Ageism is a global challenge negatively affecting health, economy and communities. COVID-19 pandemic also increased older adults’ loneliness. Intergenerational interventions bring together old and young people in authentic cooperative tasks with the aim to enhance their bonds. This project will establish a shared space for youth and older adults where they will share skills, learn by doing, be creative with each other, exhibit collective work and have open dialogues with local community.

Chalkida, Central Greece

City social cohesion will be enhanced engaging older adults (together with those with mental disorders) and younger people learning by doing activities and dialogue among them and civil society organizations’ representatives. What is more, digital technology will give the opportunity to connect with people in care settings and include them in dialogue about the city now and in the past and about common issues they will be interested in. For example, there will be opportunities to speak about leisure, dealing with interpersonal problems and/ or careers advice, participation in local festivals etc.

Older people are primary target group of our organization, as their opportunities for social participation are limited, facing discrimination. Their meaningful engagement is beneficial to keep physical and cognitive function for well-being. Creating a space and opportunities to communicate with local community and youth is crucial for all groups’ dialogue and inclusion. Youth are benefited too as they develop soft skills and middle ages can discover meaningful opportunities for volunteerism in the local community. For fulfilling these objects, we need to work for awareness, networking and capacity building of key local actors, city authorities and volunteers. Projects’ capacity building element includes communication skills training for volunteers on interpersonal relationships promotion.

Phase 1 Preparation (Oct 21-Dec 21)
1. Organization of space and available resources.
2. Promotion of the project through a variety of communication activities.
3. Kick off meeting with volunteers and civil society organization representatives.
4. Volunteer training.
Phase 2 Implementation (Jan 22-Jul 22)
1. Team building activities among staff, volunteers, beneficiaries.
2. Laboratories and intergenerational events, open dialogues and exhibitions. This is the basic implementation step constituted of 40 meetings with a cross-over laboratory and event character where older and younger beneficiaries will have a variety of thematic activities together with civic society representatives such as learn by doing sessions, open dialogues about common interests, exhibitions of shared work etc. Each laboratory/ event theme will be voted according to members special interests and skills (for example older people could show cooking or repairing of clothes or consulting about interpersonal relationships, younger people could show technologies or creative ideas for using old things etc.) as methodology for intergenerational events focuses on all participants positive and meaningful contribution.
Phase 3 Project Evaluation (Aug 22-Sep 22)
1. Evaluation and good practices sharing in an outdoor intergenerational festival.
2. Dialogue with local community about project’s continuity.

Intergenerational interventions are among most effective efforts to reduce ageism along with educational activities. They have positive impact on well-being and self-esteem. They enhance interpersonal and intergroup bonds bringing together people in authentic interactions during cooperative tasks. This project will establish a shared space for youth and older adults where they will share skills, learn by doing, be creative with each other, exhibit collective work, have open dialogues in small groups with local community and civil society organization’ s representatives. 40 events will be held benefiting more than 20 older adults, 20 young people and 20 representatives of civil society organizations in the local community and 10 volunteers will participate in capacity building sessions.

Learning and experiencing to speak and cooperate in small groups empowers participants to be active members of bigger teams too. The project will make two basic groups visible in the town that are traditionally “too young” or “too old” to be active members of self-regulated clubs. Open dialogues and exhibitions will make the space visitable providing a base for events’ scaling up with more beneficiaries. The organization’s community building action will attract more young volunteers that will have a fairer picture about third age issues.

Greek Society for Alzheimer Disease and Dementia-related Diseases of Chalkida (Azheimer Chalkida) is an NGO in Evia, Greece. Our organization was founded in 2009 by caregivers of People with Dementia with main objects to spread knowledge and improve older adults and their families’ quality of life. We offer psychosocial services and advocacy for older people and their caregivers. Intergenerational activities are a basic tool for fighting ageism. Our project team includes 3 mental health professionals. Evangelia Aggelidou is the founder of the organization and had the idea of intergenerational festivals held the city of Chalkida since 2017, Christina Kalavri facilitates intergenerational events also supporting people with disabilities and Dimitrios Zagkas is the communication manager.

1800 for operational expenses and 3600 for 12 months’ rent (these costs will be organization’s contribution to the project)
3200 accommodation (catering for 40 events of 15-20 people each one)
240 capacity building sessions (4 X 3hour sessions for 10 volunteers)
1700 project and brand communication (signs, leaflets, print material, volunteers T-shirts)
800 conference ( accomodation of 80-100 participants)
27900 staff
400 Transportation of disadvantaged older adults

Civic Europe Community feedback is welcome! Scaling up intergenerational face to face events after pandemic as well as partnering for enhancing interaction among generations is our concern!