2012: European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations!

2012 has been designated the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations and has three main focus areas. Meetings, publications and other activities will look at how to enable active ageing to ensure older people can
- stay in the workforce and share their experience
- keep playing an active role in society
- live as healthy and fulfilling lives as possible.
Solidarity between generations is seen to be a cross-cutting issue in these three areas. Topics addressed during the year will include employment, health care, social services, adult learning, volunteering, housing, IT services and transport.
The 2012 European Year (EY2012) seeks to raise awareness of relevant issues and the best ways of dealing with them. It aims to go beyond awareness-raising however, encouraging stakeholders, including policymakers, to set themselves goals and take action to meet them. More information, including best practices, can be found on the official EY 2012 website, in all official EU languages.
Eurodiaconia has been an active member of the 2012 coalition, bringing together a wide variety of organisations from across civil society sectors, including social, health, education NGOs, the business and unions. The coalition has published a leaflet of proposals and best practices and a manifesto of recommendations for the year. For more information see the Healthy Ageing and Elderly Care pages of the website.
Eurodiaconia will organise a number of events linked to the year and participate in many more. Eurodiaconia members are encouraged to get involved in discussions and events nationally. For more information please contact Laura Jones, responsible for the EY 2012 in the Eurodiaconia secretariat.
This year, Eurodiaconia will be exhibiting images from its members' work that portray solidarity between generations.
The photo exhibition will be shown in the European Parliament on the same day as the Eurodiaconia Award 2012 ceremony. Members of Eurodiaconia are encouraged to send in photos of their understanding of intergenerational solidarity in a diaconal context to aisling.vanvliet@eurodiaconia.org by the 30th of July.