Elderly migrants become senior migrants. The project UPS – Unused Potentials of Senior Migrants / Experts for Life – aims to address, select and qualify senior migrants for their future field of activity as well as develop a self-help manual.
Non-natives and migrants have to get along in a new world, in a different society, in a different milieu. Familiar models of mutual help, mutual support, for example in families, in neighborhoods, in one’s circle of friends are in danger of being lost. On the one hand elderly migrants feel useless and suffer from social isolation and their talents and competences unused. On the other hand many migrants need help urgently, and prefer to get assistance from their own culture group rather than from “strangers”.
UPS addresses elderly migrants, “experts for life” from different migrant milieus, taking over the bridging function to migrants of the specific milieus that need help in diverse areas of their lives.
These elderly migrants are addressed and selected with the help of a custom-made selection procedure. Contemporaneous to the selection procedure an innovative training program to qualify senior migrants is developed. A guide containing the employed methodic-didactic concepts will be written and diffused all over Europe.
The qualified senior migrants will do social networking in the partner countries, amongst other things via cooperation with migrant self-organizations, local authorities, integration agencies and charity. The target is to get direct access to migrants needing help and to disseminate the concept of UPS. Thus, migrants are assisted in all areas of life, whilst at the same time disburdening community budgets.
Program:
Lifelong Learning Programme, Grundtvig Multilateral Projects
Project duration: 01/10/2010 + 30/09/2012
Objectives
- To promote adult learning for senior migrants.
- To empower senior migrants to help needy migrants in all areas of life;
- To qualify senior migrants in community development;
- To valorise elderly migrants with special talents.
Activities
- Development of a selection procedure;
- Adaptation of the selection procedure to country-specific characteristics;
- Recruitment and selection of senior migrants;
- Training/coaching of senior migrants in the participating countries. Qualification modules include: Country specific conditions, the Reciprocal Maieutic Approach, the Biographic Learning, Project Management, How to work with emotions, Intercultural Communication;
- Evaluation of qualifications;
- Development and dissemination of a self-help guide.
Results/Outcomes
- Self-help guide for migrant community development
- The qualification modules
- Senior migrants – new pedagogical knowledge, skills and aptitudes
- Website
- Consortium – increased experience, new partnerships;
- Local communities – intercultural awareness, knowledge about European programmes.
Partners
- Project coordinator, Institut fur Migrations- und Aussiedlerfragen HVHS St. Hedwigs-Haus e.V. (Germany, Oerlinghausen),
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Department of Agricultural Economics (Greece, Thessaloniki);
- Inkerin Kulttuuriseura Ingrian Cultural Association (Finland, Helsinki);
- Centro per lo Svillupo Creativo ”Danilo Dolci” (Italy, Palermo);
- VsI Socialiniu inovaciju centras (Lithuania, Siauliai).
Details of the project
The website: http://grundtvig-ups.de
Contacts
Fausto Amico, fausto.amico@danilodolci.org
For further information:
- Sito web: http://grundtvig-ups.de
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ups.grundtvig?ref=ts
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.