Rural communities in Europe are at risk of dying out: their populations are ageing and poor public transport, lack of local support and facilities, out-migration of young people, reduced services, isolation and fragmented health and social care systems all negatively impact the health and wellbeing of older people. HAIRE has tackled the problem of loneliness and isolation amongst the older population in rural areas, leading to greater community integration, better wellbeing, social innovations and empowerment. These solutions have been based on the individual interests, capabilities and preferences of older people, supported by the voluntary, private and public sectors. The challenges we were trying to address were bought into very sharp focus by the Covid pandemic, which highlighted the vulnerability of older people to loneliness and isolation and the critical importance of place-based organisations to their welfare.

Older people in general

Health, Information and Communication, Social protection, Other

Government, Civil Society Organization, Older People's Association, Academia, Health Care, Social Care, Private Sector

Older people were part of the process at multiple or all stages

HAIRE involved 14 project partners and 20 observer partners. The project partners included universities, local government bodies, welfare organisations, voluntary sector organisations and a social innovation organisation. The observer partners were similarly from a wide range of organisations dedicated to the welfare of older people including major charities such as Age UK and organisations working at the strategic level in the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, our project partners have also developed their own network of collaborators by liaising with other organisations and groups in their local areas such as neighbouring municipalities and welfare organisations. Critically, however, collaboration with older people themselves was undertaken in each pilot site. Collaboration between VCSOs, public and private sector and older people continues to lie at the heart of HAIRE in order to achieve much-needed changes to the design and delivery of services. Despite the lockdowns associated with the Covid pandemic, we continued to collaborate online and reconfigured our toolkit so that it could be used over the telephone with older people.

HAIRE was designed to create impacts at a range of scales. At the scale of the individual living in a rural community, HAIRE was designed to reduce loneliness and improve wellbeing. During the Covid pandemic, reaching out to older people through the project proved critical to reducing their isolation and putting in place community-based innovations to support them, such as prescription and grocery delivery and telephone befriending. When lockdown came to an end, the innovations that arose from HAIRE helped individuals to reconnect to the community. At the community level, place-based organisations have been empowered to innovate with and for older people. They have gained a fresh understanding of their neighbourhood through another element of the HAIRE toolkit, the Neighbourhood Analysis, through which they have identified the current and future potential of the resources, facilities, skills and connections that exist locally. This understanding has been critical to the co-design of bespoke innovations. Whilst these impacts are to be found at the operational level, HAIRE has also had an impact on strategic thinking, with several partners seeking to secure HAIRE’s legacy through, for example, continued use of the toolkit, embedding age-friendliness into decision-making or working in new configurations with local service providers.

The issues the project faced took several forms. Most obviously, the Covid pandemic presented some challenges. However, excellent team working and collaboration within and between the partner organisations led us to swiftly redesign the toolkit. The pandemic made the need for the project even more stark, which motivated us to continue despite the challenges. The toolkit is delivered largely by volunteers but the differing cultures of volunteering in the pilot sites meant that volunteers were not always available. In this case, welfare professionals sometimes took over the running of Guided Conversations. Finally, achieving innovation in service design and delivery can be a slow process of changing existing ways of working and mindsets. Nevertheless, we addressed these issues through dialogue, compromise and drawing in as many stakeholders into our conversations as possible.

1) Working at both the operation and strategic levels is a way to achieve lasting change. 2) Empowering older people and communities leads to meaningful, bespoke social innovations from the ground up. 3) Cross border learning provides fresh insights and inspiration.

HAIRE achieved a great deal despite starting just a couple of months before lockdown across Europe. This is down to the drive, energy, enthusiasm and commitment of the project partners, volunteers and older people themselves who have achieved a great deal in support of older people in rural areas.