The Project
BEST FRIENDS against Ageism – Intergenerational workshops between old people and children to break the isolation of elderly people and support their social inclusion is a project co-funded by Erasmus + – KA2: Strategic Partnership | Adult Education and it aims to address the isolation of elderly people by developing an innovative curriculum for social care workers/volunteers and games that promote intergenerational communication and learning. The project seeks to address the negative attitudes against elderly people and ageism which are increasingly becoming a significant challenge of modern eras.
Within this context, the main objectives of the BEST FRIEND project are:
To provide an innovative method for social workers, volunteers, and educators working with elderly people
To break the isolation of elderly people through social participation and inclusion in EU communities
To improve the physical and mental health of older people through interaction with young children
To enrich the learning processes of elderly people through their interaction with young children
To promote intergenerational relationships, overcome stereotypes and enhance intergenerational solidarity against ageism through fun activities
To increase children’s self-confidence and sense of responsibility through respecting seniors
Following activities will be implemented in the frame of BEST FRIENDS project results:
Focus groups with elderly people, social care workers and social care volunteers
Records of Autobiographical Life Stories Videos
Collection of good practices to provide organisations with a method to enhance planning in the field of intergenerational learning and to raise awareness at the local and national level about intergenerational learning as an area of professional and social action
Staff training on Best Friends approach, good practices and methodological concepts
Collection of tools for social care workers, volunteers, elderly people, educators
Learn more
Clicking here you will be able to access the YouTube channel of the Best Friends project where the autobiographical interviews made to elderly people in the various partner countries are collected in order to identify their needs and investigate the games of their past.
Clicking here you can access the summary report in all languages of the partnership of the pilot test of the Best Friends training program on intergenerational learning carried out in all partner countries with social workers and educators for children, at the purpose of validating the contents of the manual.
Clicking here you can access the summary report in English of the pilot test of the Best Friends Toolkit carried out in all partner countries with social workers, educators for children, elderly people, children, in order to validate the intergenerational learning activities contained in the Toolkit.