“The Grown-Up Kids Project” has the mission of promoting social inclusion through learning.
Project aims to encourage exchange of knowledge between generations, that will give the young a bit of the knowledge of the elderly, and to the elderly greater skills, particularly digital skills. Our goal is to combat digital and social isolation.
On one side we have young people who isolate themselves, living a virtual life, and on the other side we have the elderly, socially isolated and lonely.
We want to find balance between the use of new education technologies and lifelong learning.
National
Portugal
The Grown-Up Kids Project developed by NI has an inclusive and global characteristic, starting with being implemented in the Grande Porto area, easily adapts to all regions of Portugal (Lands of Trás‐os‐Montes, Coimbra Region, Beiras e Serra da Estrela, Beira Baixa e Alentejo), Community Europe, Wester Balkans and Portuguese-speaking African countries.
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
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No
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As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): NI - Associação para o Apoio às Famílias e Desenvolvimento Social Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Joana Last name of representative: Alves Gender: Female Nationality: Portugal Function: President Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rua Alfredo Cunha, 412 – 1º Sala 8, Matosinhos Town: Matosinhos Postal code: 4450-159 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 910 325 659 E-mail:joana.alves@ni-associacao.pt Website:http://www.ni-associacao.pt
Nowadays most people can expect to live into their sixties and beyond and by 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world, will be aged 60 years or over. From a multidimensional perspective, aging considers various dimensions: biological, psychological and social, which interact in an according to human will. A longer life brings with it opportunities, not only for older people and their families, but also for societies. Additional years provide the chance to pursue new activities such as further education, a new career or a long-neglected passion, but not always possible, due to the social isolation that most of the elderly people experience. On the other hand, current generation of young people somehow tends to be very easily distracted and spends hours on social networks. The overuse of technologies, that young people have easy access to, can have devastating effects on the health of children and adolescents, often causing anxiety, isolation and depression.
In a world where globalization rules, loneliness reigns, why? What if we could add the digital knowledge of young people to the life history of the elderly?
Following this guideline, The Grown-Up Kids Project was born. We believe the longevity can be further promoted by the synergy between the elderly and the young and our goal is to create spaces where we can merge the innovative skills of the young with the wisdom and experience of the elderly.
We aim to encourage young people to teach the elderly digital skills and the elderly to show them the simple things in life like a cards’ game or a chat about past experiences! Project will promote the exchange of knowledge between generations, finding balance between the use of new education technologies and lifelong learning.
Is that so weird? We don't think so!
“Young people” and “Elderly”
Intergenerational relationship
Exchange of knowledge between generations
Young volunteers
Combat social exclusion through learning
Unfortunately, social exclusion is a reality in our present and tend to be a conjuncture in the future. In this way, NI will always have an integrative and interventional role in the fight against this problem. The constant updating of information systems and the monitoring of the populations, will allow to continue sustainably to carry out its activity even after the implementation of the Grown-Up Kids Project.
A real systematized and targeted action to promote the social inclusion requires long-term interventions developed within the framework of a transformative process that consolidates over time. In this sense the project aims to meet short-term requirements, but should also be extended over time, through long life education, training and intergenerational integration, promoting social, educational and cultural activities that enable the collective learning of relationships between individuals, social groups, the environment in which they live and meet community needs.
After the implementation of this first phase of the project in the municipalities Oporto, new stages will come, with the expansion to other regions more in the interior of Portugal (Lands of Trás‐os‐Montes, Coimbra Region, Beiras e Serra da Estrela, Beira Baixa e Alentejo) and finally with internationalization (UE, Western Balkans and Portuguese-speaking African countries).
The local associative and institutional fabric is decisive so that through the promotion of partnerships, the sustainability of the project and the association itself, is guaranteed over time. The continuous work of searching for new partners, will allow to ensure the NI´s future success and the promotion of networking, being three of the areas to work after the intervention in: the "homeless" population, training to employees of partner institutions and learning in Alternation.
For all the reasons, we can say that this is a sustainable project and that NI has much to contribute to the fight against social exclusion.
The Project involves the creation of a Headquarters centre, in Matosinhos, where we can welcome young and old for an exchange of knowledge. This intergenerational exchange is aimed at the acquisition of empirical knowledge that will give the young a bit of the knowledge of the elderly and the elderly greater skills, particularly digital. It is priority that the appearance of the community centre and its environment, has a good combination of shapes and colours, as this generates a pleasant feeling of harmony and balance. Lighting will be a clear bet in terms of aesthetics and well-being for those who use the space, privileging natural light, but valuing the appropriate and comfortable artificial lighting also. A multipurpose room will be created, with aesthetic and physical conditions appropriate to the ages of the participants, in order to develop the proposed exchange activities. Bathrooms accessible to all, equipped according to the ages and needs of users will be created and a support area for employees implemented. A logo has been created, colourful and aesthetically attractive, reflecting inclusivity.
The idea will be to search for other spaces, that have the right conditions and that allow all users the feeling of well-being and the comfort of a home. It is proven that emotional well-being ensures the predisposition to the development of activities in a more uninhibited, voluntary and happy way.
Community centres to be set up in the most interior areas of Portugal will also function as learning centres with the aim of combating illiteracy and fostering the digital literacy of the elders. An important goal is the daily will of operation of our centres, not just a few hours per week, with all the physical conditions necessary for the exchange of knowledge and the learning that is intended to.
With a feeling of sharing with nature, a community garden will be created in the Headquarters Community centre, where generations cross paths and exchange experiences
Aging is an increasingly present reality in the Portuguese population and tends to increase with low birth rate and increased life expectancy. Our national leaders say that a strategy for promoting active ageing, that integrates all the needs has already been in course, but the reality experienced by the elderly is a different one. Although there are some support infrastructures that promote the cognitional capacities of the older population, the reality is that in many regions of the country they are few or simply do not exist. In the certainty of helping to complement these needs, we realize that cooperation partnerships, both with the public and private sectors, are the future and success guaranteed to achieve our main goal - to promote social inclusion.
With the Project, we want to create places where generations of different ages could live experiences together, creating a community in which users of various ages can support themselves, develop and help each other. We believe the longevity can be further promoted by the synergy between the elderly and the young people and we aim to create spaces where we can merge the innovative skills of the young with the wisdom and experience of the elderly. We wish to encourage young people to teach the elderly digital skills and the elderly to show them the simple things in life, like a cards’ game or a chat about past experiences!
In order to put ideas into practice, we aim, to create learning centres equipped with electronic equipment, skilled human resources and with a very welcoming environment for everyone to feel at home. It is intended an exchange between the before and the now, from the past to the present and what are the predictions for the future of each actor. Project will promote the exchange of knowledge between generations, finding balance between the use of new education technologies and lifelong learning.
The “Grown-Up Kids” Project has the mission of promoting social inclusion through learn
NI is an Association that works to promote social inclusion and direct community support. In essence, as an association, it is composed of several associates who are intended to have an active and participatory role in the activities developed by NI. The direct participation of the members, either financially or through pure volunteering, guarantees the full functioning of the association and is a passport to the future success of the projects it develops or intends to develop.
Although intervening in various age groups of the community, we noticed that the elderly have an increased concern, with the great social isolation they experienced during the pandemic years, and that they translated into loneliness. On the other hand, the overuse of technologies, that young people have easy access to, can have devastating effects on the health of children and adolescents, often causing anxiety, isolation and depression.
In this sense, The “Grown-Up Kids” was born, to promote the exchange of knowledge between generations, finding balance between the use of new education technologies and lifelong learning.
Being close to local communities is a priority for us, as we want to:
• Set up learning centres to combat illiteracy (in particular within the country) and fostering the digital literacy of older people;
• Create a volunteer grant (active and independent youth, adults and active and independent elderly) able to put the project into practice and to develop the planned activities;
• Create jobs to help the project administrative and operational, using local populations.
Regarding volunteers, we will ask for help from the universities closest to the learning centres, because our goal is to have valid people with the maturity to assume the role of social agent.
Everyone is welcome to participate in this project, either as users, as volunteers or even as partners. Our project will promote and encouraging the direct participation of communities as social actors.
We are constantly looking for the best partners for our projects. In this special case, we will need the support of the local authorities so that they can give us space for the creation of the learning centres. We will also need volunteers capable of carrying this project forward. Our application for this award meets this need. We designed the project and now we need the support of the local authorities, the government, and Bauhaus, to be able to move from paper to reality. Regarding volunteers, we will ask for help from the universities closest to the learning centres, so that displacements will not be time-consuming and expensive. Our goal is to have valid people with the maturity to assume the role of social agent. Once we have the physical locations available, we will need support to buy all the equipment need and if necessary, adaptation works. We need everyone’s help because #togetherwewillmakethedifference.
Thus, all the agents will benefit:
• The volunteers by participating actively and acquiring greater awareness about the lives of the elderly;
• The elderly by finding companionship, acquiring digital skills, being able to immortalize their experiences, seeing their daily lives made easier through the help of a volunteer, and even by the help they gain in the practice of agriculture (if applicable);
• The local authorities will see some of the needs of their population supressed with the help of our project;
• The region itself will benefit from symposiums, exhibitions and workshops that may attract more visitors;
• The government will benefit from a population, which, being very old, will become more cultured and independent;
• Europe would see Portugal lowering its illiteracy levels and perhaps the human vacuums would be filled, by attracting new people to take care of this project.;
• Bauhaus will gain a partner with the will to expand the project to countries whose rurality and isolation still prevail.
Portugal is in 23rd place in the world ranking of average life expectancy. The Portuguese People are expected to live about 83 years, on average. Considering that retirement age is around 67, the Portuguese still have plenty of time to enjoy a calmer and more interesting life after finishing their professional occupation. Although some options can be found in this regard (senior universities and senior community centres), supply is scarce and weak from a qualitative point of view.
As for the distribution of the population, it is unevenly distributed, with the coast being overpopulated and the interior much more deserted. This is why we intend to fill in these human deserts in order to attract volunteers to help the elderly in their daily lives, either by teaching them to read and write, or by creating their social network to connect with distant relatives, since emigration is one of the greatest scourges of the interior of our country. Younger people leave at a very early age in search of new and better life opportunities. An elderly person who can read and write will easily learn digital skills. In the rural areas, our volunteers will be able to help in the practice of subsistence farming.
Many elderly people live from what the land gives them, and extra help is always welcome. As for the population on the coast of the country, still very much linked to fishing, they still suffer from illiteracy, but less accentuated, so it may be easier to implement more attractive activities for young people, adults, and the elderly.
We believe that our project will make a difference, since it is based on various experiences, teachings and multigenerational knowledge, capable of revolutionizing communities.
We want combine strengths and synergies, showing young people how they can be agents and stimulate elderly, helping them integrate into a community that had already forgotten them. Creating learning centres, equipped with electronic equipment and skilled human resources for everyone to feel at home. Starting with Matosinhos, we will extend throughout Portugal, especially to the most interior regions, since the population be mostly old, thus reducing social isolation, through the increase in our actions.
Unique and innovative method is what we propose, through the development of activities such as:
“What I was and what I want to be?” - Informal debate between older and younger people, where elders talk about their journeys and advise young people who set out their future, guiding on his way;
“Read and write? You'd better know!” - Promoting literacy among the older class, so that they can follow the world that surrounds them;
“Google it!” - By learning new information technologies, the younger ones teach the most to do research on a theme of the choice, planning a presentation of it, supported by a PowerPoint illustrated and developed by both;
“Grown-ups Journal” - Through word processing workshops, preparation of a newspaper of the land with chronicles written by residents on memories lived and/or current affairs;
“Plant and Grow Together!” - Young and elders work together in an area for gardening (Coastal) and/or cultivation, promoting health, well-being and the aid of the two subsistence agriculture;
“ReclaimTraditions” - Sharing knowledge between young and old, recovering traditions, games and toys. Through promotion of: Debates on Local History, Workshop "Handmade Toys", Exhibition "Memories of other times" (We want the exhibitions to be itinerant, each learning centre you can see your circular display through the others);
“Adopt a GRANDFATHER/MOTHER” - Highlight a volunteer to live during a certain period with an elderly person.
Dreaming and making it h
The elderly is an increasingly present group in our society, making it important to understand what contribution they can make in communities, how they can promote local development and know who can help them in this process. Young people, for their part, are less and less, but give life to communities, participating in the various existing activities, integrating/developing associative projects, thus promoting local development. In an attempt to social inclusion, we want to combine forces of these two groups, so different in age but so identical with regard to loneliness/isolation. Our strategic objectives are: Setting up learning centres to combat illiteracy and fostering digital literacy of older people and creating a volunteer grant able to put the project into practice and to develop the planned activities.
We plan to develop the project by the end of 2023. After the implementation of the first phase of the project in the municipalities of Oporto (starting in Matosinhos), new stages will come, with the expansion to other regions more in the interior of Portugal (Lands of Trás‐os‐Montes, Coimbra Region, Beiras e Serra da Estrela, Beira Baixa e Alentejo) and finally with internationalization (UE, Western Balkans and Portuguese-speaking African countries).
With well-defined strategies the ease of reaching everyone is enormous, only requiring the ideal partners (public or private) to make available facilities that can meet the identified needs. The opportunity to belong to the NEB community is a great asset for us, managing to find partners with the same will and ideology for this Europe outside.
Thus, all the agents will benefit of the Grown-Up Kids Project: Volunteers by participating actively (acquiring greater awareness about the lives of the elderly), and, elderly by finding companionship, acquiring digital skills and being able to immortalize their experiences (seeing their daily lives made easier through the help of a volunteer).
Aging is a continuous, gradual process of natural changes beginning in adulthood, which results in decreased capabilities. This fact leads society to create social policies appropriate to needs of this age group, who can't always count on the support of their families. Governments and local public authorities have presented some options for the most active elderly in order to improve and increase their capabilities, such as: Senior Universities, Senior Conviviality Centres, traditional arts courses, sports activities, etc. In this sense, some older people still with active motor and cognitive abilities, have been taking advantage of old age to carry out activities that have not been implemented, when younger, for the most various motives. But even so, it is still a very small number to look for these activities for various reasons (travel, variety of supply, methods, etc.).
Our method will be distinguished by creativity, innovation, proximity, encouraging this age group investing their time in themselves. With the help of young volunteers, we intend to create places where generations of different ages could live experiences together, create a community in which users of various ages can support themselves, develop and help each other.
The Grown-Up Kids Project will reflect activities of cognitive development and exchange of generational experiences (already described), such as:” What was I and what do I want to be?”, “Read and Write? You'd better know!”, “Google IT!”, “The Grown-ups journal”, “Plant and Grow Together!” (Community garden and biological agriculture), “Reclaim Traditions” (debates on local history, Workshops, Exhibitions), “Adopt a Grandfather/mother”.
Our objectives: Train volunteers in each region, create local jobs, create conditions so that the centres are open every day, creation of a Community Garden on the site of the venue and promote the biological agriculture, among the most rural communities.
Promote social inclusion through learning!
In Portugal, like other European countries, aging presents itself as one of the crucial problems of the century. We´ve watched an uninterrupted increase in the number of older people that has transformed the most developed societies into ageing societies. Aging must be lived in an active way, based on three basic pillars: health, safety and participation. We cannot dissociate ourselves from the different determinants underlying ageing: culture, gender, health, social support, lifestyles, psychological and economic factors, encompassing income and social protection. In this sense, it is understood that the implementation of active aging projects/programs that promote mental health and social relations are as important as activities that improve physical health conditions. To this end, Portugal must review the social and economic foundations on which these systems are based, in order to try to answer these health and longevity issues. If this does not happen, it will not be possible to guarantee the quality of life and the physical, mental and social well-being of the older population. This responsibility goes beyond government sectors to extend to civil society and citizens.
It is precisely here that our project comes into play, which is affirmed as a complement to existing public and private offerings, mainly because it reaches several regions across the country. With the creation of learning centres and the establishment of local grants for young volunteers, we will be able to reach everyone, wherever they are. The Grown-Up Kids Project will promote the exchange of knowledge between generations, finding balance between the use of new education technologies and lifelong learning.
By the end of 2023, we anticipate to be able to respond, almost at national level, to the needs identified and to which we propose to intervene, creating a new class that is more active, more autonomous, less isolated and more inclusive.
With the right partners, we will grow for Europe
NI is a social support association for families and priority groups within the communities in which they interact. The main objectives are: to support children and young people; support families; support social and community integration; protect citizens in old age; intergenerational promotion; education and training of citizens. Promote social, educational and recreational activities/initiatives that enable the collective learning of relationships between individuals, social groups, the environment in which they live and meet the needs and/or interests of the community it´s what we propose. In this sense, the association will create and develop the following infrastructures: CAF (Family Support Component), CATL (Leisure Center Leisure Times), Social Responses, Professional Training and Social Development Projects (Intervention Rooms and others), Intergenerational Community Centres.
NI already has activities of high community and social interest, especially: Community intervention projects; Community awareness of social causes; Create free time occupancy programs; development of programs to combat school failure, through pedagogical support.
In a very close horizon, you will start The Grown-Up Kids Project, with de creation of a Headquarters Community centre, in Matosinhos, where we can welcome young and old for an exchange of knowledge.
By the end of 2023, we intend to reach several other regions of Portugal (Lands of Trás‐os‐Montes, Coimbra Region, Beiras e Serra da Estrela, Beira Baixa e Alentejo), community operational centres and active youth volunteer grants. By the end of this year we have very well-defined goals to achieve: Train at least 100 young social actors, Include at least 300 elderly people in Community programmes, set up at least 20 community learning centre.
In 2024, with the right partners, we will grow for Europe, and achieve at least 3 partnerships.
Regenerating nature, respecting biodiversity and ensuring a dignified life for all people is an urgent duty that can no longer be avoided. Our future as a species depends on giving value to the environment and the future of the planet we live on, requires the abandonment of unsustainable practices and urgent systemic change. This change cannot be achieved only through political agreements, financial incentives or technological innovations, however essential they may be. Lasting and true changes also requires learning, fundamental to the construction of the present and future of the planet and the next generations. Having a common understanding means acting through a shared strategy: understanding, acting and tackling this crisis together. This the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
These issues are fundamental to us, and since we consider ourselves pedagogical agents, we have the responsibility to pass them on to our communities. The creation of a fully organic and self-sustaining community garden will be a reality in our Headquarters, in Matosinhos. In the community garden, the idea is for young and old actors to get involved in production processes, from the early stages, such as land preparation to the harvesting phase. For the system to work it's important that your community is mobilized and works together.
In the community learning centres of the most rural regions, areas of cultivation will be created, promoting organic farming and sustainable cultivation as environmental protection. Teaching young people and the elderly, in these regions, to use more ecological and sustainable principles and practices, such as: crop rotation, non-use of synthetic chemical fertilizers or synthetic pesticides, the use of natural resources and the preservation of the entire environment.
We consider ourselves messengers of sustainability and educators in environmental skills, with the activities to be developed with our The Grown-Up Kids Project
