With the implementation of this project we intended, firstly, to acquire new knowledge and skills regarding the work that is done in the area of ageing at European level, with the aim of improving the type of responses of the CASO50+ Association. In this sense, we planed to carry out a set of mobilities in order to have contact with good practices and to explore more innovative ways of intervention. As a consequence of this first objective, we hoped to create and promote attractive opportunities and initiatives that motivate older citizens to exercise their citizenship more actively through greater presence and participation in social and political life. We also aimed to improve the recruitment and engagement skills of older people, professionals, informal carers and organisations in the various actions promoted by CAS050, most of which are free of charge.
CASO50+ focuses on ageing, working with people and organisations to promote solutions for a more inclusive, active and healthy world for older people, at the level of applied research, interventions and educational opportunities for actors and organisations involved in this area (e.g. informal carers (IC), older people, professionals and staff, trainers, institutions). It develops learning programmes (e.g. mental health for IC; inclusion and diversity for professionals) and direct interventions (e.g. psychoeducational and mutual aid groups, narrative intervention based on literary stimuli). However, CASO50+ has faced challenges related to the difficulty in accessing and recruiting older people and IC, which are justified, among others, by the ageist conceptions reproduced by today's society and often assimilated by older people, distancing them from social and political life. This project will allow us to contact and get to know other European contexts and explore other ways of intervening with this population, with the potential to develop a set of strategies and skills that will contribute to the creation of more opportunities for social and civic participation of older people.