On Wednesday 1st December a meeting was held in the Sala Verde of Palazzo Rinaldi to celebrate the closure of the first symbolic stage of the TAAFE project in the Treviso area. The experimental phase of the cycle of advice, guidance and support to online services managed by the students of the Besta Institute has just ended. Created to respond to the demand for support from the over-65 population, the service welcomed anyone wishing to acquire the basic skills to orient themselves in this constantly growing digital universe.
The initiative was hosted by three senior citizens' clubs: the "Villa Letizia" Recreational Group, the "Oltre Cagnan" Group and the "La Restera" Senior Citizens' Group. Two afternoons a week, for the duration of three weeks, young and old met together to face doubts and perplexities and overcome the small obstacles posed by technology and the web in daily life. The service is the culmination of a long process that began in October 2020, which has seen an increasingly close collaboration between students and senior group presidents, who were first involved in the actual identification of the community's needs, then in the production of the guide to digital services and video tutorials, and finally in in-person assistance.
The members of the TRIO, together with representatives of the Municipality of Treviso and ISRAA, thanked the classes and senior citizens' centres by presenting them with a certificate of participation in the course, which will be followed up in early 2022 with the production of new guides and a second cycle of training sessions. Both the guides and the face-to-face consultations aroused great enthusiasm in the area, which asked for continuity. The municipality and ISRAA have been working for some time to ensure the sustainability of the actions put in place, a sustainability that also wants to be given to the participatory method at the basis of the TAAFE project: a formula of authentic co-design, which has allowed the preparation of materials and support formulas in line with real needs and easy access, and therefore appreciated by citizens.