Twenty photos showing older persons and young volunteers who are champions of an intergenerational dialogue were displayed in the Parliament Building at an exhibition staged by the legislature and UNFPA on the International Day of Older Persons, IPN reports.
The photos were produced in the framework of a program within which 300 older persons were trained by 85 young volunteers to use a contemporary mobile phone connected to the Internet, especially for discussing with the family, for paying for public utilities online and for overcoming social isolation, primarily in times of a pandemic.
In the inauguration, Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu said that technologies, beyond the pandemic, help a lot to be in contact with the dear ones, whose warmth we need. “I looked at these photos. They are emblematic and extraordinary. I watched them and saw my mother, my relatives in nice and normal postures. This makes us be near, no matter where we are on earth,” stated Igor Grosu.
UNFPA Resident Representative to the Republic of Moldova Nigina Abaszada said that art and reporting have been an important instrument for sensitizing the people to the problems of society. The International Day of Older Persons is observed on October 1. This year, UN decided to lay emphasis on digital equity for all ages, predicating the need for access and meaningful participation in the digital world by older persons.
“Today’s exhibition represents the faces of older persons from Moldova, those persons who are champions in the navigation of this digital ocean, despite age and limited access to technologies. They have enough courage to embrace this change. The older persons in this program were supported by young volunteers who shared their knowledge and this is extremely important. This dialogue in fact created a dialogue between older persons and young people and society becomes more resilient this way,” stated Nigina Abaszada.
Caroline Tissout, Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Moldova, noted that the older persons should not be regarded as beneficiaries of services and assistance as they contribute in different ways to the development of society and have what to share with the young people. The young people are those who play an important role in bringing about social changes and in modernizing the country. They contribute by civic engagement and by the transfer of knowledge to older persons, for example in the ICT sector.
“The pandemic crisis accelerated the process of digitizing services in all the areas. The risk we see is that digitization will leave aside the persons and groups of people who do not have skills and access to digital services. These risk remaining isolated and being unable to exercise the fundamental rights, including to benefit from basic services for their life and health,” said Caroline Tissout.
