Innovation: Afternoon of Life

Latvia

AAI Domains:

• Participation in society (voluntary activity, social connectedness)

• Independent, healthy and secure living (lifelong learning)

There is a noticeable difference in both overall and healthy life expectancy between many new member states in eastern Europe and the wealthier nations in western Europe that reflects the underlying social determinants of health that have prevailed over the last seventy and more years. Some states in eastern Europe, such as Slovenia, have seen average life expectancy increase from 73.3 years in 1990 to 80.3 in 2010 while in Latvia it has only increased from 69 years to 74.1 years over the same period.

There is clearly significant scope for improvements in life expectancy and quality of life through active and healthy ageing strategies at both local and national levels across the life course through a variety of approaches. The Society Integration Foundation is a public foundation established in 2001 to promote and financially support social integration across Latvia and is funded from a variety of sources including the European Union and bilateral programmes with non-EU states such as Norway and Switzerland.

In 2011 the Latvian Red Cross Society secured €115,000 funding for a project in the municipalities of Ilūkstes (population c.3000) and Daugavpils, a city of approximately 90,000 people, in the Latgale region of southern Latvia. This a multi-cultural area with a significant proportion of Russian speakers and characterised by an ageing population with a relatively low life expectancy. The Afternoon of Life project aimed to promote the concept of active and healthy ageing, to improve the quality of life for older people and to develop inter-generational activity over the life course.

The Red Cross in partnership with the municipalities and local non-governmental organisations recruited 30 older people to be core volunteers for this socially innovative project. These core volunteers recruited other volunteers for specific events such as basic computer training for older people (120 participants) and 30 younger people being taught about older people and active and healthy ageing. There was a strong element of mobilising older people to build stronger social connections through recreational and leisure activities that were based in existing social centres for older people and a newly established facility for older people with disabilities.

Reflecting the local level of need, six hygiene centres for older people to wash clothes and shower were established. Eight Red Cross employees and local volunteers made a short visit to Switzerland as part of knowledge and cultural exchange activities and 9,000 copies of a guide to active and healthy ageing in four languages (Latvian, Russian, English and German) were distributed to people across the area. Another manual on active and healthy ageing was distributed to more than 170 municipal employees so that they could learn and develop age-friendly practices in their work.

In relation to active ageing index indicators, Afternoon of Life was relevant to volunteering (mostly older people), lifelong learning across the life course (notably the use of ICT) and building strong social connections across and within generations using the paradigm of active and healthy ageing to animate activities. Although it was only a short-term project there are bound to have been some legacy both in terms of activities and knowledge informing practice across the locality.

Sabiedrības integrācijas fonds website