Trans e-Scouts: Empowering eFacilitators for intergenerational dialogue

Digital skills are increasingly essential for social participation, yet many older people remain offline while young people risk isolation from adult-life and employability challenges. Telecentre staff ('eFacilitators') were seen as well placed to bridge this generational digital divide in local communities.

To raise awareness of older people's contribution to society, strengthen intergenerational solidarity, and support socio-digital inclusion by training eFacilitators to broker knowledge exchange between younger and older generations.

eFacilitators already active in intergenerational social work were trained to facilitate dialogue in which young people teach seniors ICT skills while seniors share labour-market and adulthood knowledge with youth. The Spanish 'Intergenerational Learning Circle' was transferred to Croatia, Lithuania and Latvia through prior context analysis and localisation, using the ILBES ('Intergenerational Learning in Blended Environments and Spaces') methodology, mediated through social web applications and blended in-person/digital settings.

The project reports improved key competences (digital, cultural, social, interpersonal), stronger learning-to-learn ability, reduced alienation/isolation among seniors and youth, and greater social cohesion. These are self-reported project claims; no formal evaluation was carried out.

The model demonstrates a feasible approach to transferring an intergenerational digital-inclusion methodology across different national contexts via trained facilitators, though the absence of a formal evaluation means the reported benefits are not independently verified.