Age Unlimited Scotland

Our society has an ageing population - there is an opportunity

With a well-publicised ageing population, NESTA recognises that it is important for the UK's older generation to stay active in society, remain healthy, active and autonomous as long as possible.

We know that life doesn't end at pension age; nor do the knowledge, experience and skills that people have. This time should be an opportunity to try something new, to learn new things or to give something back.

But innovations within the age sector tend to focus on products/services for older people - there has been less focus on innovating the types of activities people will do when they 'retire' to encourage and promote 'active ageing'.

NESTA's Age Unlimited Scotland programme supported 27 novice older social entrepreneurs in their 50s and 60s to help turn their good ideas for improving their communities into a reality.

The programme which ran over 2 years had open calls for ideas: Year 1 (2010) focused on ideas which supported older people to reduce social isolation. The call for ideas in year 2 (2011) focused on ideas which supported and improved local communities.

Empowering older social innovators

The programme recognised that older people are concerned about today's societal challenges and have the knowledge and experience to lead innovative social ventures. Given the right support they can be empowered to play an active role in shaping and improving their communities.

Through group training, support, peer mentoring and micro finance investment, Age Unlimited Scotland reached, stimulated and supported novice social innovators across Scotland to play a central role in the design, development and delivery of sustainable new community ventures.

The social entrepreneurs Age Unlimited Scotland supported are ordinary people, who didn't see themselves as social or community entrepreneurs - they simply had a solution to a problem which encouraged them to take action.

These ventures are great examples of how practical ideas developed by everyday people can support our communities. Read about the ventures supported in the Case studies - 2010 and Case studies - 2011. 

Building the venture

Age Unlimited Scotland provided participants with a structured path to explore, develop, test and then launch their new ventures. Alongside developing 'business skills', prototyping techniques were introduced as a low-cost way for participants to rapidly test their ideas and gain feedback quickly.

The key component features of Age Unlimited Scotland include:

Five group workshops which gave participants the opportunity to share and articulate their ideas to build confidence and their business case; test thinking and gain peer feedback before engaging their communities in the practical design and delivery of their new venture.

Peer mentoring was of great benefit to both mentee and mentors - the novice entrepreneurs benefited from the skills and experience of having a 'critical friend' to talk to; and the new mentors found it satisfying to develop their own listening skills and enjoyed the mental challenge of mentoring a new social venture.

Micro finance was awarded on a competitive basis at the end of the programme to turn the well-tested concepts into working services to benefit the local community.

Aftercare support was provided to all ventures to ensure long term sustainability upon completion of the programme

If you would like to read more about the original Call for Ideas, please do read this document.

What's next?

Through this pilot project we have learned a great deal about older people's motivations and approaches to starting-up a social venture. We see there is potential to empower and support many more older people to become social innovation leaders. 

We are now in the process of collating the practical resources and learning from Age Unlimited Scotland, which we will be sharing during 2012, the European Year for Active Ageing. We are keen to disseminate our approaches and findings, so if you would like to be kept informed about our work or would like to discuss this, please contact: gillian.easson@nesta.org.uk