Innovation: The Story of My Life

Estonia

AAI Domains:

• Participation in society (social connectedness)

• Independent, healthy and secure living (lifelong learning)

Active ageing takes place over the whole of the life course and this was recognised in the European Union’s Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations that was marked in 2012 by a wide range of events across EU member states. The Story of My Life has been selected as an innovative example of an international and inter-generational project from a new member state that represents the potential benefits of this type of initiative.

The Story of My Life involved young people from Estonia, Finland, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Slovenia and Germany spending 10 days together in Estonia in the summer of 2012 and the project consisted of three distinct elements. The first element involved the younger participants exchanging their experiences and views on the issues that they faced in their lives, ageing and how society needed to change.

The second element, involved older people from Nõmme Vanameeste Klubi (Nõmme Old Men’s Club) and Kohila Reumaühing (Kohila Union of rheumatic diseases) sharing their life stories and experiences with younger participants. The Nõmme Old Men’s Club was formed in 2009 in the Tallinn district of Nõmme to provide opportunities for older men to meet up for social interaction and monthly lectures by invited speakers while the latter is a non-governmental organisation that works to improve provision for people with rheumatic diseases such as arthritis.

The middle element promoted greater inter-generational communication and understanding and paved the way for the final stage of the project, a public event on active ageing in the local market place to highlight active ageing and inter-generational solidarity among the wider population. Although this was a short-term project it had some long-term benefits in encouraging some older people to learn English, to create new projects and be more active. For younger participants, this (type of) project increases their awareness of social issues, experience of different cultures and helps them appreciate the similarities and differences across EU member states.

In relation to the active ageing index, the Story of My Life project encouraged social connectedness based on inter-generational communication and encouraged lifelong learning among older people. This type of pan-European project can be viewed as a way of promoting greater understanding across generations and member states that has a wide range of tangible and intangible benefits for participants.

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