For the elderly, the telecentre becomes a place of socialisation. Many of these people seek human contact rather than learning new technologies. For this reason, it is very important that mobilizers take into account the interests of these people so that they feel comfortable and continue to attend. This is one of the lines of action of the Acting programme aimed at the elderly, in which Fundación Esplai participates.
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For the elderly, the telecentre becomes a place of socialisation. Many of these people seek human contact rather than learning new technologies. For this reason, it is very important that facilitators take into account the interests of these people so that they feel comfortable and continue to attend. This is one of the lines of action of the Acting programme aimed at the elderly, in which Fundación Esplai participates.
Active participation of the elderly
The Acting project involves social agents from Italy, Romania, Switzerland and Spain and is aimed at strengthening their capacities, skills and attitudes to work with older people. To do this, they use a methodology based on ICTs as a resource to improve their quality of life and promote their active participation in the Information Society through a natural learning process based on their own interests and hobbies, and which puts ICTs at their service.
Sometimes, the opinions or prejudices of others affect these people in a way that prevents them from participating. For example, there have been cases of elderly users who had not gone to a telecentre before because their family told them that because they wanted to know how to use the computer. These facts make the person doubt that he is not brave enough not to be influenced by the opinions of others and make his own decisions.
Through Acting, social agents can demonstrate that yes, that there can be a positive and productive relationship between older people and ICTs, through actions such as those proposed by this project. The opinions of some of the social agents of the 14 entities in Madrid, Barcelona, Castilla León and Galicia that are currently participating reflect this: patience and learning from them. In the workshops, older people are the protagonists and take on the role of trainer. For them it is a dose of self-esteem and for me a lesson in overcoming and eagerness.
Each social agent trained will work throughout 2015 with a group of seniors and together they will launch different initiatives that promote the development of personal skills and capacities through ICT, thus favoring their integration and social and technological participation. The best initiatives developed in the four countries will participate in an international competition that will be resolved at a Final Conference in Geneva in September 2015.