The SEMPRE partner Novia University of Applied Sciences works with older adults as our focus group in the SEMPRE project. During last year, a micro project called “Locally Produced Joy of Life”, was developed together with older adults and social service producers in the municipality of Korsholm/Mustasaari.
In early 2017, needs assessments regarding participation and activities with older adults was conducted. In the future workshop with older adults, one of the main outcomes was that there was a need for information enhancing participation among older adults. According to the participants, a common information channel including updates from different actors and service providers arranging activities for and together with older adults was missing.
As an answer to the need for information, the local SEMPRE partner gathered different service providers and actors that arrange activities for and together with older adults in the municipality. Subsequently six information events were arranged in six different areas of the municipality. Older adults in the municipality were invited to the information events where they received information about different activities and opportunities for participation available. Providers and actors that participated were, for example, different providers from the municipality; congregations; umbrella organizations for volunteer work; pensioners’ associations and other kinds of societies. In some occasions individual older adults also informed about an activity that they were interested in involving more participants in.
In order to achieve a more permanent answer of the need for coordinated information, a digital event calendar has also been created. The calendar, developed in cooperation with “Seniorpunkten” in the municipality, consists of information about different events and activities for adults that are organized by various actors operating in the municipality. The digital calendar is to be found on the website of the municipality. It serves as a platform for different actors and social service providers, who arrange activities and events with older adults, to manage planning their operations more easily. By having different actors and service providers updating activities in the same calendar they can manage to see where activities are missing in the more rural areas and ease the planning as a whole. For older adults, this also means that they can more easily plan which activities they would like to engage in. The digital calendar serves as a digital tool for older adults in the municipality to find activities from different providers and actors collected in one place.
For marketing the digital event calendar and combining two tools in one, we have also printed a wall calendar that includes information about this digital event calendar and how to access it. The printed version is handed out only to seniors in the municipality. In the calendar, there is space for writing notes on events and activities one might want to participate in.
You can find the digital calendar here: https://sites.google.com/site/seniorprogramkorsholm/
Photos: (c) Ulrika Häggström
