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Phase: Inspiration Missions: Learn from Analogies

The Amazings

The Amazings is a platform connecting between older people who wants to share their wisdom, skills and life experience, and younger ones, who would like to learn from them.

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10 7

Written by DeletedUser

The Amazings logo The Amazings logo
Brand video for The Amazings project

An interesting project by Sidekick Studios from London. Research on a project focusing on older people led them to surprising findings.

"As we began speaking to older people, we realized that whilst there were some who required care, the Baby Boom generation retiring today were deeply uncomfortable with the idea of being looked after. They wanted us to focus on what they can do, not what they can't do. Not least because they have assets which most people don't. Wisdom. Skills. Experience. Our flipped idea was that instead of society providing services to older people, older people should be providing services to society."

more here: http://sidekickstudios.net/projects/the-amazings

The Amazings is a platform connecting between older people who want to share their wisdom and skills, and younger ones who would like to learn from them. There is some small fee that each young participant pays and 70% of it goes to the Amazing - an over 50 tutor. So instead of helping the elderly this platform enables them to earn some money while actually serving the community.

I think this project also goes back to the old traditional communities model, where it was natural for youngsters to learn from elderly. Nowadays we tend to forget about it and feel we know better (because we understand more about modern technology etc.) but maybe it's worth to look back at this model

http://www.theamazings.com

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Congrats on this post being today's onsite Featured Inspiration!

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Photo of Philip Man

Great post Klementyna. I really love how platforms such as The Amazings are helping to foster intergenerational communities. For too long there has been a notion that seniors have little to contribute to society and to the economy, and thus not a valued part of the community, leading them to be ostracised or pushed away. This is just plain wrong. It just that we have failed to figured out what and where the opportunities lie to which retirees could apply their vast experiences, skills, capabilities and flexibility of time and schedules.

Many highly urbanised countries, such as Singapore, are facing a rapidly ageing population and there is a fear that there will not be enough young workers to support the aged. The reaction has been to focus attention of raising birth rates and/or immigration policies. But another approach might be to look at new models and platforms such as The Amazings, that enable older people to keep on being value creating members of their communities.

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Photo of Meena Kadri

Hear, hear! I was struck by the awesomeness of The Amazings when they launched and started following them on Facebook. It's great to get updates on the intergenerational connections they are making and the incredible community value they create.

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DeletedUser

I see they started making also on-line meetings with the Amazings using Google Hangouts.

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DeletedUser

I think this is definitely something to keep in mind for Singapore!
Maybe it could be applied on a larger scale: the hawker centres, loved by old and young and keepers of some of the most sacred of Singapore's food secrets, are in the hands of the older generation. What will happen to traditional recipes and how will customs and habits of the new Singaporeans be affected when nobody is interested in taking over the family's food stall? Maybe this could even be a way to secure the future of the hawker centre?

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Photo of Meena Kadri

Great thoughts Maria! We're looking forward to how folks mint build upon this inspiration for the upcoming Concepting phase, with the context of Singapore in mind.

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DeletedUser

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to comment to say thank you for all the kind words about The Amazings. I work at The Amazings and it's great to hear that there's so much support for what we're doing in the UK and around the world.
Hopefully it inspires similar action in Singapore and beyond!
Thanks
Jen

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DeletedUser

Hi Maria, this is really interesting what you write about the hawker centers. I checked it in Wikipedia and found out that actually NEA (the sponsor of the challenge!) manages all of the centers. They even launched a website http://myhawkers.sg/ to promote them. Maybe it could be possible to build a new service upon this existing website? There is a section there called "learn", but it seems to be more encyclopedia style than "the Amazings" style of learning.

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DeletedUser

Hi Jen,
"The Amazings" is such a great idea and inspiration! Well done!
I was wondering what happens after the Amazing has their workshop/lesson. Do participants and tutors stay in touch? Does it happen that participants want to have more workshops with the same tutor or is it rather a one time thing? It could be interesting to hear what impact such classes have on the local community.

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Photo of Philip Man

Just a quick build on the intersection between The Amazings and the iconic Singaporean hawker center.

Ageing hawkers are hesitant to pass on all their secrets as they are their family's livelihood. But if the next generation is not interested in taking over, could the government 'heritage council' step in and offer to buy & perserve their recipes as part of Singapore's cultural heritage, given that food is such an important part of the national culture, conversation and identity?

By rewarded hawkers for sharing their precious IP and passing on their secrets to the general public on how to make a treasured national dish, it's a win win.

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