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TRAMP – Transnational Mobility of Older People in Europe
A statement by the German National Association of
Senior Citizens Organisations (BAGSO)
At the close of the 9 th German Senior Citizen’s Day, held in Leipzig in June 2009 under
the motto “Enjoy your age and act responsibly”, BAGSO framed the responsibility of the
elderly towards the following generations in the preamble of their “Leipzig Declaration”.
A three-day action platform “Generation Island” with the project office “Dialogue of
Generations” 1 allowed an insight into lived practice. They presented attractive forms and
areas of intergenerational commitment based on long-term experiences with projects and
competitions regarding intergenerational work. 23
Transnational projects of seniors
Intergenerative and manual
The extent of intergenerative dimensions enhancing transnational projects of senior citizens
was demonstrated by the TRAMP project (Transnational Mobility of older People
- working in teamwork projects in crafts). Its presentation received tremendous approval
during a workshop “Underway in Europe on new paths” of the 9 th German Senior
Citizen’s Day, which attracted more than 15.000 visitors. 4
New perspectives of project work with elderly people in the context of existing EUprogrammes
(with a focus on the new so-called “Senior Volunteering Projects” (SVP) 5 )
stood at the centre of a presentation held by the representative of the Grundtvig national
agency.
The declared goal of the SVP, to promote the participation of the elderly who are e.g.
disadvantaged in transnational projects due to the lack of language skills, is also the focus
of the TRAMP project, which was sponsored by the EU-programme ENEA that ends in
2010.
The joint intergenerational and manual work during a German-Czech-French exchange
project demonstrated that elderly participants were in fact able to overcome cultural
and linguistic differences. For example, elderly participants experienced in crafts
were able to teach adolescents to professionally create and build construction elements
of a playground (swings etc.), while the youths (vocational students) took over the role
of interpreters, where necessary. Necessary household activities such as cooking were also
assumed by the young. The contributions of both age groups in terms of knowledge and
skills avoided a hierarchical divide, like that of teachers and pupils, and generated an equal
level of cooperation.
1 http://www.generationendialog.de/cms/
2 BAGSO publication no. 12 “Generationszusammenhalt stärken, Fakten Projekte, Empfehlungen”
2005- http://www.bagso.de/fileadmin/Publikationen/Generationenzusammenhalt.pdf
3 Publication no. 22 “Generationendialog - Zur Bedeutung von Alt-Jung-Projekten für den gesellschaftlichen
Zusammenhalt “ 2009 http://www.bagso.de/fileadmin/Aktuell/Publikationen/Broschuere_zum_
Herunterladen.pdf
4 Picture documentation of the 9th German Citizen’s Day in: http://www.bagso.de/fileadmin/Aktuell/
DST_2009/web_bagso_kurzdoku_dst_2009_NEU.pdf; A full documentation will be available online
from February 2010 and orderable under: dst@bagso.de
5 More information available in Part II regarding “Framework conditions/EU-support”
12 Part I