Ageing, disability & SSE

Departmental SSE Kit N°14

junio 2021

Réseau des collectivités Territoriales pour une Economie Solidaire (RTES)

The ageing of the population, which is accompanied by a massive desire on the part of the elderly to age in their own homes, and the desire to offer better integration to people with disabilities in their daily lives, are leading to a significant development of activities in these areas.

The departmental councils, which are in charge of social and medico-social action, and the SSE actors, who are very present in these activities, have joint responsibilities to face the challenges of this sector: accessibility and quality of services for all; reinforcement of the attractiveness of a sector that has difficulty in recruiting; development of skills, with better recognition of qualifications; while improving remuneration and working conditions.

68% of home help services for dependent persons are part of the SSE (source: CNCRESS 2014).

Several possible levers of action:

Encourage experimentation

Many social innovations are carried out by SSE actors, often in the form of associations or Cooperative Societies of Collective Interest.

Inclusive housing, for the elderly or disabled, is a particularly rich field of innovation: joint life annuity to enable the elderly to remain at home, shared housing in rural areas, intergenerational housing, etc.

The department can help with the creation and development of these initiatives, for example through open calls for projects encouraging multi-stakeholder partnerships.

The Village Landais Alzheimer

Supported by the Landes departmental council, this village, the only one of its kind in France, will open in 2020 in Dax and will accommodate 120 residents affected by Alzheimer’s disease, accompanied by 120 people (FTE) and volunteers.

With its caring architecture, this research village aims to improve the quality of life and well-being of patients and their carers and develops person-centred support and non-drug approaches.

Structured as a Public Interest Group in 2016, this Landes Alzheimer’s Village brings together the Landes Departmental Council, the municipalities of Dax and Saint-Paul-lès-Dax, the Greater Dax Agglomeration Community, the Landes Mutualité Française, the associations France Alzheimer Landes, France Parkinson Landes, Générations Mouvement Landes and the Union départementale Associations familiales des Landes.

Promote the professions of the elderly

• To finance a structural policy to upgrade the value of the home care and assistance professions and to work with SSE companies in the sector in order to improve the quality of life at work and the prevention of professional risks.

• Communicate in favour of the professions of the elderly, in conjunction with the region’s specialised schools.

• Strengthen support and assistance for carers.

Have a vice-presidency dedicated to the policy of autonomy, making the link with the SSE

In addition to a vice-president whose delegation explicitly refers to SSE, the departmental executive can also be made up of a vice-presidency in charge of autonomy policy, in order to strengthen the prioritisation and coordination of public policies in this area in the direction of SSE companies, as proposed by the UDES.

Encouraging a territorial approach

The importance of a territorial approach to deal with the problems of ageing and disability has been reinforced in recent years. The department can contribute to strengthening the capacity of different actors (health and social associations, socio-cultural actors, ESATs, economic integration structures, mobility actors, municipalities and inter-municipalities, etc.) to work together to develop inclusive territories.

The « prevention of loss of autonomy » conference of funders can be an interesting body to promote inter-knowledge and the emergence of territorial projects.

The Senior Activ’ project led by the Moselle department

Since 2018, the Moselle department has been piloting this project, which brings together 21 actors from the former Lorraine and Alsace regions, Saarland and Rhineland Palatinate (Germany), Wallonia (Belgium) and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This project aims to promote good ageing at home for seniors and frail elderly people within the « Greater Region ». Supported by the Interreg V A Grande Région Programme, this project is aimed at so-called « active », autonomous and independent seniors, but also at frail elderly people, as well as carers and professionals in the field of ageing well.

It aims to act in a preventive and personalised way on the loss of autonomy, in particular by anticipating the adaptation of housing in order to avoid falls, to respond to the needs of proximity to prevent isolation and the rupture of social links, and to optimise the support of individual life paths.

Working with SSE actors to develop solidarity-based mobility solutions

Access to mobility is an important issue of social and territorial justice. Although the départements no longer have direct responsibility for transport, they have an important role to play in facilitating the mobility of young people and people in situations of exclusion or vulnerability.

On-demand transport, carpooling, solidarity drivers - these are all initiatives that can be supported by the départements and partners of mobility platforms.

For example, the Drôme department is behind the Mobisol 26 inclusive on-demand carpooling service, an experimental project run in partnership with Mobicoop (see resources). In Loire-Atlantique, the department covers the insurance of volunteer drivers of solidarity mobility initiatives.

Oise: a « loss of autonomy prevention » funding conference

In 2016, the Oise departmental council set up a conference of funders to coordinate local gerontology policies.

37 project leaders (associations, social centres, solidarity-based companies, etc.) financed by this new solidarity-based body, propose, alone or with others, a varied range of physical and intellectual activities aimed at improving the living conditions of people ageing at home and breaking their isolation by encouraging the creation of social links.

In 2021, this body is relaunching a call for projects for the implementation of collective prevention actions « Programme Bien Vieillir en préservant son autonomie ».

The Entr- Autres association in Gironde

The association Entr-Autres enables young people to take their first steps into the world of work through a supervised and educational employment experience.

Among its projects, the association is developing « Auto’Nomme », which enables young people aged 16 to 25 suffering from psychological difficulties (in a « therapeutic educational and pedagogical institute » -DITEP) to carry out practical training courses in the job of bicycle courier for meal delivery. The maintenance of the fresh orange juice vending machine at the departmental headquarters is carried out by young people from the Auto’Nomme project.

The association is supported by the Gironde departmental council for its various projects via operating and investment grants.

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