Project "ICT - the key in senior´s hand for an active and healthy life" is a joint partnership initiative between four NGOs (Poland - Social Ecological Institute, Sweden - MobilEducation, Turkey - TROY Environmental Association, Finland - Tiedetila) and Adult Education Center (Austria - SPES Zukunftsakademie). Each partner carries on non-formal and informal education in topics that are relevant for sustainable development (including environmental protection, health, civic participation). An important target group is seniors - the partners know their needs, including the needs related to digital exclusion, which can lead to inactivity and social isolation. The partnership has developed a project based on the needs seniors have for using ICT for a better health (physical and mental) and a higher quality of life. Numerous studies indicate that the key issues for human health and well-being are food, physical and cognitive exercises and monitoring one's well-being. In all these matters, information and communication technologies can become a tool. The project activities will be attended by experts, trainers and educators conducting ICT training for seniors and participants in local workshops where the results of the project will be presented. The last group includes seniors from various social groups: in Poland - members of the university of the 3rd age in Warsaw and informal groups of seniors, in Turkey - seniors from the Canakkale region, in Austria - inhabitants of rural areas in Upper Austria, in Sweden - seniors in the Stockholm region, in Finland - inhabitants of the rural Pihlajavesi region (200-250 people). The milestones of the project are international meetings (totally 5, one in each partner country). The aim is to exchange experiences, learn about best practices and work on planned results. At the local level, each partner will organize workshops for seniors, where also the project results will be presented (totally about 20 workshops). The implementation of the project is based on the principles and methods established by the partnership: continuous communication between partners, action timetable, dissemination plan, monitoring, evaluation and problem solving together on consensus basis. The final results of the project are: 1. ICT handbooks/tutorials for seniors developed by the partnership: - short courses to using smartphones and tablets (iPhone/iPad/Android) for seniors - how to practically use the iPhone Siri, Google Home and Samsung Bixby - ICT - the key to health and higher quality of life for seniors 2. Digital stories about the use of ICT made by seniors in Austria 3. Database on best practices related to the seniors using of ICT 4. Well-established international partnership cooperation 5. Development of follow-up projects by the partners The project results will be included in the partner organizations´ curricula, used in training and lectures for seniors and distributed to stakeholders, organizations and institutions cooperating with the partners. Educational activities for seniors will have the character of "lifelong learning", will be implemented as non-formal activities, in accordance with the principle that educating seniors must meet the appropriate conditions and be adapted to receivers (small groups, short time, relevant subjects) and they will be based on practice, not theory. The results generated by the partnership (i.e. ICT handbooks/tutorials) will be open and available to download for free. The results can be used by all trainers, (not only partner organizations) to raise the basic knowledge of ICT of seniors. The permanent effect of the project will be increasing of knowledge of partner organizations and a better quality of life for seniors by improving their ICT skills.
The project "ICT- the key in the hands of seniors to an active and healthier life" was a joint initiative of a partnership established between four NGOs: Social Ecological Institute (Poland), MobilEducation (Sweden), TROYA (Turkey), Tiedetila (Finland) and the Adult Education Center SPES (Austria). All partners deal with non-formal and informal education in the field of eco-development, health, civil society and ICT. They all implement projects targeted at seniors. The aim of the project activities' was to exchange experiences, know-how and best practices in order to develop educational materials that can improve seniors' ICT skills. The innovativeness of the project consisted of including in the ICT courses - content related to health issues, seniors activity and active participation. The milestones of the project were 5 international meetings, each with a different topic: Warsaw - ICT – a communication tool for seniors; Stockholm - ICT tool for seniors activity; Schlierbach - ICT in senior's everyday life; Istanbul - Practical application of ICT tools in health and care; Keuruu - New technologies for the quality of seniors life. The meetings were used not only to get to learn about partner organizations, work on the results, raise knowledge about the partner's country (history, culture), but also to learn about the best practices and establish new contacts (30) with organizations and institutions from the partner countries. Project partners (staff, members, volunteers - 47 people), experts, trainers and educators conducting workshops and classes (32 people), participants of open seminars (185 people) took part in the project activities. At the local level, the partners organized workshops and meetings for seniors, attended by a total of over 950 people. The target group were seniors: members of senior universities and informal senior groups (Poland); members of activation centers in Canakkale (Turkey); members of local ZeitBank55 + groups (Austria); members of seniors associations and Finnish minority (Sweden) and residents of Pihlajavesi region (Finland). The partners - using the results developed within the project - matched the level of content provided in the ICT classes to senior participants, taking into account their needs and possibilities. The project implementation was based on the principles and methods established by the partnership: systematic communication between partners, detailed work schedule, evaluation and monitoring of the project's implementation progress. The final results of the project are: Newsletters (5) containing information on international meetings, 6 ICT guides for seniors, a database of institutions and organizations implementing ICT education for seniors and examples of best practices in each partner's country, analyzes of the needs and possibilities of ICT tools for health and the study of a monitoring system for seniors living alone, in which ICT tools are used to ensure the safety and higher quality of life. All results are translated in the partners' languages and English (in PDF format). They are available to the public and posted on the partners' websites, at www.ecosynergy50plus.com and on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform. The results of the project were included in partners curriculum, they are used during trainings, meetings, lectures and sent to interested persons and organizations. Important results of the project are well-established international partnerships and the development by partners of a follow-up project in which partners focus on using ICT tools to support the creativity of seniors and enable them to actively participate in cultural events. Sustainable result of the project is an increase in the competences of the staff and members (substantive related to the subject of the project; organizational related to the implementation of the international partnership project, language related to communicating in English) and an increase in the skills of seniors - participants of local workshops in the use of ICT tools for prevention health, both physical and mental, and to participate in public life.