Good-practice-example of Germany:

The integration of younger and

older people in a rural area

M.Rühlmann, K. Vollrath

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 The starting point – younger people
• The demographic development is a challenge for the
regions in Germany, especially in the eastern part
• The birth rate at the deepest level since the economic
crises in the middle of the 90´s after the political
change
• A lot of younger people leaving there home region and
find vocational training and jobs in the larger cities
especially in the western part of Germany
• Mainly younger women leaving there home, the effect
is, that they will be missed and their unborn childrens

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 The starting point – older people
• The region Altenburger Land has a high rate of older
people, older then 50 years
• They have a individual history in two political and economic
systems and a specially socialization (for instance using
computer and internet was not so important for them)
• A lot of them lost their jobs in past, some found a new job,
some staying in jobs all over the years
• The most of them now in retirement
• The situation is:
– they have a lot experiences but o possibility to use them and
– In the rural region of Altenburger Land they are not integrated
in the cultural and social life

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 A way for a solution for two problems
• The situation is:
1. Missing young people with no offers to stay in there
home region
2. Disintegrated older people with a lot of experiences
as the main group of the inhabitants in the project
region (as a typical region in eastern Germany)
• The Solution is to bring these two groups
together to help each other.
• For this is used the project
“Mehrgenerationhaus” in the Altenburger Land

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 What ist the project
„Mehrgenerationhaus”
• 2 years ago the ministry of family, women, youth
and older people in Germany create a program
for integration of the generations in a community
• the background was the consolation of family –
and-work-life
• The program finance the costs for personal, the
Mehrgenerationenhaus in the Altenburger Land is
in ownership of a local foundation for sports

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 Which activities are in the project
“Mehrgenerationenhaus”?
• Meeting the generations
• Cooperation with institutions for saving additional childcare
• Professional orientation for pupils in schools of the
neighborhood
• Prevention of sexual inforcement for childrens
• Coaching for return in the work life, after maternity, with
the help of retired people
• Qualification offers for people over 50 (for instance using
computers)
• Young helps older people and older people helps younger
• people

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 Coherence
• For the rural regions in eastern Germany it is
important:
1. to hold younger people in the regions
2. to use the experiences of older people and to
integrate a larger part of the inhabitants back into
the social and cultural life
• in the background of the demographic
development is this a good approach, especially
to bring younger and older people together

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 Innovation
• The concept wants to make offers (as shown
at activities) and promote the engagement of
the target groups
• The project give the start, but there will be
create a network of activities in the
community
• The offers for younger people (under 18 years)
and older people (over 50 years) together a
very new concept

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 Impact with quantitative and
qualitative checked results
• The project integrate target groups, which in the past
have no chance for promotion
• The Mehrgenerationenhaus is a important partner for
institutions in the Altenburger Land, like:
– Schools
– SME´s
– Local administration
– Foundations for equal opportunities
– Family centre
– Institutions of child care, retirement people, youth care

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 Efficiency
• The project activities are co financed by ministry
and a local foundation in the Altenburger Land
• The concept needs and integrated the
empowerment of the target groups from the
beginning, so lot of the activities were realized
without money
• The location of the Mehrgenerationenhaus is in a
small community on the area of the foundation,
that´s very helpfully for public relations
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 Sustainability
• The project is established in the region and has a
important function in the social life of the
community
• The results of the evaluation are very good, so
the ministry promote the project one year again
• After that the cooperation of the local
foundation, the local administration and the
target group will take over the ownership of the
project
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 Replicability / monitoring model
• The demographic development is a problem in
the most of the countries in Europe
• The coordination of promoting by the public
sector and self activities for help different
generation in a rural region could be transferd
• A similar exampel are the “mother´s centre”
in Slovak Republic

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 Gender Perspective
• It means especially in this project example in
one hand to promote girls to stay in their
region whitout forgetting the boys
• In the other hand to help older women,
because in this target group the danger of
disintegration is very high
• Additional the project works together with a
large German foundation (Hertie-Stiftung) in
the area of family- and work-life balance

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