2. Introduction

The purpose of this research is to prepare the foundation for a sustainable and innovative Generations Uniting Through Movement (GUM) program which is our consortium’s aim to reach throughout the project period. In order to achieve this goal, it is crucial to do a desk research to identify pre-requisites for inter-generational collaboration and already existing models in literature.

Under the leadership of Stichting Hanzehogeschool Groningen (Hanze), together with the partnership of ISCA, The Youth Sport Trust International, Sports Union of Slovenia, BG Be Active, Deporte para la Educación y la Salud, DES, and Azur Sport Santé, we tried to identify the best practices in the field of intergenerational collaboration and activities. We investigated what made these examples good, the barriers, main outcomes and/or change/impact, and the behaviour change patterns. Hanze University conducted an analysis of 12 selected good examples, which you can find in the following pages, with the contribution of the partners. At the same time, we included the entire collection (39 examples) to our research as an appendix.

We believe that this study will constitute a solid resource for the successful and effective implementation of the GUM programme. We will make frequent use of this study in the upcoming activities of our project, such as establishing a European platform and network, developing an e-learning course and a training tool for practitioners and testing our program in pilot countries.