From its regional project office in Ljubljana in Slovenia, HelpAge International works with a network of regional partners in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro,and Slovenia. The network was formed after consulting with older people from the East and Central European Network – now part of the European platform of older people (AGE) – and HelpAge International's affiliate, Help The Aged.

Aims

The South East Europe (SEEN) network, which is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and the European Commission CARDS programme helps older people promote their rights and raise awareness about their needs. The network also shares experiences of self-help, intergenerational and advocacy activities, at local, national and regional levels.

Activities

SEEN organised consultations between older people and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to identify key areas of discrimination and plan activities to address violations of older people's rights. Following these discussions, older people developed and implemented small-scale project activities.

These projects included:

• training for health-care professionals working with older people (Albania)
• outreach counselling services providing health and legal advice (Bosnia)
• a workshop with young politicians from all parliamentary parties on ageism (Bulgaria)
• a public event on International Day of Older Persons (Croatia)
• meetings with transport-company representatives to arrange cheaper transport for older people; developing links with poor older Roma (Macedonia)
• research with older people on their quality of life, and rights violations (Moldova)
• home-visiting the most vulnerable; health counselling in collective centres (Serbia).

The future

Evidence gathered from these mini projects has been used in advocacy work. Information is shared with the network through national meetings, exchange visits and a report of regional activities funded by the European Union.