Fostering nature related competences with older people

<< Background >>Research shows that being connected to nature can lead to important benefits, such as increased vitality, happiness, and life satisfaction. Older individuals with access to nearby nature have shown increased participation in outdoor physical activities, improved mental health and cognitive function and an increase in social interaction, providing key ingredients for wellbeing in later life. On the other hand, research shows that people in developed nations spend almost all their time indoors and most of the world’s population now lives in urban rather than rural areas. Vulnerable older people, in particular, tend to go outside less. Many frail older people suffer from dementia, loneliness, and/or physical problems with a reduced mobility level. This creates barriers to going outside and experiencing nature. Also, many times family and/or (in)formal caregivers do not realize the importance of spending time in nature or do not know how to spend more time in nature in a nice and interesting way.<< Objectives >>The ambition of our project was to stimulate both vulnerable older people and their family or (in)formal caregivers to spend more time in nature in order to increase wellbeing, health and social inclusion and support sustainable behaviour, by providing them with a toolkit full of interesting learning material and a library of activities you can do with vulnerable older people in nature. We wanted to do this in particular to enhance nature-related competences and green skills of frail older people and their informal caregivers in order to experience nature in an accessible manner. In doing so, it would: • Promote social inclusion and engagement of frail older people as well as overall wellbeing and health. • Support awareness on sustainability and the importance of nature conservation. • Promote accessible and flexible learning opportunities, while bringing generations together and empowering frail older people.<< Implementation >>As indicated in the application, we started by carrying out an inventory research of the best practices of nature-related activities in each country. The results of which you can find in the Final best Practices Report and the accompanying infographics. Then we carried out co-creation sessions with the target group of frail older people and (in)formal caregivers. With the learnings from these co-creation sessions we developed learning modules and nature-related activities as input for the FLOWER toolkit. We then organised guided nature activities in all participating countries in order to use the toolkit and train a big group of potential users as well as disseminate the toolkit in a practical way. We also organised online and offline mulitplier events to promote the toolkit amongst the target groups.<< Results >>In WP2 a final report on best practices in the participating countries was made with specifications for the development of materials. Also, infographics to reflect the best practcies and important criteria vor nature-related activities. In WP3 we developed a very extensive collection of online learning material consisting of learning modules on various topics and tips and tricks to take the target group out to nature, a library of nature-related activities in an easy-to-use format and concepts to organise a nature event. In WP4 we wrote a short manual for coordinators and others interested in organising nature-related activities with frail older people. By organising these activities/workshops in all participating countries, we reached a substantial number of people who we presented the imporantce of spending time in nature to as well as the toolkit and its easy-to-use manual. For WP5 we developed an attractive website to present the project with a link to the toolkit and promoted the project and its outputs in an online and offline campagne, organising various promotional events in all participating countries.