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Description
People aged 60+ make up as much as 29% of residents of Gdynia (Polish Statistical Office Local Data Base 2019). According to studies conducted by the Mali Bracia Ubogich Association in 2018, loneliness is one of the major problems. Senior citizens live in single-generation households, and one third of them live alone. They spend their time in a passive manner, and become fearful, feel they are not needed, suffer from boredom, and withdraw from community life. This situation requires action to activate seniors, putting their potential to use and making them more self-reliant. The project addresses the needs of senior citizens in Gdynia with respect to integration with their own age group and across generations, being open to the needs of others, being more active and motivated to act for the good of the community, and improving their self-esteem. The measures are intended to create a permanent system of senior community cooperation, based on their skills, knowledge, and experience. We will offer seniors development classes: two psychological workshops and ten computer skills workshops. We provide one-on-one psychological aid and assistance from volunteer in use of new technologies. We will run a “Personal Development Group". “Plan, Organize, and Act" workshops will result with the “Exchange Festival" and “Mini Initiative" own projects, which seniors will implement with support from volunteers in their communities. Online meetings will be held with councilors and representatives of municipal bodies. Six “Exchange Festivals" will be organized to integrate all of the participants. 30 people aged 60+ from Gdynia will take part in the project, with support from young volunteers. The benefits of the measures taken will be increased social activity, better new technologies skills, more organization of events and management of projects, expansion of the community support network, greater self-esteem, and a sense of agency a minimum of 23 participants in the project.
Summary of project results
The project addresses the problem of social exclusion of senior citizens. People 60+ make up as much as 29% of Gdynia''s population (CSO). A problem that many of them face is loneliness. Seniors live in one-generation households - as many as 1/3 of them live alone. They rarely participate in social life and often lack confidence in themselves and their abilities. Data from the Regional Volunteer Centre in Gdansk shows that 15% of seniors are interested in volunteering and 2% initiate grassroots activities. Lack of activity is also due to lack of knowledge, and the problem is compounded by digital exclusion, which makes it difficult to access information on social activities. At the same time, there is still a lack of activities for seniors that build on their potential and are inclusive.As part of the project, senior citizens took part in a number of workshops and development meetings, including psychological meetings "Discover your potential and activities", a computer course to improve their Internet skills and "Plan, organise and act!" workshops on the implementation of social initiatives. Several meetings of the Personal Development Group dealt with topics such as non-verbal communication, assertiveness, conflict resolution. As a result, four local mini-initiatives were prepared and implemented by seniors, including excursions, music classes and themed meetings. Project participants took part in meetings with 5 city institutions that provide services to people 60+ (e.g. the Crisis Intervention Centre, the Senior Citizens'' Activity Centre), as well as in 8 integration meetings, thanks to which they benefited from the city''s cultural offer. An important element of the project was 6 so-called "Exchange Festivals" for integration and the exchange of skills and services. Project participants also benefited from individual psychological support and assistance in using new technologies.Thanks to their participation in the project, 34 people 60+ from Gdynia, Gdańsk and Sopot increased their social activity and created a self-help support network. They increased their confidence in their abilities and motivation for social activities, and developed their competences in planning and implementing social activities, as well as in using new technologies. An important element was also the participation of young volunteers acting as assistants, thanks to which the project served to exchange experiences and intergenerational integration.
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