Today (9th February 2011) the awards ceremony of the first local authorities competition on the improvement of the quality of life of migrant elders took place at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.

The Secretary of State for Health, Equalities, Care and Age of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Marlis Bredehorst, awarded the winners of the competition. Next to Gerhard Stahl, Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions, the Dutch Member of the European Parliament Marije Cornelissen and the Deputy Mayor of Stavanger (Norway), Bjørg Tysdal Moe, participated in the ceremony. Jury speaker and chair of the board of trustees of AKTION COURAGE e.V. Monika Wulf-Mathies praised the projects that address migrant elders „as equal partners and foster active ageing, empowerment and participation“ and thus serve as good practice examples.

The project from Edinburgh (Scotland) „Minority Ethnic Carers of Older People Project (MECOPP)“ won the first prize. The project offers a range of services for family carers of migrant elders. The second prize was awarded to Gelsenkirchen's (Germany) initiative „Teilhabe Älterer in einer bunten Stadt“ (Participation of seniors in a diverse city) which focuses on the consideration of the needs of migrant elders in the city's strategy for seniors. The third prize went to the project „Jongleren: oud geleerd en jong gedaan“ from Brussels (Belgium). Migrant elders shared their views on Brussels with students in journalism, art or social studies after which they jointly set up an exhibition showcasing the elders' life stories.

The awards ceremony will be followed by a workshop on 14 April 2011 at the Representation of North Rhine-Westphalia in Brussels in order to facilitate the implementation of good practice examples in other municipalities and cities.

Programme of the awards ceremony

The awards ceremony of the competition ELAC for migrant elders took place on 9th February 2011 at the Committee of the Regions. The programme is available for download.

Programme (94kB)