Your Treasure – Our Treasure Erasmus Project

Project Title

Your Treasure – Our Treasure

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Creativity and culture; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage

Project Summary

Motto: We must restore the honour of experience, wisdom and intergenerational dialogue. (Frank Schirrmacher)

Background: The „population ageing process”, characterised by an increase in the age of the population and a decrease in the number of children born is a common phenomenon throughout Europe. The most affected area on the continent is Southern Europe, which is hit hard by the migration of young people. Our partners have been chosen from this area.
In recent years, more and more young Hungarians have left small towns in the countryside for larger cities or migrated abroad looking for job opportunities, which have exacerbated problems such as the accelerated aging of the population. So far Hungary has responded very slowly to this process. Thus reflecting on and addressing the issue has become an urgent duty of our cultural institutions and our partner institutions.

Main aims:
– to prepare the participating institutions for working with and engaging the elderly in a structured and conscious way
– to acquire effective methods of discovering, raising awareness of and transmitting the values of older generations
– to develop and expand the competences of our cultural professionals to enable them to:
– engage with the elderly,
– to motivate the elderly to take advantage of non-formal learning opportunities
– to apply the methods of experiential learning
Long term goals:
– to develop a new strategy for collaborating with older people
– to develop an own method that reaches the elderly in general not only those with greater cultural interest

Methods: The organizations would like to implement an exchange of good practice that allows Hungarian partners to draw on the experiences and methodological knowledge of foreign professionals and prepare their employees for the work in the field of teaching the elderly. The HUN partners already have experience obtained while applying cultural, primarily museum related themes and methods during events organized and implemented with the elderly, and they are ready to share them.
During the exchange, we are primarily interested in non-formal learning methods, which enable the members of the target group to learn more about themselves, and to engage in active recreation and enjoy themselves.
In our work with older people the object is regarded as a tool (and a common language), that awakens the memory which is the transferring material that helps to bring the hidden values to the surface. The members of this age group possess various kinds of cultural treasures, the existence of which most of them are not aware of. Through the present project, we wish to raise the awareness of the elderly that the experience and knowledge they carry has great cultural value, to identify these values, to organize them in a system and to present and explain them (e.g. in the form of exhibitions, virtual exhibitions) to the community and the future generations. Digital technique is an important tool in achieving our goals, which will be introduced to the participants during the preparation for the joined exhibitions and the connecting events. The joint realization of exhibitions has a huge community-building power as during the process your treasure becomes our treasure.
Museologists add a lot to the new method. Their knowledge enables them to define values because they work in vaults of collective memories and experience (museums).

Participants: 3 Hungarian cultural institutions, a Portuguese university for seniors, a Greek, a Spanish and an Italian NGO participate in the project with a total of 29 professionals involved, complemented by the members of project management, other professionals and members of the secondary target group (adults over the age of 55). The Hungarian participants have rich experience to share; the foreign partners have good practices.

Activities: 2 personal partner meetings, 1 videoconference and 5 LTT activities are planned which are followed by feedback and, if necessary, correction. The partners perform various tasks in their own country, carry out dissemination activities, and have a local project meeting once a month. A website will be created at the beginning of the implementation period and it will end with an exhibition. Methods used in the activities: exchange of experience, discussions, collection, interactive group work, museum gerontagogy, training, participation in art and other activities and game methods

Expected Results and Effects:
Development of methodological knowledge and tools, adaptation
Better understanding of age-specific characteristics
Learning from the solutions of other countries
Professional renewal, development of cultural and educational competencies
New professional partnerships
Development of foreign language competences

Long-term positive effects:
Creation of complex methods
Development of a new methodology to increase the activity, self-esteem and appreciation of the elderly
Enhancement of the institution’s role in society

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 156716 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kunszentmártoni Általános Muvelodési Központ & Country: HU

Project Partners

• Mezoturi Kozmuvelodesi es Sport Kozhasznu Nonprofit Kft.
• Martfu Városi Muvelodési Kozpont és Konyvtár
• ASOCIACION DE INNOVACION FORMACIONY EMPLEO PARA EL DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE
• Universidade Sénior de Oeiras
• euridea
• ACTIVE CITIZENS PARTNERSHIP
• Future Focus Ltd