On 2 December, we at the JOIN Office held an initial SOCIALCARE focus group meeting with our local Brussels partners. The focus group meetings are an essential part of the JOIN tasks within the SOCIALCARE project consortium.
SOCIALCARE is aimed at designing a central digital meeting point, where all stakeholders in a local community can come together. The SOCIALCARE community platform makes it possible to exchange offers and demands from people, associations and service providers as well as to organise volunteering work. According to the care need, different functionalities and service providers can be added to the platform.We held two focus group sessions.
To accommodate the language diversity in Brussels, we held a Dutch and English speaking session in the morning for our Dutch speaking partners. Lubumbe Van de Velde presented the SOCIALCARE project, after which the participants presented their organisations and held a discussion on current initiatives within elderly care in Brussels. The project was then rated on innovation and acceptance.
The afternoon session was held in French and English and consisted of participants from the association of active seniors, Énéo. Joachim Berney presented the SOCIALCARE project and the possible benefits for the end-users. Each participant was able to voice their concerns and or suggestions.
Both meetings were a success in bringing together opinions and representatives from both care organisations and primary end-users.
Whilst the morning session consisted of representatives from the following organisations: AGE Platform Europe; Brusselse Welzijns –en gezondheidsRaad; Kenniscentrum Woonzorg Brussel and S-Plus Mantelzorg, the afternoon session consisted of a group of active senior citizens from Énéo.
In Brussels we aim at assessing the care needs of the elderly in the Brussels-Capital-Region. This will help SOCIALCARE to develop social and technological solutions that meet the requirements of the Brussels end-users by adapting them to the regional specifics. The focus group meetings will be held every 4 months.
We hope this will be the start of a long lasting cooperation between the Brussels partners and JOIN
