Las Nieves Multiservice Community Center - Centro Comunitario Multiservicios Las Nieves

Summary

The Las Nieves Multiservice Community Center in the municipality of Campoo de Yuso (Cantabria – Spain), which is changing the lives of residents – especially older people – in this rural area with low population density. The center is accompanied by a mobility resource (transport) – paid for by the city council – that allows older people – especially women – who do not have their own vehicle to attend regularly. A community space co-created and co-managed by the people of the community, with the support of the municipality , the PEM/UNATE Foundation and the Government of Cantabria. The social impact evaluation confirms the positive effects of the Center, which promotes meaningful aging, combats isolation and loneliness, and promotes citizen empowerment for cooperation in the community.

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El Centro Comunitario Multiservicios Las Nieves en el municipio de Campoo de Yuso (Cantabria – España), está cambiando la vida de vecinas y vecinos -en especial mayores- de esta zona rural y con baja densidad de población. El centro está acompañado de un recurso de movilidad (transporte) —costeado por el ayuntamiento— que permite a las personas mayores –sobre todo mujeres- que no disponen de vehículo propio acudir de manera habitual. Es un espacio comunitario co-creado y gestionado por las personas de la comunidad, con el apoyo del ayuntamiento, la Fundación PEM/Unate, y el Gobierno de Cantabria. La evaluación de impacto social constata los efectos positivos del Centro, que fomenta un envejecimiento con sentido, combate el aislamiento y la soledad, y promueve un empoderamiento de la ciudadanía para la cooperación en la comunidad.

Website: https://fundacionpem.org/

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Sector(s): Health, Social protection

Other sector(s): Transportation

Desired outcome for older people:
Build and maintain relationships

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:

Ageism
Ageing in place
Healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity)
Intergenerational activities
Inequities
Inclusion
Participation
Technologies

Contact details

Name: Ramos Toro, Mónica

Email address: mramostoro@unate.es

Preferred language(s): Spanish

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Civil Society Organisation

Others involved in the project:

Local authorities

How collaboration worked: The project began with an information phase for the population with the objective of forming co-creation commissions for the future Center, that is, the binding participation of older people occurred from the beginning of the project. These were the ones that decided the operation of the Center (rules, schedules, activities,co-payments, name, etc.). Today it works through co-management commissions where older people decide on decisions that affect the Center themselves. They feel it and take care of it as a community resource. The co-management of the Center also implies transparency regarding the financing of the space. Users know the bills, the costs of everything and are involved in financing them by contributing to the co-payment of the provision of services such as physiotherapy or pedicure.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: This is a resource created with and for older people that has a strong positive impact, not only in the lives of older people, but also in the entire community.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: Yes

Was the impact positive or negative:
Positive

Please share with us what you found in detail:
The existence of the Center has meant a very positive change in the daily life of older people and the way they relate to other people and with its surroundings. It has allowed us to build networks of friendship and support among users.The Center is a very powerful community resource to combat isolation social in a dispersed and unpopulated area and improve the feeling of loneliness that expressed by a large part of the users, especially the older and who live alone. Their participation in activities that promote active aging has revitalized and has made them feel better physically and psycho-emotionally. Participating in the co-creation and co-management of the Center has meant for people older people to feel autonomous people with full decision-making capacity, as well as protagonists in a process that they consider important in their lives This Community Center represents an investment in health, prevention and extending the lives of people, especially the elderly, with quality. The possibility of this community resource has meant for many people users give meaning to their life in old age, feel that their life has value and that it deserves be lived. The existence of this Center makes it possible to find jobs for professionals who live in the same municipality in which it is located or in nearby areas

Evaluation report: Informe-Evaluacion-Impacto-Social-Centro-Comunitario-Las-Nieves.-Oct-2023-1.pdf

Feedback:
We have carried out a social impact evaluation and a video that has allowed us to collect the voices of the people who participate, identifying all the positive aspects, as well as the aspects to improve. Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS0w01yLV2A&ab_channel=Fundaci%C3%B3nPEM

Expansion plans:
This experience has aroused the interest of the regional government, which has committed to expanding it to other municipalities in the region. We are currently working on opening two next centers by 2025.

Looking back

Reflections:
One of the aspects in which the Center must improve is greater involvement of other relevant actors in the community, such as social and health services. In this sense, in future processes this involvement must be sought from the beginning. Likewise, to minimize the risk of excessive dependence of people on the driving agent of the process, we should try to involve more driving agents in the process.

Challenges:
In relation to the Center’s co-creation and co-management model, conceived as a strategy that contributes to the promotion of autonomy and empowerment, the head of the CCM draws attention to the difficulties she has observed, especially at the beginning of the project, when people contribute their opinion. However, he affirms that little by little they have become more involved and with less fear of expressing yourself. This raises the need to continue working on issues of leadership and empowerment, especially with older women. Reaching more seniors who may need to leave home, but do not dare to do so, it continues to be a challenge. Even though users of the Center have been in charge of encouraging other known and/or close older people to attend the activities, sharing their positive experiences, it has not been easy who are interested in participating. Likewise, the low participation of men, especially older, the majority of users who who frequent the Center are women. Finally, a pending task is to promote activities between people of all ages in the municipality with the aim of changing ageist stereotypes and to promote an environment for all ages.