The project ”Let us be active! – Social inclusion of older people through volunteering in Estonia, Latvia and Finland” (www.letusbeactive.eu), which started in May 2015 and will run till the end of 2016, aims to promote senior volunteering as a way to reduce loneliness and increase the wellbeing of older people, while making use of their valuable skills and knowledge.
Last autumn the three project participating cities – Pärnu (Estonia), Riga (Latvia) and Turku (Finland) – conducted a survey among 862 seniors and 245 professionals to find out how many older people are interested in voluntary activities, what they would like to do and what is the attitude of social workers and other professionals towards this kind of service.
The survey reveals that most municipal workers and professionals working with older people have a positive attitude towards senior volunteering but the older people themselves need more motivation to stay active in their communities, and get better informed on the opportunities they have to be active and volunteer.
Read more on the survey result on the ‘Let us be active!’ project website + in this article (pdf document)
