Meeting Report May 1 – 5, 2012, Berlin

The meeting took place at the PallasT-house in Berlin. Berlin was chosen as the place for the meeting because here the partners could visit the projects for elderly migrants which are subject of the work of the German partners.

So after a cultural day and visiting the Reichstag the partners visited two projects for migrants, the Kotti Family Garden (www.kotti-berlin.de/faga.html) in Berlin-Kreuzberg with an overview about migrant projects in Berlin (http://www.kom-zen.de/) and the House of Cultures in the neighbourhood center Steinmetzstrasse (http://schoeneberger-norden.de/Nachbarschaftszentrum-Steinmetzstrasse.216.0.html) , where Arabian migrants served lunch. 

Visitising some projects for migrants in different districts of Berlin

Working session 1:

1. Introduction from the coordinator

In the afternoon the first working session started with  welcoming and introduction from host partner. Annette Maurer gave an introduction on the work of the centre PallasT which makes offers for migrants living in the district of Schöneberg, where the centre is located.

2. Information on website progress and questions

The German partners presented the webpage for the project. It was decided to have a separate page foreach meeting. 

Working session in PallasT

3. Exchange of Experiences and information on Initial Actions for Marginalized Elders in each country/Presentation of chapter 1 and 2 of the proposed guide by each country.

The partners informed on their exercises and progress on initial actions for marginalized elders in each country. This is also the topic of the chapter 1 of the planned guide.

The Spanish partners work on improving the psycho-emotional status of the elderly through adapted physical activity in the elderly. Their objectives are:

    -    Find the needs and demands of the institutionalised elderly in nursing homes and people who live in
         their homes and go to day centers in Almeria province
    -     Examine the differences and similarities between both comunities of elderly.
    -     Explore the quality of life the elderly have in nursing homes, and the relationships with their families.     -     Observe if there are any differences in the perception of loneliness between elderly in nursing
         homes and elderly who go to day centres.
 

 The Romanian partners want to improve the situation of marginalized elders in Romania by

    -     Partnership with local authorities
    -     Recruitment of volunteers
    -     Training of volunteers
    -      Involvement of volunteer partners

The specific objectives of the Centre for Care and Support are:

    -     to provide specialized services to disabled persons in need and institutionalized in social
         institutions;
    -     to provide personal care, social assistance, counselling, social, occupational therapy and
         neurological recovery ;
    -     to organize cultural activities - education and socialization inside the  centre and outside it;
    -     to assure medical assistance and special and permanent supervision of persons with disabilities;
    -    to provide support and specialized assistance to prevent situations that jeopardize the safety of
         persons with disabilities.

In Hungary the elderly of Nyíregyháza have the following common features:

    -     not satisfied with their health state;
    -     not satisfied with their financial state;
    -     not satisfied with their personal relations;
    -     they like to be active;
    -     they are open-minded;
    -    they like to study new things.

So it was clear to the Hungarian partners from the beginning that their intervention program should deal with health because their elderly people find it very interesting and useful. So in the intervention program will have among other topics:

         Psychiatrist trainings
         Lectures on health
         Common cooking
         ”PE lessons” at the college 

In this program they will cooperate with friends and colleagues from their college.

In Cyprus the main causes of marginalization are mainly socioeconomic and those issues are the ones that can cause the marginalization of elders:

     -   Geographical Location; living in rural areas
     -   Economic status; low pensions
     -   Health situation; access to healthcare
     -   Educational background; low education
     -   Living in eldercare centres; less family care, low quality services

Nowadays, with the economic crisis at its peak, elders are a segment of the society that faces its impact the most. The focus of their needs, especially in those areas, is their health, the mobility to the big cities and other general social issues. The local authority deals with their needs and it organizes several activities that can keep them active in the society. In certain cases, there are small medical units to serve basic health needs, small Senior Citizens’ Centres and certain areas where seniors can meet and socialize.  

The German partners will work on measures especially for elderly migrants, as migration plays an important role in population dynamics in European countries and elder migrants are a special vulnerable group in Germany. The necessity to take elder migrants into account within the district social work arises from the fact that in Germany on the average every 10^th person over 55 has immigrated to Germany in the course of his/her life. Elder migrants face special risks. So they are in danger of poverty in old age because due to a low income during their working life they get low pensions. Also many of them have bad health.  Physical and psychological stress is affecting health in the long run. Furthermore there are quite practical problems, like linguistic, cultural and social problems of understanding each other, insufficient information and lacking possibilities of information. Also the separation not only from the family but also from friends in their home country, and social exclusion can contribute to a bad health as well as the lacking access to health services due to linguistic and cultural barriers.  Although today the group of the „young old“ is dominating within this group, in future the demand of support and care will rise significantly.

 Here it is f.i. necessary to:

     -   strengthen the lobby for old migrants,
     -   secure an intercultural education cutting across the institutions,
     -   supporte the employment of a staff  which speaks the native tongue of the migrants and
         intercultural teams,
     -   supporting programs of outreach consultation,
     -   acquire multipliers in the environment of the migrants,
     -   providing special resources of infrastructure like rooms or specially developed materials for
         information and education,
·    -    develope strategical and specialised public relations.

There are suitable approaches in the projects the Grundtvig partners had visited this morning. As a special approach of the German project partner Karin Rieckmann informed about the intergenerational gardening project with elderly migrants directly on the place. 

Getting interesting information in Kotti Family Garden

Working session 2:

1. Initial discussion on next chapters, 3 and 4/Discussion on editing procedure of guide

On Friday, May 4 the working session started with an initial discussion on next chapters, 3 and 4. The partners decided to proceed step by step. As the partners have presented more content than can be used in the planned guide every partner can elaborate his own book and prepare a shorter conclusion for the guide. Until June 1 every partner should send his proposal for the chapters 3 ad 4 to the other partners, so that it can be discussed during the meeting in Hungary. 

2. Preparation of further meetings

 As in Hungary in July there will be meetings of two projects it was decided to have the working sessions for the project CHANCE on July 2 and 3, to organize a cultural program on July 4 and 5, and the working sessions for EME on July 6 and 7.

See the presentations of the partners held during the meeting in Outcome

The group at the Reichstag

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