Gulbenkian Foundation: Transitions in Later Life

Overview

They welcome proposals from organisations registered in the UK or Republic of Ireland that have an active interest in advancing practice in mental wellbeing for people in later life. The Foundation has a preference for building on current knowledge and expertise and the provision of support for the adaptation and development of existing products.

They intend to test the efficacy of, and the effectiveness of particular approaches to building emotional resilience. The Foundation believe that building emotional resilience can improve wellbeing and strengthen older people's ability to deal with threats to their wellbeing including for example, the risk of loneliness.

They are interested in initiatives and/or models from which we can learn more about resilience building in later life and which have the potential to be scaled and/or replicated.

What are they offering?

This is not a conventional funding programme but rather a capacity-building initiative.

The successful projects will receive practical support, with some financial assistance towards implementation. They aim to help selected organisations adapt their work, experiment with 'next practice', maximise their impact and increase understanding in the field overall.

Eligibility Criteria

Organisations eligible for support must demonstrate:

• An understanding of the issue by showing how their proposed initiative/activity addresses gaps in knowledge and fulfils the criteria they have already identified as important (read section 4.5 of Transitions in Later Life: Summary of Research and Consultation).
• Significance experience in working to support adults around mental and emotional wellbeing using techniques such as mindfulness, cognitive behavioural techniques, positive psychology etc. (preference will be given to organisations that use more than one practice and work with adults in pre-retirement)
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working
• A willingness to work with fellow project cohort members to build their capacity as well as generate learning for the field
• Experience of co-design and/or meaningful consultation with older people
• A commitment to evaluation and sharing learning

How will it work?

They expect to work with 5-10 projects from a total budget of approx. £150,000. The notional amount dedicated to each project for both potential implementation and consultancy support is therefore in the region of £25,000. However, resources may not be evenly distributed as some projects may have less need for support than others. Selected organisations will be brought together as a cohort periodically to share learning. The initiative will last approximately 6-9 months beginning in December 2015 with the possibility that they will identify a very limited number of projects with exceptional potential for impact identified for further development and support.