Recognizing Volunteering Seniors
Summary
Oslo is proud of and places great importance on our volunteers, in particular senior volunteers. In order to increase awareness of the efforts of the city`s volunteers, a conference for volunteering seniors was organised in April 2015. The conference for Volunteering Seniors had three main goals: (1) Recognition of the contributions of senior citizens through their invaluable volunteering efforts; (2) Recruitment of new volunteers; and (3) Inspiring others by promoting the inspirational opportunities in the wide range of voluntary work available across the city districts.In order to bring the event together, the Council for Senior Citizens collaborated with a variety of political leaders and city district administrators. The district councils for senior citizens, politicians, some selected government agencies, and representatives from the district administrations all collaborated on organising the event.In April 2015, the chairperson of the Council for Senior Citizens hosted the conference event in the city hall. The Mayor of Oslo opened the event for approximately 400 participants, represented by volunteers, politicians, voluntary organizations, agencies, district councils and others. The Council for Senior Citizens, on behalf of the City of Oslo, awarded the elected volunteers with an Oslo’s coat of arms reward medallion, featured with a manhole cover and an inscription stating: “Your voluntary contribution is greatly appreciated”. At the end of this media-covered event, the Council for Senior Citizens received positive feedback from the participants, and also received word that the volunteers truly appreciated the recognition as a token of their voluntary contributions. The Council for Senior Citizens learned that the event itself actually resulted in a recruitment increase of volunteering seniors. It was a successful event for everyone and the aim is to make this a regular event.
Key facts
Main target group: Older people in general
Other target group(s): Voluntary organizations
Sector(s): Health
Desired outcome for older people:
Build and maintain relationships
Other Issues: Social outreach and inclusion of seniors
Contact details
Name: Rafoss, Anne Berit
Email address: anne.berit.rafoss@byr.oslo.kommune.no
Preferred language(s): English