Welcome to the official blog of the GECKO project! GECKO stands for „Generate and Empower Community to develop digital Key competences of Older people”. Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme, this 24-month initiative (running from December 2025 to November 2027) is driven by one core mission: „Digital Skills. Connected Seniors.”.
Why Digital Inclusion Matters Across Europe, millions of older adults aged 65 and over face a significant digital divide. Lacking basic digital skills can increase social isolation and severely limit access to essential online services, such as eHealth and eGovernment. Today, digital inclusion is no longer optional—it is absolutely essential for maintaining dignity, social participation, and overall wellbeing.
Our Solution: Community-Based Support To tackle this challenge, GECKO moves away from traditional courses and introduces a community-based intervention model that combines practical technology education with human-centered, trust-based support. Our strategy relies on two main pillars:
- Digital Facilitators („GECKOs”): We are recruiting and training a group of 72 facilitators, which includes both professionals and volunteers. These empathetic „GECKOs” will work directly with seniors, translating complex technology into simple, everyday actions and providing support in both community spaces and at home.
- „Social Crews”: We are creating small, localized learning groups called „Social Crews”. Led by our digital facilitators, these groups offer a safe and supportive environment for seniors to learn at their own pace, while simultaneously fostering meaningful peer relationships to combat loneliness and isolation.
A Strong European Partnership The success of the GECKO project is built on the collaboration of five experienced organizations across Europe. The consortium is led by the research and training center ARETES (Italy). The partnership also includes ANTEAS (Italy), DATEY (Germany), Medardas Cobotas University of the Third Age – MCTAU (Lithuania), and Fundacja Autokreacja (Poland). Furthermore, our efforts are supported by 8 associated partners who will help maximize our local outreach and impact.
What’s Next? We have an inspiring journey ahead as we work on developing the comprehensive GECKO Toolkit and launching our first local „Social Crews”. We encourage you to visit our project website, geckoproject.eu, and follow our updates to see how we are connecting seniors with the digital world!.