The principal aim of InterGenic is to support EU’s twin transitions (digital/green), through intergenerational learning. To do so, it will develop reciprocal knowledge relationships between youth and seniors (in the form of mentorships) as well as joint actions that will highlight the value and impact of intergenerational exchanges for European societies. Specifically, the project will develop an innovative and empirically proven educational framework of Intergenerational Learning in order to support the EU’s digital and green transitions.
Specific Objectives and Activities
This aim will be achieved upon completing the following four specific objectives:
Specific Objective 1: Contribute to the EU’s digital policy strategy by supporting the capacity of youth across Europe to transfer their digital skills and knowledge to other generations. This will be achieved through the ‘’Training Youth Mentors’’ and its main result, a training package for digital skills. The training package will be co-designed with 10 digitally skilled youth in each of the seven EU countries participating in the project, to ensure it responds to their existing competencies and knowledge. Through the guidance of InterGenic project partners, the package will be piloted by 10 youths in each country who will implement the training with 16-18 seniors.
Specific Objective 2: Contribute to the EU’s green transition policy aims by supporting the capacity of seniors across Europe to teach traditional sustainable practices to other generations. This will be achieved through ‘’Training Senior Mentors’’ and its main result, a training package for reviving traditional sustainable practices. The training package will be co-designed with 20 seniors in each of the seven EU countries participating in the project, to ensure it responds to existing knowledge and skills as well as locally relevant sustainable practices. The package will be piloted in each country, with 5 seniors conducting (assisted) training for 10 youths.
Specific Objective 3: Develop and test an educational framework based on youth-seniors joint action, which will propose local solutions related to the EU’s twin transition. This will be achieved through ‘’Youth and Seniors Intergenerational Action’’ and the implementation of the approach envisioned by the project. This action will see the participation of 10 youths and 10 seniors in each country, who, over the span of 12 weeks, will create digital and sustainable solutions that will support their local community’s needs. These joint actions will be evaluated and offered as best practices for further uptake in the EU.
Specific Objective 4: Raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to the future and bridge the socioepistemic gap between generations. Even though this will be achieved through the implementation of the InterGenic project as a whole, it will also be the specific focus the Communication, Dissemination Strategy and activities. The communication actions of the project will emphasize the value of the project for social cohesion. The sustainability of results will be further supported through the hosting of Community Demonstration Events in each country and an International Conference in Spain.
Target Groups
- Youth aged 18-25.
- Students in vocational schools or universities studying digital technology, computer science, or related fields.
- Young professionals seeking to further enhance their digital skills or gain mentoring experience.
- Youth organizations or clubs focused on technology or community service.
- Seniors aged 55+
- Older adults who are retired and looking to engage in meaningful activities or give back to their community
- Seniors who may have limited access to or knowledge of digital technology
- Community organizations or senior centres that serve older adults
- Older adults who are interested in traditional sustainable practices, such as gardening or handicrafts, agriculture, etc.
- Organizations involved in adult education, digital and sustainable transitions
- Institutions responsible for policy-making and implementation in the field of adult education and sustainable transitions
- Community organizations and local authorities promoting intergenerational learning and sustainable transitions
Additionally, relevant stakeholders or indirect target groups i.e. Government organizations responsible for adult education and the promotion of digital and sustainable transitions; Non-profit organizations and community groups; Businesses and corporations interested in promoting digital and sustainable transitions; Local authorities and municipalities; Educational institutions and universities; etc.
Project Results
Training Package for Youth Mentors
The training package content will be a balanced and flexible deliverable with two formative dimensions. First, the InterGenic project will be structured around 4 digital competences (Basic digital skills, Digital Entrepreneurship, Digital Communication and Collaboration, Digital Creativity). Secondly, it will also reflect the existing digital skills of participants who will participate in the project, which will be identified. Through this result youth will become mentor on digital skills to seniors.
Training Package for Senior Mentors
The training package content will be also balanced and flexible deliverable with two formative dimensions. First, it will be structured around 6 types of traditional sustainable practices (Agriculture/Cultivation; Crafts; Medicine/well-being/diet; Water Management; Architecture; Transport). Secondly, it will also reflect the experiences of participants who will participate in the InterGenic project. Also, the package will include original material, but also exploit and include existing resources and tools such as webinars, online tutorials, videos, interactive games, quizzes, case studies, and other engaging learning activities.
Youth and Seniors Intergenerational Action
The intergenerational action of the project will take place over 12 sessions of approximately 3 hours each. During that time a group of 10 youths and 10 seniors will work together to create a common digital and sustainable solution for their local community. While the form and nature of the solution developed will depend on the groups themselves, there will be a selection of pre-defined issues or challenges that will help the groups to envision better how they can contribute to the twin transition. These challenges will be inspired by SDGs and will be translated to topics such as “climate change”, “demographics”, “older adults wellbeing” etc. Additionally, a preliminary structure of the series of sessions is as follows: 1. “Community” formation – youth & seniors empathizing and sharing perspectives and experiences, 2. Problem definition – Identifying needs, challenges and expectations by both groups, 3. Researching and collecting data to deepen understanding of problem and potential solutions, 4. Ideate possible solutions to the problem, 5. Choose most promising idea and discuss possible approaches, 6. Create simple designs of the solution, 7. Refine designs and discuss preliminary steps to creating the solution, 8. Start creating samples of the solution, 9. Test the solution and discuss improvements, 10. Develop presentation of the solution, its potential impact and use, and scaling up strategy, 11. Transnational online meeting with members of other groups to exchange feedback on solutions, and 12. Evaluate feedback and finalise design of the solution
Project Partners
The consortium is made up of 8 organizations
• Universitat Jaume I of Castellón (Spain) – Coordinator
• CIIM INNOVATIONS LIMITED / UoL (Cyprus)
• Innovation Education Lab (Romania)
• InterAktion – Verein für ein interkulturelles Zusammenleben (Austria)
• AGECARE (CYPRUS) LTD – (Cyprus)
• Eurospeak Limited (Ireland)
• DYEKO – Diktyo Ypostirixis Epixeirimatikotitas & Koinonikis Oikonomias (Greece)
• ODISEE (Belgium)
Project duration
The “InterGenic: Supporting EU’s twin transitions through intergenerational learning, exchanges of knowledge and joint actions” project, co-funded by the European Union under Erasmus+ KA220-ADU-Cooperation partnerships in adult education and with code 2023-1-ES01-KA220-ADU-000155225, runs from 01.12.2023 to 30.11.2025.
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