Capacity Building Workshops
In the list below you can find the reflections from the capacity building workshops, as carried out by each partner organisation:
AGFE and its associated partner GRETA Val d’Oise from France did their Capacity Building Workshop in early June 2022. 24 trainees attended CT4SCG piloting / training course, some of them had already experienced the position of carer within the family or close circle.
During the training, attendees went through all developed modules and tools including the project platform, asking lots of questions, discussing and undertaking several activities, either in groups face-to-face or during self-directed learning.
Diputación de Zamora carried out its Capacity Building Workshop in late September 2022. More than 40 trainees attended the training course for CT4SCG in Zamora, with quite a variety of profiles: some of them were informal carers, others were already working in care and others were looking to improve their training skills in order to find a job in the care sector. During the training, attendees went through the developed modules as well as the case studies provided for each one, discussing whether the content was good enough and met their expectations. Overall, the feedback was very positive and the audience highlighted the content of the project’s curriculum which, to their belief, responded really well to the main challenges that our ageing society is facing nowadays. Trainees particularly liked the fact that the methodology had been built with an innovative pedagogical approach of co-learning, including some practical lessons that help to better grasp the knowledge regarding active and healthy ageing.
UNIVERSITY OF ALMERÍA (Humanidades -498 and 878 Research groups) did their Capacity Building Workshop the first and 20th of October 2022. 45 (20 health care professionals and 25 caregivers) attended CT4SCG piloting /
training course.
The capacity building workshop was realised over two days with face-to-face sessions (the speakers made presentations with the focus on the project, the modules and the participant´s doubts) and for three weeks, long-distance learning from the participants’ part via the educational platform.
The participants were very satisfied with the content of the online course and the capacity buildings and were eager to follow our organisation’s next steps as well as those of the project’s partners in relative topics. Participants showed a very positive overall opinion about the course, regarding organisation, platform and support.
IPCB – The Castelo Branco Polytechnic Institute (IPCB) held its Capacity Building Workshop in early November. A total of 35 participants were present for the training course. The participants in the training course for the CT4SCG in Castelo Branco had a variety of profiles: informal caregivers, formal caregivers and people who were looking to improve their training skills as they were currently unemployed. Regarding the feedback, there was a high degree of satisfaction with the course content, the themes addressed in each module and the possibility of being able to manage their study and acquisition of knowledge. Another aspect mentioned was the importance of having activities that could serve as a measure of the level of knowledge. The general opinion was positive regarding the platform, support material, modules and proposed activities.
The Capacity Building Workshops took place in the middle of September in Hungary. In these 3 special days we met the kindest-hearted people who gathered to develop their knowledge on caring for the elderly. The event was realised in two days of face-to-face training and an online class with the help of the educational platform.
Besides the valuable information trainees had the opportunity to get to know each other through the activities, so later on they can support each other.
Based on the feedback they provided, the training material was really useful, informative and enjoyable. We wanted to surprise the attendees with a bonus programme, so included the “Dance of Joy” as the final programme, which is a genre tailored for seniors.
In the middle of July DAFNI KEK worked together with the Municipality of Kalamata City and Thalpos | Mental health Center and organised in the Cultural Center of Kalamata a highly impactful face to face capacity building seminar, of two days, with people form the locality, alongside a series of online capacity building sessions with additional professionals and interested non-professionals from all over Greece, and particularly migrant and refugee women situated in Athens. The most significant impact of the capacity building sessions was the realisation for a need to organise a support network for caregivers and following that realization and our encouragement, the participants were keen on creating one of their own.They were also quite interested in the digital platform as an educational source because another major need that was brought to the surface was the limited training opportunities for both groups (especially when one lives in a rural area or even a small urban one). They stressed how impactful the workshop had been to them -especially the interactions between the various sub-groups in the team during activities and the sharing of life/professional experiences and practices
Multiplier events
Below you can find descriptions of the multiplier events carried out
In October 2022, AGFE in partnership with GRETA Val d’Oise, organised in Paris region their final dissemination event. The seminar took place with 12 participants representing both public and private sectors (representatives of associations and enterprises working in the caring sector as well as local authorities). During the event, the Erasmus+ framework was presented as well as CT4SCG outputs, participants even did some quizzes altogether to assess their knowledge. Long discussions and exchange sessions followed the presentation of each deliverable, giving everyone the opportunity to share their views and experiences and expressing their needs. The morning was a great opportunity to network and the participants left, promising to meet again soon to work on sustainability of the CT4SCG project.
As project coordinator, Diputación de Zamora was the partner in charge of hosting the Final Conference where the final results of the project were presented to both the public and the private sector, including companies working in the caring sector, VET students, VET teachers, academics and general public). More than 80 people attended this event, which was carried out on October 5 at the Fundación Red Alfonso Enriques, a Spanish-Portuguese partnership where the main European wide events take place. The conference, which lasted the whole morning and part of the afternoon, was attended by all the partners and included an on-site Spanish-English translator. The idea, however, was not only to show the project’s intellectual outputs, but to build a whole conversation around the challenges of caregiving and how to develop employability as formal and informal caregivers. That’s why the attendees could hear lecturers from different Spanish universities and non-profit organisations – they also learned about other active projects regarding healthy ageing and the use of technology to improve the elderly’s quality of life. As part of the experience, attendees had the opportunity to enjoy a free lunch with typical food from the region as well as a morning coffee break. The day ended with a round table of the partners that allowed the audience to get to know them better. It was a great success and attendees were quite interested in taking the course.
During November 2022, the IPCB held its CT4SCG event, with the participation of more than 20 trainees representing the public and private sectors (representatives of associations and companies working in the care sector, as well as local authorities). The organisation of the event focused on presenting the mission of the Erasmus+ framework as well as the results of the CT4SCG, for that each of the participants had the opportunity in oral or written form to share their ideas and feedback about the course.
In this context there was an opportunity to have a comprehensive discussion after the presentation of the course, giving everybody the possibility to share their opinions and experiences and to express their needs. Overall, this event was considered a success by all those who attended. It appears to have aroused a rising interest in the topics addressed and the notion that it is necessary to invest more in the training of the elderly in their different contexts, scopes organisational structures in order to address the population needs.
In June (21th), Humanidades-498 and Humanidades-878 Research groups of the University of Almería, organised their multiplier event CT4SCG. The seminar took place with 52 participants representing both public and private sectors (representatives of associations and enterprises working in the caring sector as well as local authorities). The Multiplier event consisted of one day where the speakers made presentations with the focus on the project as a whole and its European dimension, as well as on the active and healthy ageing with presentations from members of the UAL team. The group was quite active and gave space to great interactions between the participants who took advantage of their different roles in the care of the elderly and managed to give a holistic overview of what is the reality in this sector and also on the focused discussions that took place during and after the evening session.
On the 8th of July 2022 TREBAG organised the multiplier event for caregivers, and those who were actively interested in the topic of aging. Participants could get more information about the project, about how other cities and organisations cope with the issues that caregivers face with, and learnt about international good practices as a part of an interactive workshop. The presentations were high quality without exception and all supported the idea of training caregivers and helping the elderly in different walks of life. We were happy to meet these wonderful and hard-working people, many of which were the heads of caregiver institutions. Their insights helped us in what to focus on the training and how to develop the curriculum even further. The occasion also provided an opportunity for (future) caregivers to get to know each other better, as the long shifts prevent regular communication and coordination between the different institutions in the same area. By inviting employers and potential employees to the multiplier, a chance was given to the participants to find what they seek.
DAFNI KEK, also hosted their multiplier event, inviting and reaching caregivers, organisations and services, as well as policy makers and educational institutions that have the opportunity to forge the environment of silver care. The Multiplier event consisted of two sessions -a morning one with the living lab taking place and an evening one with the keynote speakers and their presentations. In the living lab, there were attendees from various local organizations that support and care for the elderly, as well as informal caregivers that are caring for their family members. The evening session had the addition of representatives of local organizations and people of the general public that were interested in the topic. The group was quite active and gave space to great interactions between the participants who took advantage of their different roles in the care of the elderly and managed to give a holistic overview of what is the reality in this sector. Finally, the participants themselves exchanged between them contact information, as well as key professional practices/info, in order to further develop their practice.
The Rural Hub organised a multiplier event to share the results of the CT4 SILVER CAREGIVERS results, through presentations that focused on the project as a whole. The Cavan volunteer centre kindly agreed to host this event on Wednesday 26th October 2022. We arranged the event and invited various stakeholders to attend. In attendance, we had both formal and informal family carers, volunteers, members of some local groups who support and care for the elderly, there were also some members of the general public who had an interest in the topic. The event was a one-day face-to-face event where TRH along with a speaker from the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA) addressed the participants. Elizabeth Coyle of the ICA spoke about the importance of looking after our elderly, and how the ICA supports their elderly members. The modules covered during the event were, The aging process (M1), and promoting the active lives of older people: social entrepreneurship (M6), these modules were chosen based on conversations with members of Family Carers Ireland and the ICA, who believe that older people can remain young at heart by understanding the ageing process and by feeling needed by having a purpose or making a contribution to society.
