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. The AAMEE project focuses on the promotion of active ageing and social, cultural and economic integration of migrant and minority ethnic elders, emphasising volunteer activities and the emergence of new culturally sensitive products and services in the fields of, for instance, housing, care, education, leisure, culture and marketing. This will be done on the basis of a mixture of practical and scientific activities and a variety of approaches.
The project has been launched in response to the impact of demographic change as one of the greatest challenges facing the European Union and a key element to promote economic and social inclusion within the EU. Statistical data shows that the number of elders aged 65-79 will increase throughout the European Union over the next 20 years whereas the number of younger people will decrease significantly.
Within the growing group of elders, migrant elders have already become an important new target group. The emergence of the group of migrant elders in mainly due to the fact that in the context of migration triggered by poverty, insecurity and job search, the formerly national European countries of the 1950s have changed into migration societies. Their economic, cultural and social spheres are increasingly being influenced by immigrant population groups. The total numbers of elders from those ethnic minority groups have already increased over the last decades and will do so even more rapidly over the next decades.
General questions concern the form and the extent of social, cultural, economic and political integration of immigrant groups into the host society. One of the special challenges to the existing system of care and culture is offering services and provision for migrant and minority ethnic elders with their different cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic backgrounds.
Regarding migrant and minority ethnic elders, this is an important issue that has not really been dealt with and acknowledged in many European countries. Migrant elders have a great deal of potential and competence especially regarding their contribution to society, notably as volunteers, but also as workers and regarding cultural and economic potential.
Due to historic and legal circumstances, migrant minority ethnic elders are a very heterogeneous group both in Europe as a whole and in each individual state - for instance: former guest-workers, historical ethnic minorities, resettled senior citizens, illegally immigrant people, refugees, asylum seekers, and new forms of mobility of elder people from countries of the North who prefer to live in the countries of South-Europe.
One aim of the project is to find out whether these different sections of the target group are relevant for migrant elders on the one hand and for relevant service providers such as housing associations, providers of leisure time activities, health services, volunteer work, and so on the other hand. The key question is which kind of offers need to be developed for an ageing target group which, in addition, is characterised by great cultural diversity.
The concept of active ageing is seen as a way to mobilise the full potential of older people, which implies allowing older people to stay longer in the labour market and to develop their contribution to society, notably as volunteers. Mobility of older people as workers, volunteers or tourists, may create new employment opportunities, also for older workers themselves.
Under the AAMEE project, the different forms of past and ongoing migration are seen as opportunities and challenges both for minority ethnic elders themselves and for the society and culture of the host populations.
The AAMEE project focuses on:
