Mobility Scouts - Engaging older women and men in creating an age-friendly environment

The overall objective of the project Mobility Scouts is to involve older men and women in decision making processes and enable and empower them to contribute to the creation of age-friendly environments and services as co-producers.

 The core idea of the project Mobility Scouts is to train older men and women to initiate co-production processes. As “agents of change” Mobility Scouts bring together older citizens and local authorities and service providers to cooperate in the development of age-friendly environments and services.  

Year(s): 2016-2019

Target group(s): Older men and woman, adult educators, local authorities, policy makers, companies, service providers, social actors

Website or other online channels: http://www.mobility-scouts.eu/

Methodology

  They implemented the project Mobility scouts with the following steps:  

• EUROPEAN RESEARCH on the status-quo of active citizenship of older people in creating an age-friendly environment in partner countries and other EU countries.
   
• ELABORATING AND IMPLEMENTING A TRAINING: Based on a joint curriculum in each partner country, older men and women were trained as Mobility Scouts and initiated co-production processes in their living environment.
   
• PUBLICATIONS: Organizations and local authorities obtained low-threshold information on co-producing age-friendly environments with older people in the Sensitization Handbook for Stakeholders. The Toolkit for Practitioners is an excellent basis for organizations and persons working with older people and interested in supporting them in initiating and implementing a co-production process.
   
• An ONLINE TRAINING COURSE enables people interested in participating as Mobility Scouts in regions, where no Mobility Scouts Training is offered. The Online Training Course offeres learning units, guidelines for practical implementation and descriptions of co-production projects.

Type of product

Online resource Course / Training

Brief description of the outcomes

Here you can find an overview on aims and outcomes of the Mobility Scouts project: Overview of the Project

   

Mobility Scouts Online Training Course

This Online Training Course provides background information, inspirational examples and practical tools to participate in the creation of age-friendly environments: Mobility Scouts Online Training Course

 

Mobility Scouts Toolkit

Organizations and people who work with older people and are interested in supporting them in initiating and implementing a joint project can find valuable information in the Toolkit: Toolkit for Practitioners

 

Mobility Scouts Handbook

 The Handbook is aimed at local authorities with practical information on an age-appropriate living environment: Sensitisation Handbook  

Impact on target groups / Transferability potential

The project trains older women and men (mobility scouts) and supports them in encouraging and accompanying joint activities by public bodies, companies or service providers as well as older people to design age-appropriate living environments. Adult educators learn about the multifaceted perspective on participation in an ageing society where older people are seen as experts of their living environment. They get insights of the age-friendliness of the environment of seniors. Inspiring ideas can help on how to make cities and communities a good place to grow up and grow old in.

 

 The transferability potential is given because people who work with older people can use the Toolkit which was developed with the aim of summarising their experiences and to provide practical guidelines on how to involve older men and women in decision-making. They also aim to empower them to contribute to the creation of age-friendly environments and services.  

Promoter of the initiative: queraum. cultural and social research + partners from four European Countries

Country: Austria Germany Italy Lithuania Netherlands

Languages available: Dutch English Italian Lithuanian German

Website or other online channels: https://www.queraum.org/