITY OF THESSALY – UTH (Greece).

The project is co-financed under the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Source: https://dsc.erasmus.site/pl/

Access date: 31.03.2022

Adult Inclusive Design (AID)

Project under the Erasmus + Program entitled Adult Inclusive Design (AID) aims to develop tools that will allow organizations to teach active seniors how to volunteer to help other seniors. It has been observed that seniors are divided into two groups – those who have a high energy potential and would like to share their knowledge and experience, and those who feel lost in various life situations and wait for a helping hand. Often those in need of help do not keep up with the galloping development of the world and it is difficult for them to find a common language with younger people, so the project focuses on relations between seniors who certainly understand each other very well and can quickly find a common language. However, sometimes the mere willingness to help is not enough to effectively support another person, so the volunteers themselves will also need to expand their knowledge and develop certain skills.

The AID project will provide institutions working with seniors with tools to effectively support senior volunteers in expanding their competences. During the project, educators and trainers of four institutions prepared a guide for trainers containing not only information on the necessary content that a senior volunteer should know, but also scenarios of workshops shaping the volunteers‘ skills necessary for their effective work. Seniors in four countries assessed the effectiveness of work – through participation in workshops conducted according to the developed scenarios, and tested the acquired skills in practice as senior mentors for other seniors, emigrants or disabled persons.

Project results:

  • methodological manual “Volunteering as a source of better quality of life for seniors” available in the form of an e-book
  • application and other IT tools supporting people who want to become a volunteer or train such persons.

Implementers of the project: “Active XXI” Foundation, Castilla-La Mancha University (Spain), SYNTHESIS Center for Research and Education Ltd (Cyprus) and LUMSA University (Italy).

Project co-financed by the European Union.

Source: https://aktywni21.org.pl/pl/aid/

Access date: 29.03.2022

The project entitled „Seniors in action”

The objectives of the SENIORS IN ACTION project under the Erasmus + Program are:

  • inclusion of the students of the Jeleniogórska Academy of the Third Age in active lifelong learning.
  • strengthening the key competences of the students of the Jeleniogórska Academy of the Third Age (digital, social and learning competences).

As part of the project activities, two group adult learning mobilities will be organized during which seniors cooperating with the Foundation “Active XXI” will have one-week classes at universities of the third age in Milazzo (Sicily) and Cuence (Spain).

Participation in mobility activities will activate seniors in their activities and encourage them to be more active. The obtained results will motivate them to further work. They will also be an inspiration for other adults studying at the Academy of the Third Age. Preparing for departure: searching for information, preparing presentations, planning joint educational activities with partners from Italy and Spain and participation in mobility will strengthen their key competences such as digital, language, learning and social skills (empathy, communication, tolerance).

The project is implemented by the “Active XXI” Foundation.

Project co-financed by the European Union.

Source: https://aktywni21.org.pl/

Access date: 29.03.2022

SPERO – Social Communication Platform for Seniors

Seniors living in their home face a great risk of loneliness. The risk is much higher when the extended family is not living in the same house. Usually they are linked to the local environment through church visits, doctor visits, grocery shop, newspapers and television. The project develops an innovative social communication platform and end-user device designed for seniors who can easily communicate to everybody who joins the platform. They are able to read news; they can be immediately informed on the local events, sport activities, clubs’ activities. It can be used also as a reminder. The end-user device is designed to have only five buttons. It is connected to TV since it is senior’s prime display in the house. By implementing new communication channel to seniors, and sourcing multiple digital communication channels of senior’s friends, family, local community and care organization, we can tackle the social isolation problem raised by the introduction of the digital communication in the society.

Source: Development Centre oft he Heart of Slovenia

Access date: 12.12.2021

 

EkoSMART – Smart Integrated Healthcare and Longterm Care System

EkoSMART (Smart Integrated Healthcare and Longterm Care System) is a large research project in Slovenija. One of its field of research (smart integrated healthcare and longterm care system) aims to enable elderly population, people with chronic diseases, dementia or other health conditions, longer, more active and safer conditions to remain living independent in their own homes, resulted in a social care service based on IoT (Internet of Things) and person-centered technologies, available 24 hours a day. The technology supporting the service detects a need for intervention if a user is due to falling or other difficult health condition not able to make an urgent call.

EkoSMART is developing approaches and prototypes to ensure the basic conditions for effective transformation to integrated healthcare and home care system. It provides: integration of different levels of healthcare, effective and secure exchange of information among different stakeholders of the healthcare system on the national level (national registers, accounting system, big data analysis) and basic conditions for development and sustainability of the healthcare and social system.

The main goals are:

  • development of a model of integrated healthcare provision and the establishment of related infrastructure,
  • development of a systemic foundations for extending the model of integrated healthcare provision,
  • raise the quality of life and safety of chronic patients and extended care,
  • safe use of medicines and reduced number of referrals to clinical pharmacologists.

Source: Telekom Slovenia https://www.telekom.si/zasebni-uporabniki/ponudba/e-oskrba

Access date: 12.12.2021

Digital Inclusion and Active Ageing Developing a user-centred methodological approach to investigate the use of mobile phone among older people

Contemporary societies are facing two striking trends: widespread population ageing and rapid diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Since old age often implies ailing health and social isolation, societies could embrace the advances in ICTs to enhance social integration, health and active ageing. However, the complexity and novelty of ICTs threaten many older people with exclusion from their use. Older people could be offered eservices, which would improve their quality of life, if based on age friendly design. Although digital inclusion is strongly advocated in the EU research and policy strategies and associated with positive outcomes such as high quality of life for older people, and new market opportunities for ICT system providers, the uptake of assistive technologies (ATs) among elderly is slow-moving. In this context, mobile phones (MPs) represent an opportunity for digital inclusion due to their already widespread use among the elderly. Therefore, the project is directed towards studying sociotechnical affordances of ATs in mobile phones to foster inclusive and empowered ageing of the heterogeneous group of the elderly.

The project brings together over two decades of internationally recognized interdisciplinary research by the project team in areas of (a) social informatics, (b) social science methodology, including mixed-methods data collection and evaluation designs for elderly, (c) gerontology, (d) experience with large international (FP5, FP6, FP7, COST Actions, LLP, Interreg) empirical digital inclusion projects and (e) developments of web applications for elderly (online learning games).

Source (access date): Simobil – Slovenian Telecommunication Operator

Access date: 12.12.2021

Fit4internet

The fit4internet initiative launched training courses for basic digital skills for the 60+ generation. A tailor-made offer to discover the possibilities of the mobile internet, to actively use it and to communicate with it in a modern way.

Smartphone, internet, online shops, official channels – mobility is no longer just a question of physical fitness. In order to be able to participate in social life in the digital age, seniors need digital competence – be it to stay in contact with acquaintances, family and friends, or to carry out everyday tasks in a self-determined way.

The initiative fit4internet kicked off with the taster course “Kaffee Digital” (Coffee Digital) for senior citizens. Professional trainers imparted the necessary basics in a cosy and casual atmosphere so that seniors without (much) experience in the digital world can safely take their first steps on the internet, with mobile phones & co – uncomplicated and free of charge.

In addition to “Kaffee Digital”, the explanatory videos on smartphone use on the website deserve special mention: https://www.fit4internet.at/view/digitale-lebenswelten

Source: https://www.fit4internet.at/page/home

Access date: 13.05.2022