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Working with Older Volunteers in Manual Intergenerational Projects
were particularly aware of the latter point.
By involving the local elderly, the schools,
the parents and many further active agents
and supporters in the organisation of the
programme, the projects received major
public attention and positively visualised
the efforts of the European Commission
on a local level.
4. Enabling the Elderly to Assume
Responsibility
Many elderly people are prepared to assume
social responsibilities in a European
context, even if these European references
are new to them, unusual or hard to handle,
because they do not have the financial
means or have little or no command
of foreign languages. The inclusion of the
elderly in the planning process of the manual,
intercultural and intergenerational
projects enables the adoption of acquired
skills. Furthermore, it enables a responsible
handling of the projects, entails the completion
of projects and produces excellent
and presentable results. It also takes the
individual requirements and circumstances
of participants into account. Thus it supports
active ageing and social coherence. It
would be helpful, if participants were able
to take part repeatedly in order to further a
development of relationships. This would
be a great motivation for the project participation.
5. Mobilising Additional
Resources
Additional resources could be mobilised by
means of the manageable manual projects
on a local level and the cooperation of different
European organisations such as educational
institutions, senior citizen organisations
and volunteer organisations, and
by means of the inclusion of the elderly in
the planning process, the local cooperation
with schools and the younger generations.
Practical projects enable practical support
and mobilise additional energies.
The extent to which companies can be
integrated needs to be investigated. Demographic
or intergenerational issues also
play a role in companies. Teamwork and
cooperation are popular social skills and
intercultural skills are indispensable in an
increasingly economically-merged Europe.
In this context the manual work-oriented
intergenerational exchanges provide a solid
area of learning.
6. Enabling Access to Manual
Work-Oriented Projects for
New Target Groups
The concept of manual work projects allows
new target groups to access transnational
social commitment and Europe. Most of
the elderly and younger participants of the
TRAMP exchanges were inexperienced in
intercultural encounters and only had few
foreign language skills. The manual work
projects facilitated the access to Europe for
these target groups and enabled communication
despite a lack of language skills.
These European exchange projects bring
participants into intensive cultural contact.
They discuss Europe, notice cultural differences
and may deal with intercultural issues
for the first time. The exchanges therefore
create individual experiences and a strong
motivation. For the elderly the exchanges
were a rewarding experience. Following the
first exchange it was significantly easier to
find new candidates for the next exchanges,
and participating organisations, particularly
the senior citizen organisations, show a
more courageous approach to the subject
“Europe”.
Final Report 59