Living longer in one's own four walls: To make this possible for older people, so-called senior communities provide supplementary care services. But it is not easy for many of them to work in an economically stable way. An umbrella organisation could help to manage such facilities efficiently and save costs. The project association "Teilgabe - kooperatives Wirtschaften in der Zivilgesellschaft" ("cooperative management in civil society") was awarded the German Demography Prize for this concept. Once a year, the prize is awarded to projects, initiatives, company programmes or networks that deal with demographic change in a forward-looking way.
In the cooperation project of the Berlin Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW), the Seminar for Cooperative-Studies at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology (ISS) of the WiSo Faculty and the University of Hamburg (Department of Social Economics), which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the cooperative Innova developed the concept in the sub-project "Verbundorganisation der Nachbarschaftshilfen und Seniorengenossenschaften" ("Network organisation of neighbourhood aids and senior citizens' cooperatives"). In it, the researchers show how organisations and politics can successfully support neighbourhood helps and senior citizens' cooperatives.
Federal Assembly of Cooperative Economy in Germany
Civil society initiatives and alternative economic projects are central to the future viability, stability and sustainability of a wide range of social sectors. In addition to care and old-age provision, these include energy and agriculture. To further strengthen concepts such as cooperatives for senior citizens and to bring together actors from the field of cooperative economy, the project Teilgabe is organising the first Federal Assembly of Cooperative Economy in Germany on 24 June 2023 in Kassel. The aim of the Federal Assembly is to initiate alliances in this field and to honour the commitment of the actors. Participation is free of charge. Registrations are possible until 1 June 2023:
Federal Assembly of Cooperative Business in Germany
- 24 June 2023, 09:30-18:00 hrs
- Schlosshotel Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe
- Information and registration (IÖW)
Making old-age provision more independent through cooperatives
The project aims at a supporting structure in the form of a secondary cooperative as an umbrella organisation for senior citizens' communities and neighbourhood helpers: for example, the umbrella organisation helps to save costs through counselling, to organise its administration and accounts more efficiently and independently, and to train helpers. In this way, the research project aims to establish a fourth pillar of old-age provision alongside company pension schemes
Making old-age provision more independent through cooperatives
The project aims at a supporting structure in the form of a secondary cooperative as an umbrella organisation for senior citizens' communities and neighbourhood help: for example, the umbrella organisation helps its members to save costs through counselling, by organising its administration and accounts more efficiently and independently, and by training helpers. In this way, the research project wants to establish a fourth pillar of the old-age provision in addition to the company pension scheme, the compulsory systems under public law and private provision: In a jointly supported structure, senior citizens' cooperatives could contribute even better to the self-determined ageing of many people. Retirees could thus be supported in sustainable self-help in order to live more independently.
Implementation of an umbrella organisation in Bavaria is in the starting blocks
Burghard Flieger from Innova and Joschka Moldenhauer from the Seminar for Cooperatives at the University of Cologne accepted the prize on behalf of the project team. In the Teilgabe project, they are investigating the implementation conditions of an umbrella organisation for senior citizens' cooperatives. Burghard Flieger emphasises the personal approach: "The cooperatives do not come to us. They are far too busy with their everyday work for that. That's why we come to them." With success: the further steps for a project realisation in Bavaria were recently discussed intensively. It was a question of how and with which support modules this should be approached. In other federal states, there are also discussions with politicians and senior citizens' communities on how the concept can be implemented in concrete terms. Further partners for implementation are being sought.
"In umbrella organisations, cooperative economic actors work together in a network," explains Carla Young, who conducts research on organisations for the common good at the IÖW. "In this way, they can compensate for some of the disadvantages they experience because of their particular organisational characteristics, values and ways of acting. If members join forces and show solidarity with each other, they can improve their economic viability. Umbrella organisations integrate the network socially and can represent the interests of the actors to the outside world in a bundled way. In this way, members can better implement their concerns and live according to their values."