GRANNY TAKES CARE and we help her

Sick children can be a reoccurring problem for many parents who work. At Sjælland (DK) there are several initiatives to solve this problem. “Rent a grandparent” is a concept developed to offer contact between working parents and elderly who likes to spend time with children. For a small fee, a “grandparent” will happily come and take good care of your sick child.
Most parents today work and have their children in day-care, but when the children get ill, they are prevented to leave the home. It is not always easy for parents to take the day off. If the child’s grandparents live near by, this might not be a problem, but in today’s society it is no longer unusual to live far away from the rest of the family. In these cases it is practical to be able to – rent a grandparent! These are elderly people who might be lonely and have lots of spare time to help a family in need and spend some time with a sick child.
The organization in Hvidovre was founded in 1999 by the former school-nurse Kirsten Balzer Jepsen. She is today the “head-grandmother” of 12 grandmothers and two grandfathers. 160 families use this service regularly and 75 families hire the same grandmother every time. All the grandparents have been educated in child-diseases and the well-being of children. Further they each have their own bag of toys to bring.
The grandparents receive about 30 kr. per hour, which is a moderate fee. This initiative has no economic purpose, only a wish to help others in he local environment. The organization is however supported by the municipality to cover education and administration.
The initiative has great potential to be a supplement to the existing daycare service, as it solves a new kind of problem in today’s society with hard working parents. It does not only benefit the family, but also gives the elderly an opportunity to participate in society in a meaningful way after retirement.
The involved actors in the solution are families who would like a grandparent to spend time with their children an elderly who want to contribute with their life experience and time. These groups are matched by the “Headgrandmother”, who has the role as a facilitator for this meeting.
The solution involves people from different generations. It can be a worth-while experience to spend time and share experiences with people from different generations than yourself. Children are generally more spontaneous in their way of experiencing the surroundings and understanding life. Their joy, eager and curiosity to explore new things can inspire both teenagers, adults and elderly. Likewise, the elderly can make sure that the child can get a regularly and safe basis in chaotic daily life.

A centre for old and new crafting professions

Haandværkerhuset is home to associations and workshops that work to preserve the old traditional craft professions.

The main problem about Haandværkerhuset is that it is a closed and introvert system that does not expose the knowledge that it contains to a sufficient degree. This will eventually lead to the situation where the knowledge of the old craftsmen’s way of working has simply dyed out.

The goal is to pass on implicit knowledge about the use of old crafting techniques in order to maintain this important piece of cultural inheritance for coming generations. A way to do this is to turn Haandværkerhuset into a centre for the existing related crafting educations and workplaces. The involved institutions can use the centre as a historical reference and can come there to experience the living exposition of traditions. Haandværkerhuset can also send out a representative to tell their story at schools and other places.

The main actors in this case are the volunteers at Haandværkerhuset, the related institutions, the municipality of Aalborg / the society.

Social benefits are first and foremost the prevalence of the traditional craft professions (and the perseverance of cultural inheritance). The institutions involved get a new and more interesting aspect to their learning process and to their professions. The volunteers get to keep their hobbies and their hobbies become important to the society. If the system becomes a success the demand will increase and more (retired) people can be activated.

Haandværkerhuset puts focus on traditional techniques which are more sustainable and less resource demanding than modern techniques and machines. The environment also benefits from the reuse of old products and tools.

Aalborg Kommune benefits economically on tourists that come to visit the city and Haandværkerhuset.

Researchers:
Jens Vestergaard
Dorthe Andresen

1000Fryds “Folkekøkken” - vegan, ecological kitchen

What is the question?
How do mental disabled people get a job where they feel needed?
Where do people with less financial means have the possibility to go out for dinner and music.
Where do lonesome people go to find a friend or just being together with other if they do not fell like they belong in this society?
If you do not have financial possibilities or facilities at home, where can you go to make clothes of your own, make pottery, draw after models, use wood shop facilities and so on?

What is the solution idea?
The connection between the café and the workshop makes a unique combination. They gain from each other and this forms a basis of existence for both.
It is a place where everybody is welcome and where there is many different activities and facilities.

What is the most evident quality?
Both the café and the workshops attract different social classes and the environment makes them connect across the classes. This creates new social contacts.

What are the main drivers?
The economic driver is mostly the municipality and privates payments, but the most significance is the passion within the people working there, both the employed and the volunteers.

What are the main difficulties?
The economic part of this system is not very secure; it depends of the municipalities and the private persons. They do only get in contact with a very small group of their target group and they could benefit in getting in contact with a larger group.

What are the possible improvements?
To find private investor that can benefit from supporting HUSET, like business that can benefit from improvement in the local society and using their facilities.
For example Panduro Hobby, they sell materials to do different things yourself, fabric, paint, beads etcetera.
There could also be some kind of discount agreement, so if you by your materials in Panduro you get a discount at the house, or the other way around.
Another possibility is to improve their advertisement in the local society, for an example they could produce some kind of merchandise, like shopping bags in fabric, with the house’s name and logo on it. It could be sold to the people using the facilities and work like free advertisement. Other similar products could be produced, maybe by the disabled people working at the house.

group
Nanna Gram,
Sinja Svarrer,
Sinne Nielsen,
Maja Ohana