On Wednesday 22 August a monitoring visit was organised to the civil society organisations in Kragujevac implementing the microprojects within the framework of “Taking Action on Social Inclusion of Older People” project (TASIOP). The Charitable Foundation of The Serbian Orthodox Church – Philanthropy and Association Viktorija have over the last ten months in TASIOP project implemented local projects focused on improving social inclusion of Older People. Such projects, 12 in each of the five project countries in the region will serve as examples of good practice of social inclusion of older people in local communities and their summaries and recommendations for possible replication will be collected in a six-language publication at the end of the project.

The Philanthropy branch in Kragujevac in its project organised workshops for digital literacy for older people and on 22 August the participants who completed the workshops were invited to receive guides for use of computers, smart phones and internet that were created through these workshops with contribution of the participants. The participants expressed a lot of enthusiasm for learning, highlighting not only the importance of the knowledge they gained, but also the social component of workshops as well as different options for social participation now available to them through digital literacy. Many of them said that English language used to be their greatest obstacle in digital literacy and that the workshops were very successful in familiarising them with computers and internet.

Association Viktorija has in its project worked with civil society organisations in four neighbouring municipalities (Kragujevac, Batocina, Knic and Topola) on organising a series of focus groups, panel discussions and meetings where representatives of older people participated in discussions on their needs and how to meet them through joint work of civil society organisations, older people and public institutions. These meetings also had educational component focusing on the need for support in social inclusion of older people. At the 22 August meeting the representatives of partners from all four municipalities discussed the achievements and the identified needs of older people related to social inclusion (for instance: the problem of road transportation common for all the municipalities in the project) and agreed on further cooperation after the end of the project. This cooperation will take the form of establishing an informal network in the region to advocate for improved quality of life and social inclusion of older people.

The “Taking Action on Social Inclusion of Older People” project is supported by European Union, Austrian Development Agency and Austrian Red Cross and it is coordinated in the five countries of the region by the Red Cross of Serbia.