The Project

Which gaps do we want to bridge?

Context

Bridge the Gap! wants to find creative and sustainable ways to enable older people to live autonomously and to shape living environments in such ways to support the independence and the social participation of older citizens. Simultaneously, the transformative power of digitalisation is visible in almost every field of our society. The speed of digital development is going that fast, that even younger older adults can’t keep up the pace. It calls for new knowledge and skills to be able to fully participate in society. It is therefore highly important that we reduce the digital gap that divides certain groups (e.g. older people) from those with full access to the digital world.

Bridge the Gap! links these two challenges: Older people are empowered and trained to explore, analyse and (re-)shape their neighbourhoods with the help of digital tools.

What do we want to contribute?

Aims

Our main objectives are:

to train, empower and support older people to get active for their neighbourhoods, to bring forward their ideas for age-friendly environments and to master the digital tools they need to implement their ideas,
to develop meaningful, supportive and highly accessible learning formats and materials,
to raise awareness for the relevance of age-friendly environments and the political, social and digital participation of older citizens and inspire others (e.g. decision makers) to advocate these issues and
to contribute to new images of ageing.

Who is Bridge the Gap! mainly for?

Target Groups

Older adults who will be supported to re-shape their neighbourhoods with the use of digital tools as well as practitioners in adult education, (local) initiatives and organisations working with older adults.

How are we going to implement Bridge the Gap!?

Process and Outcomes

We will elaborate a Fact Sheet to inform about the project and to raise awareness for the issue by portraying age-friendly neighbourhoods and the political, social and digital participation of older adults, as well as the opinions and perspectives of stakeholders, representatives of the target group, potential participants.

We will develop a Training Concept and Curriculum as the basis for the trainings with older adults, who will develop their own ideas based on their interests and needs and are supported and empowered to build-up strong teams and networks and to implement their age-friendly neighbourhood initiatives. The curriculum will innovatively combine the issues of age-friendly environments and digital literacy.

The Training Kit will include the curriculum as well as tools and methods that have proven to be helpful in the trainings. It will mainly address training providers, trainers in adult education (with a focus on older target groups) and organisations working with and for older people. The training kit aims to inspire others to implement similar training activities in their local contexts.

The Digital Training will give an insight into the Bridge the Gap! training, provide helpful background information and resources to be used by practitioners in adult education and by older people for autonomous distance learning.