Innovation: Cheerful Senior Endowment Fund

Czech Republic

AAI Domain: Participation in society (voluntary activity, social connectedness, political participation)

The prejudices and stereotypical views of older people as a burden on society, as people who are set in their ways and on the inevitable path to ill health, disability, decline and ultimately death can affect people in all societies. The ‘demographic time bomb’ and the burden of older people mentality can prevent many younger people recognising the important contributions that older people already make and the potential resource that older people offer to society. Social innovations that change people’s views on older people while also improving the quality of life for older people have a role to play in ageing societies.

In the Czech Republic, the Cheerful Senior Endowment Fund was established in 2006 to support older people, both healthy and disabled, through the provision of age-friendly equipment to existing institutions for older people. These are usually relatively modest in scale – specialist beds or assistive devices that enable older people to be as active, comfortable or enabled as possible, and make a difference to the quality of life of older people. The Fund also campaigns to change public attitudes towards older people so that the contribution that they have made and continue to make to society is recognised and appreciated.

Changing social attitudes towards older people through campaigning is a form of political participation in the broader sense and is important to maintain and promote inter-generational solidarity. The Fund is supported by public and corporate donations including national and international businesses such as GE Money Bank, Nikon and RWE gas company who are ambassadors for the most innovative part of the work of the Fund, the exchange of mutual assistance.

This is an inter-generational ‘marketplace’ for mutual assistance that enables the exchange of knowledge, experience, learning and services across the generations. The marketplace is physically based at a centre in a district of Prague and is also online with ‘adverts’ for activities and services such as older people who want to act as grandparents to local children or younger people offering to help and teach older people with ICT or providing friendship to older people at risk of social isolation. The Prague centre also offers inter-generational learning programmes for English and using a personal computer, physical activities for older people and opportunities for social inclusion and participation.

In relation to the active ageing index domains, the Cheerful Senior Endowment Fund offers opportunities for voluntary activities through its charitable operations and particularly the exchange of mutual assistance project. The core of this initiative is to build inter-generational solidarity through promoting stronger social connections across the generations and is likely to have positive effects. The campaigning work for older people that the Fund performs is a form of political participation to change prevailing negative social attitudes towards older people.