Last Sunday, September 13, 2020, HelpAge International in Vietnam cooperated with the Institute for Development & Community Health (LIGHT) to organize a training session on smartphone usage for the older people in Tan Xuan area, Xuan Mai town, Chuong My district, Hanoi. Attending the training session were members of the Intergenerational Self Help Club in Tan Xuan area, the local Elderly Association, the local Women’s Union and some older people in the community.
The training session took place in a open and cheerful atmosphere. HelpAge International and LIGHT staffs introduced some functions of smartphones and help members of the class practice with some basic operations such as turning on and off wifi, changing font size, using the Internet to find useful information, and mastering their own phone. After practicing with basic operations, the trainees were introduced to some practical and useful applications for older people, and guided on how to install and use them.
In addition to instructional and practical activities, members of the class also participated in a number of games such as Quick Information Finding Challenge and App Names Guessing, both for entertainment and relaxation, and for reviewing all the things they had just learned.
Smartphone training for older people is within the framework of the project “Replicating Intergenerational Self Help Club model” (Project VIE070) – the component of Capacity building and is aimed towards the celebration of International Day of Older Persons 2020. From the success of this pilot training session, HAI will research further and will learn from this experience to expand training on topics of supporting older people to access and to make use of technological advances in their daily lives, to meet the lifelong learning needs of older people and call for future support projects for older people through the Intergenerational Self Help Clubs.