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Description
The aim of the project is to increase the participation of older people from the Silesian Province and its surroundings in participatory activities. The problem addressed by the project is the low activity of older people and senior citizens'' organisations, as well as the insufficient presence of senior citizens'' issues in local support programmes and development strategies. There is a lack of vision and development plans for such organisations as Rural Housewives'' and Senior Citizens'' Clubs. Too few financial resources are allocated to programmes of support for the elderly. Many municipalities have no such strategies or programmes, and support for seniors is provided only by social care centres. The project will involve 60 people and at least 8 senior citizen groups (formal and informal). We will conduct workshops on communication and participation for seniors, provide them with individual support and carry out an educational trip. Workshop topics include development strategies for organisations, as well as elaboration and implementation of local initiatives. The project will enable seniors to acquire and develop the skills to speak on behalf of their peers, lobby for their group''s needs, monitor local documents, initiate change and develop their organisations. The project will result in an increased sense of empowerment among older people and their knowledge and skills in participation and volunteering. Cooperation between senior citizens'' organisations and municipalities will be established or deepened, which will also contribute to long-term change in local senior citizens'' policy.
Summary of project results
The project was important for people over 60 from the province. Silesian. According to demography, seniors are an increasingly numerous group of people, but their needs are rarely included in local strategic documents and cooperation programs with NGOs. The importance of the topic arose from the diagnosed problems. The first was the low organizational, civic and social activity of seniors in the commune and in NGOs. The reasons were: bad associations with bureaucracy and formalism, and volunteering with social activities, and the deteriorating potential of senior NGOs, among others. due to the pandemic, lack of strategic thinking, e.g. of Senior Councils. The consequences, in turn, are the lack of willingness to associate - wasted social capital and experience, low social activity and inability to cooperate. The second problem was problems with the quality of work and cooperation activities of seniors. The reasons were: lack of coordinated activities of seniors, different levels of competences (deficiencies), distrust; stereotypical opinions that nothing can be changed. The result, in turn, is fewer initiatives for people 60+, lack of work standards leading to frustration and discouragement, as well as lack of representation of seniors and ineffectiveness. The third diagnosed problem was the insufficient level of knowledge about the benefits of implementing work standards and cooperation with local government units. The reason was the uncoordinated work of local government units with the community, including NGOs and RSs, and the lack of technical and organizational knowledge to work in NGOs and RSs. The result is a different scale of success for NGOs and RSs, as well as unprofessional activities.
The project was implemented as planned. In the first period, the following were carried out: communication workshops, which allowed participants to understand the importance of the process of correctly transmitting information to each other, as well as cooperation in a group; workshops on social participation, which showed seniors the importance of volunteering and social activity in the lives of older people, possibilities of cooperation with non-governmental organizations, forms of participation, as well as the importance of partnership, some individual support developing personal competences mainly of senior group leaders, and an educational trip, the two goals of which were developing initiatives and development strategies for a given senior group. In the second period, the following were implemented: senior initiatives in which seniors activated their peers; strategies for the development of senior groups developed during the educational trip were implemented in cooperation with a trainer conducting workshops developing the personal and social competences of seniors; evaluation activities were carried out, i.e. an evaluation meeting constituting a summary of the participants and a conference also addressed to the project recipients.
The project allowed for increased participation of older people (60+) from the province. Silesia and the surrounding area in participatory activities. The task allowed seniors from 8 senior entities (formal and informal) to acquire the ability to: act on behalf of a group of peers, lobby positively regarding their needs, monitor local documents, initiate changes, and develop their organization. Increasing the level of communication and cooperation between senior groups, acquiring new competences by seniors, increasing their self-esteem, acquiring strategic planning skills, as well as activating their peers made the project graduates become active citizens who will be leaders of many interesting projects and initiatives in the future. The developed outlines of senior initiatives and development strategies for various senior groups will allow for the long-term development of people aged 60+ included in them. The recommendations developed for local government units provide a perspective on their impact on local senior policy. In turn, the signing of the Senior Strategic Development Agreement gives hope for the development of cooperation between the involved senior groups.