Although older citizens usually have a positive attitude toward the EU, few are fully aware of what the EU is doing to translate our shared values into concrete outcomes for EU citizens, what are EU competences and how EU policies impact their daily life. Even fewer know how to engage in a constructive dialogue with the EU institutions to help shape the EU political agenda. The current crisis and language barriers create additional challenges for seniors in those countries to become fully involved in EU civil dialogue. As a contribution to EY2013, we will equip groups of seniors with necessary tools and training to disseminate relevant information about the EU to wider groups of seniors in their country and help them develop a stronger sense of belonging to the EU. Part of the activities will focus on the EP elections and how senior citizens can influence parties’ priorities based on their concerns.
Project co-funded by the Europe for citizens programme (2013 – Decision n°2013-2223 /001 – 001)
Description of the project
What is ASCE?
- Project presentation
- Power point presentation introducing the ASCE project
- Training material in all languages
- Brochure and booklet in all languages
Started on 1 September 2013, the project aimed to support civil society organizations and older citizens to participate in and influence the EU political agenda and guide them to become key actors in decision-making at local, national and EU levels. More precisely, the project builds on the following 2 general objectives:
- to give the opportunity to older citizens in 8 Member States to learn more about the EU and to interact with EU policy makers in order to achieve an more age-friendly EU
- to foster a greater sense of ownership of the EU among older citizens
The project aimed to develop training material (based on the brochure ‘Active Citizens for Europe: A guide to the EU‘ that provide an overview of EU action relevant for older citizens and will organise series of meetings at EU and national levels to share this knowledge and foster discussions on EU policies and initiatives between civil society organisations coming from different EU MS. It aimed to enable wider groups of seniors to develop a greater sense of ownership to the EU and get involved in the preparation of the European Parliament elections.
To do so, 2 EU training workshops were organised by AGE:
- 1st training about the EU, its competences, functioning, actions, the rights conferred to EU citizens and an overview of EU policies which impact older people daily lives and understand the links with national legislations. Part of the workshop was dedicated to the upcoming EP elections to help partners get involved in the campaign as well as to establish contacts with the candidate MEPs and draw their attention on issues of concern for older senior citizens.
- 2nd training about the EP elections’ results, the new balance of powers and the MEPs who have been elected. This aimed to help them define the contacts that they established during the campaign which are relevant and should be pursued. This was followed by a training on the new EU funding programmes.
Each EU workshop was followed by national workshops organised by the national partners to spread the knowledge gained and mobilise wider groups of grass roots seniors.
The project ended in December 2014. A final conference on the outcomes of the project was organised in Brussels on 8 and 9 December 2014. More information on the conference here.
For more information on the project, please contact Maude Luherne, Project Coordinator, maude.luherne@age-platform.eu or Alice Sinigaglia, alice.sinigaglia@age-platform.eu
ASCE project coordinator
The ASCE project is coordinated by AGE Platform Europe.
ASCE project partners
- ENEA aps (Italy)
- MZU (Slovenia)
- contact person: Marjan Sedmak mzu@siol.net
- Website: https://www.dca-ljubljana.org/ // https://www.dca-ljubljana.org/evropska-zveza—age.html
- ENEO (Belgium)
- contact persons: Philippe Andrianne Philippe.Andrianne@mc.be and Kusuto Naito Kusuto.Naito@mc.be
- Website: https://www.eneo.be/
- Forum pre pomoc starsim – narodna siet (Slovakia)
- contact person: forumlubica@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.forumseniorov.sk/ // https://www.forumseniorov.sk/Projekt%20ASCE.htm
- Envelhecer com Prazer (Portugal)
- contact persons: Ines Lopez inesluzlopes@gmail.com and Renato Carvalho renatoggc@gmail.com
- Website: https://envelhecer.org/
- 50plus Hellas (Greece)
- contact person: George Pavlidis sop12gp@sheffield.ac.uk
- Website: https://www.50plus.gr/
- Age and Opportunity (Ireland)
- contact person: Ciaran Mc. Kinney ciaran.mckinney@ageandopportunity.ie
- Website: https://www.ageandopportunity.ie/
- Active Retirement Network Ireland (Ireland)
- contact person: Susan Shaw Susan@activeirl.ie
- Website: https://www.activeirl.ie/
- Bulgarian Red Cross (Bulgaria)
- contact person: Nadezhda Todorovska n.todorovska@redcross.bg
- Website: https://en.redcross.bg/projects/finished_projects/senior_citizens_project.html
- Tulip Foundation (Bulgaria)
Training material
EU/English version
Note: the PPT version can be obtained by sending an email to AGE secretariat – to: maude.luherne@age-platform.eu and info@age-platform.eu
1. Brainstorming and introduction
2. The EU institutions and decision making processes
- EU Primary law
- EU institutions
- Overall EU policy processes
- EU action to promote older people’s rights
- Tips for effective lobbying on the European Parliament / 2014 EU elections results
3. Participating to EU policy processes
- Campaigning (with an example of a campaign and a practical exercise)
- Using social media for campaigns
- How to develop a manifesto
- Simulation game
4. Participating to EU projects
Countries versions and overview of activities
More than 2.000 participants were involved in the training sessions at EU and national level. Trainings in 9 languages were provided:
- Belgium (in French)
- Trainings: Version 1 (Institutions + policies) // Version 2 (debate with newly elected MEPs)
- Brochures/information disseminated in ENEO (belgium partner) newsletter : Quelle Europe pour les aînés? // Demain, on vote // Le Parlement européen
- Example of meeting poster
- Bulgaria :
- Greece :
- Full training
- Example of meeting poster
- Ireland :
- Italy :
- Portugal :
- Slovakia :
- Introduction to group discussions // Training(in Slovak) // Training (translated into EN) // speech (translated into EN)
- Slovenia :
- Trainings: EU primary law // EU institutions (updated) // EU decision making processes // Campaigning (Updated version)
- Short version in German
Active Senior Citizens: A guide to the EU (long version – November 2013)
Please find also below the link to the brochures on the functioning of the European Union that are available in the languages of our partners:
- Bulgarian
- English (funded by the PROGRESS Programme and updated by Europe for citizens programme)
- French (funded by the PROGRESS Programme and updated by Europe for citizens programme)
- Greek
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Slovene
- Slovak
Our Belgian partner also produced another publication on the European Union which is available here.
Active Senior Citizens: a short guide to the EU (short version – updated December 2014)
- English (EU version)
- English (version for Ireland)
- French (version for Belgium)
- Greek
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Slovene
- Slovak
