“I feel the need to write this in the name of all the EVAs today. Thank you very much,” writes one of the participants in the EVA Senior Network (“Independent. Networked. Active.”, in German “Eigenständig. Vernetzt. Aktiv.”) in a message she has sent to the GESCCO project Manager from the Institute for Health and Social Economy Issues (IZGS) of the EHG (Evangelische Hochschule Darmstadt). “During this dangerous time of the coronavirus, it feels really good to be able to communicate with your family and friends.”

GESCCO (Generation of Sharing and Caring Communities – Integrating technologies, Volunteering and Services) is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research via the SILQUA funding line. The project aims, among other things, to familiarise senior citizens in Hesse with digital technologies and social media, and to have them form sustainable networks. These skills can be extremely important in everyday life as many older people gradually lose their networks of friends and family members; digital networks can in some cases replace these ties and counteract loneliness and helplessness. This is truer than ever in the current corona crisis: the elderly belong to the risk group and should no longer have direct contact with their children and grandchildren. Anyone who can handle digital media in this situation is much better able to maintain contact with family and friends.

The GESCCO network in Offenbach focused on self-organisation and the active commitment of senior citizens right from the start: they are willing to support other people and organise services such as shopping aids and transport communities. Thanks to the project, many of them are now familiar with digital media, too, so that they can share their knowledge with other participants. In addition to these self-organised sharing networks, GESCCO also integrates support from professional actors such as welfare associations and municipalities – the caring network. The EVA initiative, for example, from which the message of thanks originated, was launched as part of the project and is supported by the Workers’ Samaritan Federation of Hesse. The IZGS researchers in Darmstadt, for their part, benefit from the theoretical findings of networks they gain over the course of the project.

In the past, GESCCO has already attracted supraregional attention, for example with a senior flash mob in the Offenbach city centre in May 2019. The message of thanks from the EVA participant has now brought great joy to project Manager Prof. Michael Vilain and his colleague Dr Matthias Heuberger: “This message shows us how great the practical benefits of applied social research can be,” the two researchers said. “The fact that the senior citizens in the project are developing new networks and actively applying the knowledge they have acquired in the field of technology even in times of crisis, and that they are able to benefit sustainably from it is also a little reward for our work.”