Senor citizens are unquestionably among the target groups that qualify for the highest priority in terms of the transfer of ICT skills and knowledge, for the following reasons:

• Despite every effort, senior citizens are vastly underrepresented when it comes to using new technologies, the figures being even worse for women than for men
• Depending on their physical and mental condition, senior citizens could benefit most from new technologies.
• The ability to use ICT in everyday life can contribute to an independent lifestyle through the use of a great variety of tele-services such as tele-care and tele-health, tele-safety, eGovernment, eBusiness, eLearning, eInformation.
• An active life that includes the proactive acquisition of new skills and competences is the best training for mental and physical health, much more effective than reactive, deficit-oriented ex post measures.
• ICT competence assists the elderly to give their knowledge and expertise back to society, a process which is urgently needed in an ageing Europe with falling birth rates

It has become apparent that involving senior citizens in this process of transferring their knowledge to other seniors offers the best prospect of success.

Having senior citizens imparting these skills provides motivation; they are sensitive to the learning needs of the elderly; they themselves acquire a new area of activity, a new responsibility; they have the necessary free time, dedication and reliability.

More and more initiatives are appearing across Europe in which this peer-to-peer approach in elderly ICT learning is the chosen path, but there is no concerted approach for guidance and quality assurance.

However, there are considerable gaps on the pedagogical side. In most cases, the teaching skills involved with ICT and with the target group are not far-reaching enough, since most of the senior trainers have not been trainers in their professional life and, despite experience in ICT, have no experience of ICT teaching

The outcome of this project will lead to a considerable improvement in the average quality of ICT teaching carried out by the elderly.

The approach will be based on a guided and qualified empowerment of elderly people, who will, through a customised training and coaching programme, take on all their responsibilities with self-confidence and conviction.