LinkAGES Across Borders Project
LinkAGES Across Borders Project
LGNI are delighted to have once again led on an intergenerational, cross-border project, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland 'Shared Island Civic Fund'.
The successful project will brought together younger and older people from both Fermanagh and Cavan with LGNI facilitating getting to know you workshop's in both communities, before bringing both groups together during a number of cross border activities.
During the first cross border meet in Enniskillen up younger and older people from each of the two communities will participated in a workshop facilitated by LGNI, including jointly identifying the issues and challenges that both generations currently face in their community, discussing ageism and its effect on the perceptions of older & younger people. They then explored the potential collaborative benefits and opportunities to share resources and experience across generations. Everyone took part in a fun Bushtucker activity facilitated by the Mountain Man!
The two intergenerational groups, one in each community then worked separately with support from LGNI to identify project activity ideas based on their own local contexts, interests and resources. Both groups met up in Cavan to present their project proposals at a joint meeting breaking the ice with a 'share my treasured possessions' activity. Everyone enjoyed pizza and tribal drumming facilitated by Afro Eire.
The groups then worked on their own intergenerational projects in their communities over a number of sessions with support from Linking Generations and local facilitators i.e. youth leaders or community development workers.
In Fermanagh, members of the "Forget me Not" older peoples group from the Devenish Partnership Forum will come together with younger people from Youth Action's Brookborough Youth Club. They took part in dancing, a games day, arts and crafts and bingo.
In Cavan, members of the older peoples "Positive Age" group will team up with younger people from Cavan UBU, Foróige. They took part in dancing, drama, photography, arts and crafts, had a picnic and fashion show!
The penultimate cross border meet up was used as an opportunity for each group to share what they did and also their experiences. LGNI engaged in the groups in discussions about what they would like to do as their last meet up to close off and celebrate the project. A Christmas party was arranged with Dinner, Ballots, Quiz, Singing and Dancing!
Some key stats and feedback:
- 41+ participants and 7 practitioners took part
- 100% Felt they got to know people from a different generation
- 97% Enjoyed getting to know people from a different community
- 94% Enjoyed opportunity to meet people from different background / ages
Some notable Quotes:
“We shared knowledge, Age was not a barrier, we had shared interests and we all worked very well together”
“It was a novelty way to get to know young people of a different nationality”
“We are not that different! All aiming for the same thing!”
“Watching young people and older adults connect so naturally reminds me why this work matters! Every shared story, every smile and moment builds a bridge between generations”
We can't wait to see the connections made as part of this project continue to grow and thank everyone for taking part! Watch this space for the evaluation report and check out the news links below for info on all of the activities:
LinkAGES Across Borders, first joint sessions complete! – Linking Generations NI
Cross Border Groups Meet to Plan activities! – Linking Generations NI
LinkAGE’s Across Borders Workshop Cavan! – Linking Generations NI
Cross Border Workshop Enniskillen! – Linking Generations NI
Linkages Across Borders Christmas Party! – Linking Generations NI
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