"La Caixa" Foundation launches new face-to-face workshops and online self-training courses for the empowerment of the elderly
The "la Caixa" Foundation kicks off the academic year with the opening of face-to-face workshops and online self-training workshops for the elderly. With the aim of generating more spaces for participation and adapting to new realities, the organisation's Senior Citizens programme is extending and diversifying its range of activities, taking into account the heterogeneity of the elderly.
During the 2022-2023 academic year, 406,351 elderly people from all over Spain took part in the 16,986 activities carried out in the 629 centres that make up the network of its own centres and those under agreement with the regional administrations.
As a novelty, the programme also opens a new area of action, Creativity and reflection, with proposals aimed at encouraging the creativity and imagination of the elderly. This line is in addition to the existing ones: Maintenance and improvement of physical health and prevention of frailty, Promotion of personal development, Improvement of digital skills and Social and community participation.
The new face-to-face workshops launched this year, "Podcast creation" and "Creative writing", are part of this new area, which also includes the "Reading friends" workshop and the consolidated Story Writing Competition for the Elderly. For its part, the "Wellness in Dressing" workshop adds to the range of activities that promote physical health.
"The increase in life expectancy opens up a range of possibilities after retirement. At the "la Caixa" Foundation we are firmly committed to positioning the elderly as active agents in society, taking into account their singularities and vindicating the abilities, skills and aptitudes of a key group. For this reason, through these activities and actions we offer resources to respond to the multiple and varied interests of this diverse and heterogeneous group", emphasised the director of the "la Caixa" Foundation's Elderly People's programme, David Velasco.
The mission of all the activities promoted is to enable the elderly to acquire new knowledge, as well as to become aware of existing skills or discover new ones in order to strengthen them. In this way, the programme focuses on the development of innovative and rigorous content for an intervention that promotes health, relationships, wellbeing, personal development and the full life of the elderly, as well as their commitment and social participation.
The "Creation of podcasts" workshop is linked to the 15th edition of the "Stories Written by Older People" competition, which has inaugurated a new category with the voice as the conductor of the stories. Its aim is to provide a modern technological resource that allows older people to develop their creativity and use their imagination in a dynamic participatory environment. They will learn how to create their own podcast: script creation, radio concepts, sound effects, editing and broadcasting. In addition, they will discover a new channel that connects them with current affairs, culture and other fields of interest; they will delve into radio concepts and language, and develop a sense of listening and voice projection.
The "Creative Writing" workshop is designed to encourage the development of creativity and the use of the imagination of older people. The workshop provides knowledge, keys and creative writing techniques to help participants write their own texts in a fun and participatory way, while discussing literary works. Through the creation of texts, reflection, reading and debate on fundamental works of literature, the participants will recover or discover their literary potential, reinforce their reading comprehension and their critical spirit, and will be able to recover personal experiences through memories. In addition, this activity will bring them closer to the works and writing styles of great authors such as Miguel Delibes, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Stefan Zweig, Henry James and Gabriel García Márquez, among others.
The "Well-being in clothing" course is the result of a study that shows that the clothes and accessories we choose can condition our well-being in a limiting or favourable way. With a physiotherapeutic approach and taking sustainability into account, it offers strategies for choosing the right clothes and accessories, taking into account functional and skin pathologies, balance, circulation and personal care, thus redefining the concept of fashion for the elderly from an emotional dimension. It will create a space of trust in which to share concerns about clothing and also to break the taboo about adaptive clothing, considered orthopaedic.
New online self-training courses
Another new feature of the new 2023-2024 season is the launch of virtual self-training courses that can be taken on a computer at home or in the computer rooms of the senior citizens' centres.
The self-training courses cover topics such as healthy eating, exercise, wellness routines and the use of technological applications. They are aimed at all those who wish to continue adding experiences to life at their own pace.
Mini-workshops "Aula Abierta" (Open Classroom)
Another new feature is the "Open Classroom" mini-workshops, specific training courses aimed at elderly volunteers who provide digital support in the "Open Classroom" areas of the senior citizens' centres. They offer the necessary knowledge and resources so that volunteers can accompany the people who attend the open classrooms and teach them how to use the most popular digital applications and carry out the most common procedures via the internet.
The digital training given in the mini-workshops are:
- My citizen folder: information and procedures with the public administration (Tax Agency, renewal of driving licence or ID card, census, etc.).
- My health: keys to the online management of the health applications of the autonomous communities to consult medical records, search for specialists and health centres, make appointments, download diagnostic tests, etc.
- Online reservations: making all types of purchases in online shops and reservations in restaurants and hotels, etc., with special attention to the key elements to avoid errors and fraud.
- Online finance: management of bank accounts by computer or mobile phone, and use of new applications related to financial management, such as Bizum and other similar applications.
More than 100 years accompanying the older generations
The "la Caixa" Foundation's Elderly People's Programme, which has been running for over 100 years, aims to tackle the new challenges that arise in old age. In this way, it accompanies the elderly, maximising their possibilities for personal development and facilitating the construction of supportive relationships that offer opportunities for the development of a full life committed to their community.
According to the latest data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), in Spain as a whole, people over 65 years of age represent 19.1% of the population and this percentage is expected to increase to 25.2% in 10 years.