COMPUTERIA - Intergenerational solution to empower

The withdrawal of some groups of the society from important processes and developments happens in closed session. Especially social disadvantaged citizens, receivers of public contributions and benefits, have not sufficient possibilities to participate in the cultural, social and economic life due to the fact that they loose contact disproportionately to the rapid technical development and changes of the knowledge and information society. For many people, in particular for groups at risk of exclusion, e.g. the growing part of the population that is over 60, the complexity and lack of utility, accessibility and usability of ICT and other essential experiences are major barriers.

On the other hand it's a sad but true statistical data that only one young person between the ages of 18-27 is active on the labour market from three in the Western European countries. This ratio is even worse in the new member states: only every fourth young person has a job and in spite of the fact that the present career starter are better qualified than a decade before, the unemployment rate of this age-group is growing for years. There is a big group of young people having no job because of different social disadvantages.

Our aim is to combine these two complex problem-piles in one pilot project and to develop innovative solutions via inter-generational learning and to empower these groups with the adaptability of different social behaviours and also technical changes. The concept of the project aims to provide learning opportunities and guidance for both groups: young and elderly in order to better integrate senior citizens by younger persons and vice versa. There is also a chance for intergenerational dialogue, for preserving the intellectual heritage, memories and work-experiences of older people, at the same time for raising their activity for new challenges by assenting their general well-being and mental health. We want to integrate the practice of inter-generational learning in voluntary actions by host organizations.

We propose a bidirectional relation: young people can act as "personal trainers" and old people can act as "wise mentors" (as a coaching approach) In this way we emphasise the necessity of supporting a real symbiosis between both target groups.