Description
There is very low accessibility of sports and recreation for seniors and we notice that no senior NGOs that engage in watchdog activities in this area. We intend to be a watchdog of government administration and encourage others, especially senior citizens to engage in monitoring. We are planning to monitor public provision of recreation services for seniors in 5 Polish cities. We will examine the quality, accessibility and diversity of this provision using surveys (200 individuals), assessment workshops with community members (4 cities) and participating observation. We want to know whether the provision is actually designed for senior citizens and caters for their needs. Our long-term partners, members of ESPAR, community members, mainly 50+ and seniors' organisations will be responsible for field work. Our approach will be inspired by the proven methodology of monitoring sports provisions (SOWP). Finally, we will send 4 evaluation reports and recommendations to local governments. We will demonstrate to senior citizens how they can monitor services which will hopefully inspire some of their organisations.
Summary of project results
"Individuals aged 50+ need to be provided with a proposal for organized leisure activities supervised by a qualified instructor (findings from original research, 2012). Findings of Civic Sport 50+ Monitoring reveal that the range of such services in Poland remains extremely limited or is not available at all. There are no senior or senior-centered organizations that would exercise such monitoring, what constitutes a roadblock to introduction of changes. The objective of the project was to encourage individuals aged 50+ to monitor the public offer of sports activities for seniors and prompt the administration to design such sports offer. The organization established 20 teams of watchdog-seniors monitoring sports activities for citizens 50+ within their municipalities. A report illustrating the range of senior-centered activities at their locations, including recommendations, was distributed to local government officials and local activists from each municipality participating in the project. The senior organizations were informed about public scrutiny and got an insight into its methodology. Meanwhile, citizens had opportunity to engage in a dialogue with local authorities and NGOs to diagnose the offer for seniors in their municipality and express their needs. Civic monitoring of the public range of leisure activities addressed to seniors was rolled out across four municipalities in Poland: three urban (Kozienice, Opole, Rzeszów) and one rural one (Kiszkowo). Applied work methodology was largely driven by the sport monitoring methods implemented by the Citizens Network Watchdog Poland. In order to identify if the range is actually targeted at seniors and caters to their needs, its availability, scope and quality were put under test that involved an analysis of records, a public opinion poll (398 respondents), as well as diagnostic workshops delivered at each municipality which were attended by citizens, NGOa and representatives of municipal authorities. Meetings that took stock of the monitoring provided representatives of local communities with an opportunity to develop implementation plans and recommendations."
Summary of bilateral results