Construire des solutions sociales pour les plus âgés: « Que faut-il pour vieillir heureux ? Un réseau social d’au moins six personnes que vous voyez régulièrement et une solution pour remédier aux petits tracas du quotidien que vous n’êtes plus capable de résoudre (comme les fuites de robinetterie, le besoin de changer une ampoule…), explique Hilary Cottam, cofondatrice de Participle, un collectif de designers, de sociologues et de consultants britanniques engagés. »(Via InternetActu.net.)

Un article de Hubert Guillaud, publié dans ce très dynamique InternetActu. Un blog collectif publié depuis 2003 et suivi par plus de 10 000 abonnés ! Soutenu par la Fondation Internet Nouvelle Génération (FING).

Ce Participle me semble générer des idées et initiatives en matière de soutien aux ainés, mais aussi en terme de reconnaissance des capacités et des resources que peuvent mettre en branle les ainés eux-mêmes.

Participle – Our Projects: « The question is not just ‘What can public services do to improve quality of life and well-being for older people?’ but rather ‘How can a locality mobilise public, private, voluntary and community resources to help all older people define and create quality of life and well-being for themselves?’. « 

Ajout : Dans les commentaires sur l’article de Hubert Guillaud, un site français d’échanges de services orienté vers les « seniors », comme disent les cousins, BiTWiiN

Grassroots.org, un autre site d’intérêt, qui offre l’hébergement et certains supports aux organisations d’action citoyenne.

Dans la même veine, du côté du Royaume-Uni : le National Council for Voluntary Organisations, avec sa revue VS .

The great neighborhood book: « Jay Walljasper presents a wide range of positive aspects of neighbourhood life in short, digestible, well-illustrated chapters. His range of examples is broad – one of the strengths of PPS that I’ve always liked is that they recognise that there is life outside the USA, and they make an effort to find out about it. And the book sparkles with enthusiastic tips and suggestions for actions, little and large, that can be taken by residents. Chapters are rounded-off with a convenient short resource list. » (Via Neighbourhoods.)

Et c’est pas cher en plus : 19.95$

As we would expect, there were clear differences in use by age groups, with distinct timetabling of use: « older adults were present in the town centre mainly in the mornings and early afternoon, but strikingly absent almost everywhere by evening.» The researchers found little interaction between generations, particularly between strangers, and ‘a distinct separation’ between the public lives of younger and older people.

«This study emphasises the essential tension in public spaces between the need to ‘live and let live’, and the need to manage and regulate. Successful management needs to involve constant negotiation between the extremes of over-regulation and laissez-faire approaches. Public education, information and involvement are essential to this process. The research suggests the need for some gradation of security, drawing on community support and harnessing the general inclination of people to self-regulate to avoid conflict.» [Via Neighbourhoods].

Community assets The Civil Renewal Unit has just published a report by Stephen Thake on community assets.

A first glance would suggest that this could helpfully have come before, not after, the government’s review of community management and ownership of assets which was published in March. It will be worth remembering that the summary, and much of the first half of the present report, more or less amount to a very handy essay on the nature of the community sector.

« This report has three main themes: the contribution of community-based organisations; their organisational and financial fragility; and the important function that the management and ownership of capital plays in a strategy of growth and sustainability. Summaries of the case studies are distributed throughout the report. »

I posted a note about the British Social Housing Foundation’s report last year on community land trusts, here.

La Table des matières

Community-based organisations
Distinctive nature of community-based organisations
Activities
Community-based organisations
Community groups
Community organisations
Multi-purpose organisations
Wealth creating, multi-purpose organisations
Strategies for sustainability
Fragility
Approaches to sustainability
Professionalisation
Earned income
Surplus generating enterprises
Management and ownership of physical assets
Purpose-built space
Management agreements
Leasehold/ownership
Funding for acquisition and refurbishment
Potential for growth
Redundant buildings
Management agreements
Leasehold/ownership
Funding for acquisition and refurbishment