Community Contributions Amongst Older People / Centre for Ageing Better

The Centre for Ageing better wanted to map out the ‘community contributions’ of older people in the UK, with a particular focus on ‘informal volunteering’ amongst those from ethnic minority backgrounds and lower socio-economic areas. As such, we travelled the country, to find out: how and why do people contribute to their communities; what barriers, if any, do they face; and how could they be better supported? The case study above features Tina, from Bristol, with her partner Fred. You can see all four of our ethnographic case studies for this project, along with a 1-min compilation snippet, here.

Evaluating the Inspiring Active Communities programme / British Red Cross

The British Red Cross commissioned a report into the outcomes for volunteers on their Inspiring Active Communities programme. The programme involved people from around the world, coming to work in BRC offices around the country. For the ethnographic video case studies, we visited volunteers in different locations, to explore any effects around: cultural exchange, employability skills, tackling isolation, and the promotion of volunteering in volunteers’ home countries. The case study above features Eda, in Liverpool.

Age-Friendly Volunteering Community Projects / Centre for Ageing Better & DCMS

The Centre for Ageing Better and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sports has been funding five pilot community projects which aim to sustain lifelong contribution, keep people connected to voluntary opportunities, or provide practical support for older people who are currently excluded. As such, we’ve begun visiting some of the projects to find out the impacts of their approaches to age-friendly volunteering. The testimonial above is from Monica, in Oxford.