Val Pellice will host a workshop called “Valuing the expertise of people living with dementia in the community” on 4-5 December, co-organised by Diaconia Valdese and The European Foundations’ Initiative on Dementia (EFID).
Going further than just capacity development, the event will bring together different actors in the field to learn from one another and enable participants to figure out how best communities can be inclusive for all and value the lived experience of their citizens, with and without dementia.
At the event, a new toolkit to reflect, share and measure the impact of dementia-friendly initiatives will be piloted. The toolkit has been co-produced with the EFID network organisations and aims to support the monitoring and evaluation of dementia-related projects.
The event will feature a key note speech by Agnes Houston, MBE dementia advocate, as well as the contribution of other advocates living with dementia and community leaders from across Europe.
EFID is the most significant pan-European programme that promotes social inclusion through a Europe-wide awards scheme. Over the past years, EFID has made awards to local projects in various European countries that work on improving the life of people with dementia and their carers. 35 representatives of the organisations that received an EFID award will attend the conference, as well as people with dementia, key stakeholders and representatives of the foundations engaged in EFID (the Fondation Médéric Alzheimer, the King Baudouin Foundation, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Porticus).
As envisaged by the WHO Europe, by 2025 we should live in “a world in which dementia is prevented and people with dementia and their carers live well and receive the care and support they need to fulfil their potential with dignity, respect, autonomy and equality” (Global Action Plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025).
At Eurodiaconia, our members are active in providing quality social services to people with dementia or other disabilities. Our upcoming network meeting in Oulu, Finland will in fact focus on how to ensure long-term social and care services. It will bring together different delegations from our membership across Europe to discuss challenges, innovation and share best practices. With successful projects ranging from care homes in Scandinavia to assistance to people suffering from Multi Sclerosis in Romania, there will surely be a lot of interesting insights for members to learn.
If you are interested in Diaconia Valdese’s events, please visit its press release.
If you are interested in our on social and healthcare services, we invite you to read our latest publication.