1 APRIL 2020 – 31 MARCH 2022
In contemporary society, the question of the relationship between young and old people is becoming increasingly important. Democratic societies are inclusive. Ideally, all citizens would be part of the policymaking process. However, in practice, some citizens participate more than others and certain groups remain largely underrepresented. The lack of dialogue between young and elderly people leads to not understanding each other’s needs. A clear example is the Brexit case: Recent political events, such as the Brexit referendum in 2016, illustrate very well how the participation (or lack thereof) of citizens of a certain age group in policymaking can have a decisive influence on a society’s main political choices. Many young people wanted the UK (75 %) to stay within the European Union (EU) but instead, 70% of old people voted for Leave.
According to YouGov, the elderly people voted in favor of Brexit. Young people voted to remain in the EU. This means that elderly people chose at a certain point the political future of the country. Due to the increase in the age of the population in Europe in general, the elderly people are more than the young people. Both sides have different ideas and perspectives about life. With regards to European citizenship, young people might be more in favor of the European Union compared to the elderly. Furthermore, young people might avoid participating in elections and similar political discussions since they feel that their voice is not being taken under consideration.
In this project, fostering intergenerational dialogue is considered to be a way for bringing both sides together to exchange thoughts, opinions and experiences in order to minimize the generation gap between them.
The aim of this project is to stimulate intergenerational dialogue and solidarity between different generations and promote the European values. The partnership is going to collect and disseminate best practices and case studies from each country concerning intergenerational dialogue to compare the way young people and elders cooperate.
Activities
- Country snapshots on the topic of intergenerational dialogue
- Training activity for youth workers in Greece to learn Human library methodology
- Human library local experiences in each country participating in the project
Target groups: young people, elders
Partnership: Società Cooperativa Sociale Fuori dal Sommerso, Italy (lead partner) – Varna University of Management, Bulgaria (partner), Inter Alia, Greece (partner) and Solution: Solidarité & Inclusion, France (partner)
For more information on this project, you can contact Amerissa Giannouli and Boyka Boneva.
