Silver Economy Network of European Regions (SEN@ER)

Newsletter Overview

SEN@ER workshop on "Skills development and life-long learning for older people" - continuous learning is a must for all generations

The SEN@ER workshop "Skills development and life-long learning for older people" took place in Düsseldorf on 15 September 2010 at the Ministry for Ministry of Health, Equalities, Care and Ageing of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. It had been organised against the background of the upcoming European Year for Active Ageing & Intergenerational Solidarity 2012 and the fact that lifelong learning for the generation 65+ will become increasingly important. The demand is growing and appropriate offers need to be developed. The workshop aimed at the development of a European exchange of information on activities and initiatives in different European regions, the identification of areas for cooperation which may lead to the establishment of partner consortia and the development and submission of project proposals to European Commission funding programmes.

The workshop achieved all these objectives! It was attended by almost 40 persons from a variety of European regions. At the end of a very lively debate and discussion a series of European proposal ideas had been presented and discussed. The most promising ones have been summarised in the workshop report which is made available online.

SEN@ER workshop on "Regional Strategies on Active Ageing" in Brussels - the needs to develop strategy development support tools for local and regional authorities

More than 80 participants registered for the SEN@ER workshop on "Regional Strategies on Active Ageing". The online registration had to be closed since the seating capacity was exceeded. Not only in terms of quantity, i.e. the number of participating experts, but also in terms of quality the workshop was a real success. This was revealed by an online survey of the participants which revealed that more than 90% were satisfied or even very satisfied with the workshop programme, the speakers and the workshop chairing.

Against the background of the upcoming European Year for Active Ageing & Intergenerational Solidarity 2012 the workshop objectives had been to inform about the objectives of the European Year for Active Ageing & Intergenerational Solidarity 2012, develop a European exchange of information on activities and initiatives in different European regions, identify areas for cooperation which may lead to the establishment of partner consortia and the preparation for the development and submission of project proposals to European Commission funding programmes.

Around 10 concrete ideas and outlines of European proposals were developed and discussed at the workshop, which are currently being further developed by the partners concerned.

"SENIOR ENTERPRISE" successfully launched! SEN@ER partners will help regions and municipalities to foster the creation of better job opportunities and working conditions for the older generation

A very successful launch conference held in Co Wicklow, Ireland, marked the formal start of the Senior Enterprise initiative. The conference was hosted by the Mid East Regional Authority, the Lead Partner. The conference programme was developed to introduce delegates to Senior Enterprise and to turn those who attended into enthusiastic ambassadors for the initiative.

It marked the formal start of the Senior Enterprise initiative. The conference was hosted by the Mid East Regional Authority, the Lead Partner.

The conference programme was developed to introduce delegates to Senior Enterprise and to turn those who attended into enthusiastic ambassadors for the initiative.

The launch conference took place over a 24 hour period on 5th and 6th October to facilitate greater networking among the participants, the speakers, the role models, the observers and partners.

The conference was formally opened by Batt O'Keeffe, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation. The Minister was very supportive of the initiative, the transnational working of the community of shared interest among the partners and observers, and the support being provided by EU through the INTERREG IVB North West Europe.

Speakers at the conference included policy makers and influencers at regional, national and European level. Pat Cox, the President of the European Movement International and a former President of the European Parliament, addressed delegates on the first evening. From the European Commission, Sven Matzke, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equality Opportunities set out the demographic change facing Europe.

The other speakers included representatives of the partners Mid East Regional Authority (Ireland), PRIME (UK) and Inno TSD (Brittany, France), eight of the observers and entrepreneur role models. The latter were particularly well received by delegates.

Presentations from the conference may be downloaded from the Senior Enterprise website;
http://www.seniorenterprise.ie/events-conferences/presentations/.

SEN@ER activities for the year 2011 and beyond closely tied to the aims and objectives of the European Year 2012 for Active Ageing

The SEN@ER partners have agreed to cooperate in a joint development and implementation of support services for regional and local strategy development in the frame of the European Year. The aim is to develop a service programme to support municipalities, cities and regions in Europe in the development of local and regional strategies on Active Ageing.

The programme will be addressed to policy decision makers and other stakeholders at local and regional level since municipalities and regions are the level where the implementation of policy actions takes place and where the necessary changes and adaptation processes can most easily and straightforward be implemented.

Development and wide application of the service programme will improve the situation of elders at local and regional level in the EU member states and regions.

The SEN@ER Active Ageing Service Programme (SAAS) will provide in a modular fashion several types of services and tools including training courses on local and regional strategy development and on implementation of strategies (How to guide), a knowledge base on good practices of policies and initiatives on active ageing at local and regional level,tools supporting the implementation of developed strategies, support in partnership building at all geographical levels and an exchange of experiences, advise service on EU funding support and joint proposal writing courses to support funding of different types of activities or relevance for the development and implementation of a local or regional strategy.

After the development of a detailed concept in early 2011 and after the final decision and likely approval of the programme for the European Year 2012 on Active Ageing by the European Parliament and the European Council in March next year SEN@ER will finally agree on the details of the Europe-wide offer of the SAAS.

Further European regions from outside the SEN@ER network interested in this topic are kindly invited to get in contact with SEN@ER.

More information can be obtained from the SEN@ER Secretariat at info@empirica.com.

InCreaSe Guide now available for download

The Grundtvig learning partnership InCreaSe - Intercultural Creativity of Seniors funded with support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission involved ten partners - including several from SEN@ER partner regions - from eight European countries between 2008 and 2010.

InCreaSe was designed as a travelling training academy for cultural learning and participation of older people in Europe. During the two-year learning partnership the participating partners shared expertise and experiences in cultural work with the older generation. In workshops in Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Hungary, Scotland, Germany and Spain, InCreaSe partners focused on different approaches towards artistic work with older people. Through these workshops a body of knowledge was built up on ways to increase participation in the arts by older people.

The partners are sharing their conclusions drawn from their experiences during the partnership in the InCreaSe Guide that is now available for download on www.increase-project.eu

Home-based services - quality seals awarded by minister Barbara Steffens in North Rhine-Westphalia

"In a "fast" society where people lack time to care for their older relatives home-based services play an ever increasing role and are of crucial importance" said Barbara Steffens, minister of Health, Equalities, Care and Ageing of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia when handing over the awards and quality seals to home-based service providers at an awards session in the city all in Remscheid on 30 November 2010.

25 service providers coming from several cities in North Rhine-Westphalia received the awards. These are the cities Solingen, Remscheid, Wuppertal, Ratingen, Monheim, Langenfeld, Mettmann and Velbert. The service provider organisations have successfully passed the training activities of the qualification initiative on management of hom-based services and agreed to obeying the quality standards set by the consumer organization North Rhine-Westphalia for home-based service delivery.

By way of delivering services directly to the home of older citizens these are enabled to age at home within their familiar living environment and do not have to be brought to residential care.

The qualification initiative is the successor project to the project on quality seal for home-based services from 2009. Both have been funded by the Ministry of Health, Equalities, Care and Ageing of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The positive feedback and the results achieved have shown that there is a demand for such an initiative. The plan is to further develop it to a continuous offer in the region.

Consultation on the pilot European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy ageing

The European Commission is seeking the views of public and private organisations, companies and individual citizens on how Europe could scale up innovation to meet the challenges of the ageing population in Europe, and in particular on a pilot European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on active and healthy ageing. Between 2010 and 2030, the number of Europeans aged over 65 will rise by nearly 40%, posing huge challenges but also offering great opportunities for Europe's society and economy. The EIP, due to be launched in 2011, will seek to improve the health and quality of life of older people, enabling them to live active and independent lives, to contribute to the sustainability and efficiency of health and social care systems; and to foster competitiveness and growth of businesses. The online consultation runs until 28 January 2011.

People2People Programme study tour visit at SEN@ER

The People 2 People (P2P) programme of DG Enlargement organised a study tour on "Ageing population: ensuring high standards for safeguarding elder's rights and dignity" which took place in Brussels on 7-10 December. The P2P Programme is one of three strands of the Civil Society Facility managed by the Directorate-General for Enlargement of the European Commission. The P2P programme works for the benefit of civil society organisations from the Western Balkans and Turkey. The aim of this event had been to inform participants about the role of the various EU institutions and bodies as well as EU legislation and policies related to ageing population. It also intended to offer participants exchange and networking opportunities with European umbrella organisations and national bodies. Around 30 participants attended representing various civil society organisations from Western Balkans and Turkey. The group had also visited the EU Representation of North Rhine-Westphalia to learn more about the SEN@ER activities in the field of ageing population.

8th European Week of Regions and Cities: Open Days 2010: Competitiveness, co-operation and cohesion for all regions

The 8th Open Days held between 4 and 7 October 2010 attracted more than 6000 participants. At the event regions and cities played a major role in the discussions on 'EU2020' agenda, on the budget review, and on the future of EU cohesion policy post-2013. The Open Days provided showcases of good practice in the field of strengthening regional competitiveness, territorial co-operation and social and economic cohesion. The objective is to share experiences with others and to impact on the political debates among EU institutions and Member States. In 2010, the Open Days concentrated on 'competitiveness, co-operation and cohesion' including a session on "Ageing and persons with disabilities - turning the challenge into opportunities through regional innovation with ICT and accessibility measures" (session 07C26).

Third European Demography Forum: The Demographic Dimension of the Europe2020 Strategy took place in Brussels

It said in the invitation to this event that "Europe 2020", the European Union's strategy for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, adopted by the European Council in June 2010, can only succeed if it takes into account a rapidly changing demographic context and if it finds ways of unleashing the full potential of an ageing and increasingly diverse population.

In line with this objective the 2010 Demography Forum provided policy makers and stakeholders with an opportunity to:

• explore how to promote active ageing, notably in view of the European Year for Active Ageing envisaged for 2012;
• examine how families can be supported so that they can ensure solidarity between generations; this involves notably taking stock of the activities developed in the framework of the European Alliance for Families and discussing its future;
• debate how to tackle the crisis and consolidate public finances without jeopardizing investment Europe's demographic future.

EHTEL 2010 Symposium - eHealth in Europe's Regions: Acting for Citizens' Health on 22 November 2010 - 23 November 2010 Brussels, Belgium

The symposium is being jointly organized EHTEL, the Assembly of European Regions (AER) and the European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA) and is hosted by the Committee of Regions (CoR). This event will address the question what eHealth can do for supporting Regional health policies and, vice versa, what can the Region do for deploying eHealth services.

A detailed report about this event will be included in the next SEN@ER newsletter.

Ageing workers, changing demands: skills for silver workers

The rising median age of the workforce and the mismatch between the demand and supply of skills are two issues of particular concern for the European labour market. But are people's skills more likely to be mismatched as they age?

This is the subject of CEDEFOP (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training ) latest research paper, "The right skills for silver workers: an empirical analysis" now available online.

As people age they are less exposed to physical risk at work but they are also less exposed to new developments, running the risk that their skills may not keep up with demand. A close study of the ways in which ageing workers' skills fall behind workplace demands can suggest policies to overcome this problem. Issues discussed in the paper include:

• How do the various forms of skills mismatch correlate to wages, job satisfaction, career prospects and health?
• Are workers at different ages affected by different types of mismatch?
• Does training help ageing workers deal with mismatch problems?
• How do workplace conditions affect the match between skills and jobs?

Join the most "eInclusive" pan-European online network

Become a member of the ePractice ADD ME! Community and join a pan European Network to support people digitally excluded or in danger of exclusion to use public and local services via Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

ADD ME! aims to enlist organisations (Public Administration Institutions, NGOs, Civic Organisations and Centres, Agencies, Volunteering groups and other offline and online entities such as networks, blogs, etc.), which are active in the field of social care, assistance and enhancement of vulnerable social groups such as the elderly, pensioners, youth, disabled, immigrants, poor, etc. ADD ME! (Activating Drivers for Digital eMpowerment in Europe) project is an inclusive EGovernment initiative funded under the ICT Policy Support Programme.

"Healthy Regions: When Well-being Creates Economic Growth"

The Healthy Regions project has been running for three years and has had as overall objective to develop a toolbox with methods, tools, guidelines and recommendations that regional and local authorities can use to bring health and health promotion on the political agenda. The Healthy Regions project included a trial period, where the participating regions have tried out the toolbox.

During the final project conference the partners have shown how they used the tools, what they got out of it and how the Healthy Regions project made a difference on a political and / or practical level.

Study on the contribution of culture to local and regional development - Evidence from the Structural Funds

Culture is recognised as an important factor for economic development and the attractiveness of European regions and cities. However, the many other ways that culture is contributing to EU cohesion and regional policy are still largely unknown.

The study was commissioned to address this gap by providing, first of all, evidence of the range of contributions made by the cultural and creative sector to the objectives of EU cohesion policy since 2000, and, backing this up, a pool of around 50 examples illustrating the contribution. Each example is presented in a separate project fiche, while the study itself is accompanied by an online practical information kit. This provides details of culture's place in development supported by the Structural Funds and is addressed both to cultural operators and to regional policy managers.

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Copyright 2010 Silver Economy Network of European Regions http://www.silvereconomy-europe.org, mailto:info@empirica.com.