Protagonism and Social Participation of Elderly People

Abstract

We intended to discover protagonism initiatives among the elderly who are members of the Managing Committees of projects which were developed for the elderly people in the community. We observed how they mobilize and organize themselves in partnership with different professionals, in order to meet their demands for an active and healthy aging. Two institutions in Campinas were defined as the research field, being a non-governmental organization (NGO) and a public private/ institution. The investigative method was a qualitative methodology based on oral history, and the sample was constructed by the "Snowball" method. The oral testimonies were recorded during the interviews with four women and two men in both investigative spaces, their ages ranged from 58 to 83 years. We conclude that the majority of the elderly people, who integrated the Managing Committees are female and that these more active elderly people have higher levels of education, compared to the old men and women that participate of the projects. We also observed that the origin and philosophy of the institutions have a direct influence in the development of protagonistic attitudes. It was found that there are elderly people involved in actions in both researched institutions, but with greater intensity at the NGO. Finally we found that the social impact is greater in projects developed through the commitment of a Managing Committee, formed by elderly people; that those projects contribute significantly to the development of their self-esteem and enable them to achieve a distinct area of expertise, through the search of new social roles for older people, as responsible actors in organizing, mobilizing and strengthening the age segment they represent. Keywords: Elderly People, Protagonism, Social Participation, NGO, Public private/ institution.