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Description
When we operated a Citizens'' Advice Office for residents of Małopolska, 50% of the people helped were aged over 55. The level of civic activity of the senior citizens (role in social or political organizations) is quite low: in the 65-74 age range, only 6.9% of people are active in this way, while in the 75 and over age range this is 3% (Activeness among the elderly, Senate Chancellery, 2019). More and more government authorities are creating online platforms that can be used to deal with most essential administrative matters. Most grant programs also allow for applications to be submitted on electronically generated forms only. Due to not being capable of generating applications electronically, many seniors decide against pursuing civic activity due to fear of problems connected not with knowledge of the subject area, but with technical matters. The main aim of the project is to minimize the danger of social exclusion of the senior citizens from the Kraków district by improving knowledge and skills regarding civic and legal matters. We will conduct awareness-raising measures: lectures on laws that are especially relevant to the seniors and civic activity (one lecture for each) and workshops on how to deal with administrative matters using digital skills (four meetings) and on writing applications, petitions, and civic proposals (three meetings). At the same time, we will launch a civil advice and legal advice service - during the opening times each week, the advisors will work with the interested party to find a solution to a problem. 200 senior citizens will benefit from the measures, 90 of whom will expand their knowledge of legal, civic, and digital matters.
Summary of project results
When we ran a Citizens’ Advice Centre for Małopolska residents, 50% of those we helped were over 55. There is quite a low level of seniors’ active citizenship (involvement in community or political organizations), which is only 6.9% for the 65-74 age group, and 3% for 75 and above (“Activity of the Elderly”, Chancellery of the Senate, 2019). An increasing number of government authorities are setting up websites on which most essential matters can be dealt with. Most grant schemes as well only allow applications submitted electronically. Many seniors who are unable to fill in applications electronically decide against active citizenship for fear of not managing not due to lack of knowledge, but for technical reasons.To mitigate the danger of social exclusion of the seniors in the Krakowski county, we took measures to improve their knowledge and skills regarding civil and legal matters. We took awareness-raising measures: lectures on laws particularly relevant to the seniors and on civil rights (16 hours), digital workshops, including dealing with government offices remotely (54 hours), and workshops on civil matters on particular forms of active citizenship (18 hours), closing with writing three working applications to the Civil Budget. At the same time, we ran a citizen and legal advice centre – in regular shifts, the advisors helped 198 people, working with them to resolve problems.284 senior citizens were given short-term assistance with individual legal problems and general information on legal and civil issues. The measures also gave the seniors digital competences and skills to help them deal with government offices online, remotely. The participants put their new skills to practical use even when the scheme was still ongoing.
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