The existence of "aging societies" is a phenomenon at European level. Our seniors are the ones who have the most difficulty accessing the opportunities that facilitate so many factors in everyday life as achievements of the information society. They are the ones in our European societies who are being pushed out of the digital world due to either a lack of conditions (internet access and / or IT tools) or a lack of basic user skills. Our planned program, which affects 4 nations (Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia), creates the conditions for the widespread gateway to digital knowledge, culture, social and family relations for our elderly peers by learning about: the use of info-communication tools (basic concepts of ICT, computer, smartphone operating principles, internet use, browsing, e-mail and other online communication options), orientations and dangers of navigating the digital world and how to deal with them. And as far as the horizontal priority is concerned, all this is done in an innovative way by the future training method. The professionally trained adult educator passes on the general knowledge, and the young people literally sit next to the older participants and provide practical help in applying the learned knowledge reducing the “Generation gap” between the two generations. At the same time, equal opportunities also prevail as added value. Everyone gets help equally, tailored to their own abilities. The project, based on international cooperation, primarily aims to learn about and exchange good practices. MZNT and CNESA, as partners with relevant experience in IT training for older people, would expand their own tools. HUREF is an experienced IT training institution, but it has not yet dealt with the elderly, so the transfer of good practices in this topic can be a relevant task, at the same time we take over the general IT training experience from the organization. A Marthos o.z. it mainly deals with the training and development of young people, so it learns how to train the elderly by motivating their young people to participate in helping work in appropriate ways. The details of this motivation are also known and taken over by HUREF and CNESA. We show, analyze and pass on good practices during partner meetings, and if necessary, we refine and modify them together. After analyzing and processing what we have learned, we try to summarize and evaluate the results and experiences. The collection of good practices at the end of the project includes the common and different features of the age group of four nations, the steps and difficulties of getting to know the digital world and using communication channels, details of each topic, relevant pitfalls of knowledge transfer and inclusion, ways of their motivation. The document will be written in Hungarian. From this later, during the maintenance period, a training curriculum will be developed that will be adaptable for our partners. We develop appropriate cooperation platforms, with the help of which we can be in constant and regular contact with each other's partner organizations. According to our plans, we would participate in joint consultations (partner meetings - four times a year, with the participation of 10 people), in a kind of knowledge sharing process. We create a working group and create a work plan. We plan our meetings, their location, duration, the topics to be discussed. We will send a draft of the topic to each partner in advance and provide guidance on how to prepare. Based on the reports and continuous contact, we receive constant feedback on the partial results, which helps in the quality control process. We pay special attention to possible jams, we demand their signaling exponentially, and we also develop a methodology for helping each other. At the start of the project, we also coordinate the dissemination plan to be carried out jointly, its details, responsible persons, schedule, and registration of progress. We publish our results on our websites, blog, Facebook, online portrait publication and press releases. We are convinced that the employees participating in the project will increase their knowledge, methods and experience, and their knowledge and communication skills will expand as a beneficial effect of international cooperation. All participants can get the opportunity for new directions of development, and together we can despise the basis of a later international project. All the more so because we envisage the professional development of the planned project on the following topic: after the development of digital competences for the elderly, we would launch another joint project to teach the e-administration of our target group. We believe that the theme and intent of the later project both planned and built upon, has never been more timely and necessary than at the time of the emergence and devastation of a global epidemic.
Objectives. The main objective of the four partners was to create and to disseminate a collection of good practices that could be used by others, thus promoting and internationalising the adult learning model. At the same time, the aim was also to pool training experiences from the past and from the project. The horizontal objective was to support individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and competences, to make the local community of our elders strong and cohesive through the online networking that was established, and developed into a long-lasting connection with the young mentors. Our intention was thus to achieve active ageing as a community goal. We set a quantifiable goal of presenting, exchanging and learning good practices during the 10 scheduled and planned partner meetings, developing the IT skills of 45 older people during the project period, learning from each other, increasing knowledge, transferring know-how, expanding our own toolbox and methodology. We also aimed to introduce the model to organisations and institutions involved in adult education, coordinating the cultural and community life of older people and promoting the social involvement of young people.
Background The intention of the four partners to cooperate in the project was based on several factors: international networking, promotion, and internationalisation of the coordinator's adult education model (digital skills development for older people through young mentors), the need to turn existing training experiences into good practices for adaptability, and the need to gain experience in joint international project work. And last but not least, to develop long-term international partnerships for the launch of future projects and developments. What needs have been addressed? The partnership (CNESA, SB; HUREF, RO; Marthos o.z., SK; MZNT, HU) has identified a similar social trend based on preliminary surveys: we live in an ageing society and the widening generation gap between young and old is a European-wide phenomenon. There is a potential need to develop the digital skills of older people in order to reduce their loneliness in old age. The opportunity for lifelong learning not only develops older people's digital competences, but also helps them to stay in touch and acquire knowledge. The involvement of young mentors also facilitates the learning process for older people, but also brings the two generations closer together.