Meaningful Occupation after Retirement for activE and healthy ageing Erasmus Project

Project Title

Meaningful Occupation after Retirement for activE and healthy ageing

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Inclusion – equity; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

There is many different psychological and sociological dynamics in retirement process. People spend high percentage of their life in retirement due to the increase in the average life expectancy. In this long period, retirees earning less than in working life, becoming foreigner to technologic development and relatively being less capable to learn make them be a disadvantaged group.
With the project of Meaningful Occupation after Retirement for Active and Healthy Ageing (MORE) which was coordinated by Social Security Institution (SSI), it was aimed to create an Adaptation to Retirement: Life Long Learning module in order to ensure that retirees do not fall into the gap in the adaptation process to their new life after work and adapt to new technological world easily. Besides, it was aimed to improve the self-confidence of people who are retired or will be out of long working life in the near future.
In addition to the SSI, there are six strategic partners, which are three local, and three foreign. They are YASAM, TURYAK, SincanHEM, NFE, E-Seniors and FAU-ILI. Totally four transnational meetings, one of which was in Turkey, were made with mentioned partners.
Three pilot groups were created from three country, which are Turkey, Netherlands and France in order to form the main output by applying them and measuring their satisfaction level in the module. Forty-five retirees attended who were determined by organizations from partner countries to the implementation part. There were two important criteria by choosing the participants. First criteria was that the retirees must have been retired for at most five years before the project starts. The second was about gender equality.
The outcome of the project which is Adaptation to Retirement: Lifelong Learning Module consists of five sub-components, which are Guidance and Orientation, Healthy Living, Rights and Laws, Language and Introduction to ICT. Guidance and Orientation module consists of six sections. In the seminars given in the first two sections by TURYAK, the participants were explained the social, cultural, psychological and economic dimensions of retirement and how they could adapt to this process. In the third section;SSI, YASAM and TURYAK organized a program of visits to city centers, museums, glass workshops and science centers. In the fourth part of this module, where the practical activities take place, painting, drama and ceramic workshops were organized. For volunteer activities LÖSEV, animal shelter and women’s shelter visits were organized. At the last part of the module, which is the intergenerational solidarity section, nursing home was visited. Similar project activities that applied in Turkey were also carried out in Netherlands and France. For example within activities about assessing leisure time and gain hobbies a mood board in which they had to make clear what is meaningful for them during their retirement was made by retirees from NFE. For encouraging participation in voluntary activities, NFE made a presentation about ‘Zilverlijn” service which is a service where volunteers daily calls to a lonely elderly to have a chat. E-Seniors organized a salsa course for retirees. The goal of Healthy Aging Module is to raise awareness of the participants about their health. The trainings in this module consist of topics such as healthy life culture, health literacy, rational drug use and were organized by YAŞAM. In addition, this module includes physical activities. NFE and E-Seniors also organized seminars by using documents prepared by YASAM. Within the scope of Rights and Law sub-module, the participants were provided with information that could be useful in the field of social security and health. Seminars organized for this purpose were given by SSI, NFE and E-Seniors. Language module was organized and created by SincanHEM and at the end of the course, participants were awarded to A1 certificates. In the Introduction to Computer Technology module which was also organized and created by SincanHEM, it is aimed that the people who provide access to the module have basic computer skills.
After Adaptation to Retirement: Lifelong Learning Module was fully applied to the pilot groups, LTT event called Educational and Cultural Amalgamation Workshop was held in Antalya. The workshop was realized with participation of the retirees from pilot groups and project team. The workshop’s aim was to be a practical application of the module in real life. In the workshop, the retirees found the possibility to practice and develop what they learned.
As a multiplier event, a final conference was hosted by Social Security Institution. Participants from NGOs, associations, academy, public and private sector representatives and also the retired people attended to the event. With this event, it was aimed to reach as many retiree as possible to disseminate the project outputs.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 140123 Eur

Project Coordinator

SOCIAL SECURITY INSTITUTION & Country: TR

Project Partners

• FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITAET ERLANGEN NUERNBERG
• ANKARA UNIVERSITESI
• E-SENIORS: INITIATION DES SENIORS AUX NTIC ASSOCIATION
• STICHTING NATIONAAL OUDERENFONDS
• TURKIYE YASLILIK KONSEYI
• Sincan Halk Egitim Merkezi ve ASO