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Working with Older Volunteers in Manual Intergenerational Projects<br />
Based on experiences from a previous<br />
ENEA project (Trigger), the project partners<br />
searched for new methods for the exchange<br />
weeks, which were suitable to facilitate<br />
and encourage the interaction and<br />
communication between the target group,<br />
i.e. elderly people with little or no language<br />
skills, and youths during their joint project<br />
work.<br />
Trigger focussed on sightseeing, intercultural<br />
encounters, individual learning<br />
processes, joint development (theory) and<br />
contextual examination, thus all methods,<br />
which required language as a basis for joint<br />
communication. <strong>TRAMP</strong>, on the other<br />
hand, added the new approach of working<br />
together in manual projects. This approach<br />
and its successful implementation opens<br />
the European-wide social commitment<br />
to new target groups who were previously<br />
restricted or denied the access to such<br />
projects due to the language barrier. We<br />
then added an intergenerational approach,<br />
which was initially planned as a method to<br />
alleviate and facilitate the communication<br />
between the elderly participants. However,<br />
it rapidly developed a momentum of its<br />
own and is now a method in its own right.<br />
The following section describes the search<br />
and selection process of suitable tools and<br />
techniques/exercises, which were to help<br />
achieve the following goals during the 4 pilot<br />
exchanges:<br />
•<br />
•<br />
Enable a different form of travel and<br />
experience in unknown countries while<br />
having a good time<br />
Lasting (sustainable) international contacts<br />
Development of a Method Set for <strong>TRAMP</strong><br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
Learning, on a functional and social level<br />
Create a product / handiwork (productoriented<br />
teamwork)<br />
Generations learning from each other,<br />
exchange of practical experience<br />
Societal commitment, perform sensible<br />
and meaningful work<br />
Spark interests (e.g. learn a language in<br />
old age) or refresh language skills<br />
Thorough research of relevant literature,<br />
the Internet and many personal talks with<br />
people involved revealed that a description<br />
of methods was unavailable for the abovementioned<br />
target groups in this area of<br />
operation. Therefore, by means of adapting,<br />
testing and evaluating, a method set had to<br />
be specifically devised for this purpose and<br />
was published in the handbook.<br />
Basically, this resulted in 6 operational areas<br />
for the application of specific control tools<br />
regarding the encounters of elderly citizens<br />
and youths of different nations and language<br />
groups.<br />
Joint manual projects<br />
The primary and, in the context of the<br />
<strong>TRAMP</strong> exchanges, most influential method<br />
involved the joint practical work in intergenerational<br />
groups. All 4 exchanges revealed<br />
the significance of this aspect. When<br />
the project work was well prepared, adjusted<br />
to the participating groups, adequate<br />
for the age groups and arranged so that it<br />
could be completed in the time available,<br />
the participants tended to organise themselves,<br />
because with a clearly defined goal<br />
Final Report 41