About the project
In an era when services are often inadequate and care is considered an individual responsibility, ELDERWISE seeks to propose a different approach: collective, participatory, and based on solidarity.
The research project has three interconnected goals.
- First, to offer new theoretical approaches that connect social reproduction with the theory of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE).
- Second, to explore the possibilities for developing SSE organizations in the field of home-based elderly care in Greece.
- Third, to formulate policy proposals that respond to the urgent need for home-based elderly care in Greece, through synergies between the public sector and SSE.
ELDERWISE is based on a participatory, qualitative methodology centered on action research. This means that the research is oriented toward the needs of the members of the “care ecosystem” themselves — older adults, caregivers, relatives, SSE actors, and service providers — aiming to improve their position through collective processes.The research will examine: the needs and experiences of individuals who receive or provide home-based care, the existing forms of care (formal and informal), and the possibilities for creating cooperative or multi-stakeholder SSE organizations, drawing on other international examples.