On October 18, 2022, the partners of the BEST FRIENDS consortium gathered in Innsbruck to jointly draw conclusions on intergenerational learning activities conducted in the previous months.
The program of activities of the BEST FRIENDS project in recent months has given great importance to the conduction of pilot phases in Italy, Austria, England, France and Greece, aimed at validating the results obtained. Trainings were conducted for health workers, social workers who work with old people and educators for children, as well as numerous activities, with the use of intergenerational learning games, dedicated to elderly and children. The chosen activities made it possible to verify the benefits of intergenerational interactions between the target groups and to provide new tools to promote significant social development and natural intergenerational interaction.
During the meeting, the partners compared the results achieved so far to evaluate whether the creation and maintenance of meaningful intergenerational relationships through learning and play experiences can lead to a greater sense of belonging within the community, as well as to recognition of everyone’s knowledge and skills. The opinions of all the participants – elderly people, children, social workers and educators – have so far been really positive, emphasizing the benefits of intergenerational learning and play. These opinions allowed the partners to positively evaluate the results produced: the training program for health workers, social workers and volunteers who work / will work with old people and a collection of intergenerational games useful for planning intergenerational learning activities among older people (65 +) and little children (4-5 years).
By the end of the project scheduled for December 2022, the overall conclusions of the activities carried out will be drawn and promoted at European level during local events organized in each country also useful for promoting the final results of the project. In this period of time, the consortium will also finalize the last expected result: a manual for the mainstreaming of project results in a European network to pool resources and promote the sharing of practices thanks also to a specific section of the project website dedicated to online learning.
Best Friends Against Ageism – Intergenerational workshops between old people and children to brake the isolation of elderly people and support their social inclusion is co-funded by the Erasmus + program (Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships | Adult Education) and aims to combat the isolation and social exclusion of older people and to provide an innovative method for social workers, volunteers and educators who work with older people to foster intergenerational learning.
Partners
- Coordinator: Point Europa Ltd , United Kingdom
- Gulbenes novada pasvaldiba, Latvia
- Symplexis, Greece
- Pistes Solidaires, France
- Kindervilla, Austria
- Centro Per lo Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci”, Italy
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