BALL - Be Active through Life Long Learning
Name of the Project
BALL - Be Active through Life Long Learning
Dates
01-09-2014 / 31-08-2016
Coordinating Institution, Country
Evris Foundation ses. (ICELAND)
Participating Institutions, Countries
- Evris Foundation Ses. - ICELAND
- U3A Reykjavik - Iceland
- University of Alicante - Spain
- Towarzystwo Wolnej Wszechnicy Polskiej Oddzial w Amsterdamie - Poland
Name of the call
Erasmus+ - Key Activity 2
Goals
The main goal is to develop innovative guidelines and recommendations that can be used in lifelong education centres; universities; firms; trade unions; associations; local and regional authorities that need and wish to prepare and encourage the individuals for which they are responsible so that they are in a good position to face the third age. We will use the project and its outcomes to raise awareness about these important issues and to disseminate the outputs throughout the European Educational Area and the U3A network on a global scale.
Content
An increasingly large part of the population in industrialised countries spends more time in retirement than they used to. The higher life expectancy is going to lead to a systematic increase in the number of people who find themselves in the retirement period, in their “third age.” Inside Europe, a fourth part of the population is expected to join that category. Therefore, it is of vital importance for the future Europe to guarantee the highest possible quality of life for this segment of citizens and to ensure that their valuable experience and knowledge are placed at the disposal of younger generations as well as of society as a whole. This is the framework where the BALL Project is defined with the aim of facilitating the entry into retirement through an early and systematic planing which becomes essential in order to add value to the “third age.”
The project approaches the urgent need to establish guidelines and practices about the best way to prepare individuals at an early stage of their life for the “third age,” placing the emphasis on learning, the cultural environment and atmosphere, and knowledge sharing. It is an innovative approach which has not been implemented before. The results are addressed to all the actors interested in providing training to citizens, members or employees who are coming closer to the “third age.” Our intention is to raise awareness about the huge source of knowledge and experiences represented by the “third age” –which never stops growing– and about how important it is both for society as a whole and for each individual.
The main goal is to develop innovative guidelines and recommendations that can be used in lifelong education centres; universities; firms; trade unions; associations; local and regional authorities that need and wish to prepare and encourage the individuals for which they are responsible so that they are in a good position to face the third age. We will use the project and its outcomes to raise awareness about these important issues and to disseminate the outputs throughout the European Educational Area and the U3A network on a global scale.
Four partners cooperate in the project. The Evris foundation is the applying partner in charge of management and organisation. U3A Reykjavik provides a learning and cultural environment as well as activities for its “third age” members. The University of the Third Age of Lublin (LUTW) is sponsored by five Lublin universities with the organisational and academic supervision of the Polish Free University Society. Its Gerontology Section is responsible for the creation of a friendly, inspiring environment for retirees, giving them opportunities to meet, to become integrated, to learn and to develop personally. Spain’s Permanent University (UPUA for its Spanish initials) is a scientific, cultural and social programme developed by the University of Alicante for the purpose of promoting Science and Culture, along with intergenerational relationships, with a view to improve quality of life for the older adult generation.
The activities will be focused on “mapping” (drawing profiles) and doing research aimed at shedding light on the current situation in partner countries, including a survey in each one of them. This survey identifies the opinions and expectations in relation to retirement among a significant number of individuals in each partner country. Work will subsequently be carried out with the results obtained from this “mapping” exercises, including a comparative study, in order to establish a foundation which can serve as the basis to develop the consequent recommendations and guidelines. The experts from partner countries will work with these outcomes and will define the resulting products and guidelines. A pilot course will be taught in each partner country with the aim of putting the guidelines to the test and, finally, those guidelines will be edited and published.
Work will be performed through research, mapping and the development of surveys about the present-day situation in partner countries following the best practices found within the methodology of social sciences. The outcomes will be verified by means of pilot courses which can serve as models for the future utilisation of all these guidelines and recommendations.
The project will give as a result guidelines and recommendations for specific agents (stakeholders), describing “best practices” oriented to the anticipated preparation of individuals before a retirement which is near: an active “third age” that they can enjoy. The outcome of this project will have a strong impact, insofar as it will involve, guide and encourage organisations, institutions and firms to implement stimulating educational events and help their members and employees to realize how important it is for them to get ready for retirement as early as possible.
It is foreseen that the research carried out, as well as the resulting guidelines and recommendations, will have a wide dissemination and that there will be a chance to use the material in future activities with a long-term perspective. The future activities of the partners themselves and of the different stakeholders will be clearly determined by the outputs. All partners form part of the global network of U3A organisations, which will serve as a forum for the dissemination of outcomes, which in turn will influence the ensuing activities performed by these associated organisations.
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