Occasion and motive
When reflecting on the position of refugees in Europe, the asylum policy and the necessity to harmonize European asylum policies springs to mind. Only few people realize that there is a growing group of older refugees in various European countries for whom issues such as social exclusion, care and social participation are at least as important as issues regarding admission procedures and the entitlement to international protection. Earlier studies carried out by “Asylkoordination” in Austria and the Bevordering Maatschappelijke Participatie (BMP) foundation (“Promotion of Social Participation”) in the Netherlands, among others, have shown that older refugees run a big risk of ending up in social isolation. They often have very little family around them, and care and housing authorities are in most case not aware of their presence. In general, they have only few opportunities to take part in society, and often have little room to express themselves and to show others who they really are.

The past years the BMP foundation has developed various programs in the Netherlands focusing on older refugees. The focus was on the following matters:
1. Mapping the issues refugees face when aging, by means of individual interviews and group conversations;
2. Making local authorities, care institutions, educational authorities, non-governmental organizations and self-help organizations for refugees aware of the issues older refugees are dealing with, and activating those parties by organizing urban discussions and a national symposium;
3. The development, in close collaboration with VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (the Dutch Council for Refugees) and Pharos, knowledge centre for refugees and health, of an empowerment method for older refugees, on the basis of practical experiments with life stories and expression.

European project initiative
The results of the programs executed, and the collaborations they resulted in, made the BMP foundation and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland ask themselves two important questions:
1. What is the social position of older refugees in other European countries, and which initiatives have been taken to improve this?
2. To what extent is it possible to apply the formats for urban discussions and projects on life stories and expression which have been developed in the Dutch patch also in other countries, and to which new views and experiences does this lead?

To answer these questions BMP and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland have developed the European project The power of older refugees, with the following in mind:

Objective
1. Surveying what is known about older refugees within the member states of the European Union, and which programs and methods have been developed to improve their position;
2. To make an active contribution aimed at making organizations of/for refugees, local authorities, care institutions, churches and other organizations in Europe aware of the issues and the power of older refugees.
3. To implement the method and formats, which have been developed in the empowerment project in the Netherlands in close collaboration with local and national organizations on site, in three other European countries.
4. The development of town twinning exchange programs between local departments of VluchtelingenWerk Nederland which have experience with empowerment programs and local organizations in other European countries that want to set up such a project.
5. To take care of the transfer of knowledge with regard to the position of older refugees in Europe, and develop new action perspectives for policymakers, professionals and interest groups.

Three tracks
In order to achieve these objectives the project has three separate tracks which reinforce each other:

1. To organize, in collaboration with national/local partners (for example organizations of/for refugees, organizations of/for older people, educational organizations, welfare organizations, etc.) in three European countries:
* An urban discussion in one of the bigger cities about the position of older refugees and the role local governments, organizations and institutions can play to reinforce this position.
* A local empowerment program for older refugees on the basis of the method and the format that have been developed in the Dutch empowerment project Levensloop Oudere Vluchtelingen (LOV) (“Course of life of Older Refugees).

2. The execution of a panel study in accordance with the Delphi method, in at least 10 European countries, among professionals who are dealing with older refugees, representatives of self-help organizations of refugees and policymakers on local and national level. The purpose of this research is to map the experiences with/of older refugees, to gather information about their social position, and to develop the possible action perspectives for the different people involved.

3. The organization of a European conference in Amsterdam on the position of older refugees in Europe, where the results of the different parts of the project De kracht van oudere vluchtelingen (The power of older refugees) is presented and discussed. The following parties will take part in this conference:
* The organizations of different countries which have organized urban discussions and LOV projects
* The participants of the panel study
* Members of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)
* Members of the European Parliament
* Representatives of the European commission
* National policymakers and politicians

The results of the project as a whole are discussed in a publication which is interesting both for policymakers and for project managers.

Time planning
The European project will last for 18 months, and is implemented in two different parts. The theme of the first part is the organizational preparation, exchange and training. There are two panel rounds in this part. The theme of the second part is the implementation of subprojects, the presentation of the results and evaluation. The final concluding panel round will be held in this part of the project.
The start of the project is planned for September 2007.
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Financial contributions

Pictures at an exhibition

The theme of the paintings above:
nature and landscape in countries of origin.
A group of older refugees made these paintings and told their life stories. Most participants painted for the first time in their life.

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Wirya Kooji, a refugee from Iraq, plays the "ut". He composed five pieces, arranged by Bam Commijs.