Studies have shown that learning and participation in later life are crucial to one’s well-being, health and social engagement. Yet older and very old people who are not used to participating and contributing their voices and views are less likely to participate in activities that require some pro-active involvement.  

The project InVisible Talents: encouraging and recognising the contributions of people 80+ - supported by the European Erasmus+ programme aims to support the learning, participation and recognition of citizens over eighty. The project sees the elderly as the direct beneficiaries, but also everyone else involved in providing health and social services to the very old, both in residential and community facilities and through organised groups of citizens. 

THE AIMS

The overall objective of the InVisible Talents project is to support the providers of health and social services for older and very old people, both in residential and community structures, and through organised groups of citizens, to: 

- Support the self-assessment of participation and engagement opportunities within their group or reference organisation. 

- Develop concrete actions to promote the participation of older people and make their talents visible. 

THE BENEFICIARIES 

Who is the InVisible Talents project aimed at?- Older people, who will be supported in making their talents explicit and visible.- Everyone involved in providing health and social services to very old people, both in residential and community facilities, and through organised groups of citizens. 

THE RESULTS: 

All materials are available from the project’s website. Specifically, you can find: 

• A fact sheet about the project to increase awareness of the importance of the topics covered, information booklets and documentary research on the engagement of very old people. 

• A description of the activities that the partner organisations from the five participating countries have developed in collaboration with local groups and communities. 

• A toolbox of activities to be carried out. 

• Self-assessment support tools aimed at launching new projects focusing on older people to make their contributions to communities visible.  

• Electronic presentations with basic information, examples of success stories and tools to make hidden talents visible, helping share these talents within local communities. 

Among the materials, in the Brochure section, is a series of initiatives to be implemented online due to the Covid-19 emergency. 

THE PARTNERSHIP

InVisible Talents is a strategic partnership supported by the Erasmus+ Programme. Started in October 2018, it ended in September 2020. It involved partner organisations from five European countries: Austria (the coordinating country), Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands. 

For Italy, the Lunaria Association, based in Rome, participated. Within the activities carried out as part of the project and given the Covid-19 crisis, the Lunaria association has published the ebook “The epidemic that stopped the world – Economy and society at the time of the coronavirus”, a collective work involving 39 civil society activists, researchers and journalists, the young, old and very old, who have, each and every one based on their own knowledge, talents and ideas, offered proposals and reflections on the consequences of the pandemic for health, work and the economy.

The ebook is available from Lunaria’s website: 

The epidemic that stopped the world: the Sbilanciamoci! [“Let’s get unbalanced!”] ebook - Lunaria 

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If you are interested in the project’s initiatives and activities, and if you want to hear the inspiring stories, visit the project website: 

www.invisible-talents.eu