The selection of ICT4Elderly Ambassadors in Switzerland happened online and with the majority of participants coming from Geneva and Vaud regions (French-speaking Switzerland).

Initially, an open call was shared with around 1,500 people via newsletter and targeted emails (like to our long term partners Ecopol – La smala Livinglab). The ambassadors were selected after a face-to-face or phone interview (before the Covid-19 lockdown) that served as a first moment of contact between the participants and the Ynternet.org team.

As a way to prepare the international pilot activities, a face-to-face meeting was organised on 15 February 2020 with the final group of six (6) ambassadors. This event served as a pre-training activity and the main goals were to introduce and prepare the ambassadors for the pilot activities in Malta and Berlin. This pre-training activity was designed to be the first moment for the participants to know each other and the Swiss trainers, as well as t0 introduce the project, its goals and methodologies. This activity was also planned to prepare participants to travel (discuss reimbursements, accommodation, and pilot schedule, etc.) and introduce some of the topics that would be discussed during the international pilot activities.

In order to introduce the different themes, Yorg’s team of experts and trainers facilitated an interactive debate discussion around the topics of digital citizenship, online communication and communication with automated robots (AI), among other topics.

This was also the moment to plan the webinar activity. Participants were asked about their main current needs regarding digital skills and digital culture. Since the majority of our group of seniors is still active in the labour market, the needs related to their current or future job positions appeared. Some participants voiced their need to understand how the job market and the recruitment process is changing and how to adapt to the new tools that are being used. Also, some participants expressed curiosity on how the internet and the digital world is changing the online opportunities to be an entrepreneur and build a brand or a company. It was decided that this topic would be the theme for a future webinar after the international pilot activities as a complementary activity of the pilot phase.

Additionally, a group chat was created to give our senior ambassadors the chance to ask questions, comment on the training content, share other resources they found and create an engaging environment between participants and the training team.

By Ynternet.org