Education Taiwan Project #50867

50+ Empowerment | Helping Seniors Thrive in Taiwan

by The Mustard Seed Mission

Project Report | Mar 22, 2024
Flourishing in the Silver Age

By Denny Chou | Supervisor, International Mktg Resource Centre

Taiwan has entered an era of rapid population ageing, posing both challenges and opportunities. The Mustard Seed Mission is at the forefront of addressing this issue through its innovative "Elderly Empowerment Program." This initiative offers comprehensive and personalised assistance to the elderly, guiding them through the intricacies of retirement, reigniting their zest for life, and enabling them to make impactful contributions to the community.

The program recognises that retirement is not an end, but a new beginning. It offers a series of engaging workshops and courses that cover key areas of life, including career planning, health management, and personal development. These sessions encourage seniors to reflect on their goals, develop new skills, and build a fulfilling retirement plan.

Mr. Cheng, a former tourism worker, faced unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Devastated but determined, he enrolled in the program's career exploration course. Through insightful discussions, expert guidance, and one-on-one career counselling, Mr. Cheng gained a fresh perspective on the job market. He successfully found a new job that leverages his experience and skills, regaining a sense of purpose and financial security.

Lian, a 59-year-old retired nurse, took on the responsibility of raising her three grandchildren after her son encountered family difficulties. Despite her love for her grandchildren, financial constraints weighed heavily on her mind. The program offered her a lifeline, providing her with training in coffee making and barista skills at Seed Dream 50+, a social enterprise cafe. Lian now works part-time at the cafe, earning an income while honing her newfound skills. She exudes confidence and pride, remarking, "I never thought I could learn new things at my age! I feel rejuvenated and empowered."

The Mustard Seed Mission's Elderly Empowerment Program is a beacon of hope, illuminating a path to empowerment and fulfilment for seniors. By supporting this program, you can help transform the lives of countless individuals, enabling them to thrive in the Silver Age and contribute to their communities.

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Nov 17, 2023
Third Act in Life for Senior

By Chou Chia-Yi | Project Leader

It is estimated, by 2025, the population of Taiwan with age above 65 is to exceed 20%. Along with the rapid pace of aging population, the lack of work force and elder care services will become potential social issues. The Mustard Seed Mission (MSM) shares the same concerns that the cumulative middle-aged and elderly people will eventually migrate into the pool of aging population, hence, it takes initiative to help create job opportunities for the elders, and encourage the continuous pursuit of self-realization, hoping through all this development of new sense of self, they don’t need to rely on services from long term care centers as they grow older. On the 29th, together with "PlayMe Doll's Home", it held the first "Senior Play Gathering Station" opening ceremony at the Longshan Cultural and Creative Base in Wanhua District, Taipei City.

MSM has been caring for the disadvantaged and underprivileged children for a long time, furthermore, it starts promotion of the " 50+ Elderly Empowerment " program in 2020. Through a variety of courses, the retirees get to return to the labor market or social work service field. And, the Vocational Training Center, one of MSM ground is located in Hualien, which workshop used to be an important base to cultivate indigenous youth. This year, this ground transforms to become a workplace for the elders to help senior indigenous women learn weaving and baking techniques, not only to pass on traditional skills, but to help produce family income.

MSM also proactively proposes to enterprises to create a workplace-friendly environment for middle-aged and elderly people. The "Seniors Play Gathering Station" was held at the Longshan Cultural and Creative Base in Wanhua District. Wanhua is the area with the highest numbers of elderly people in Taipei City. MSM successfully trained 7 trainees to reenter job market. The content of job is redesigned to suit the physical conditions of middle-aged and elderly people. Aiming to create an age-friendly environment, the newly designed jobs allow flexible working hours with easy-to-learn work content. Considering all these variables and piece them together, noticeably, the confidence of elder participants is enhanced and able to re-embrace the employment.

Tiffany, who used to be a substitute teacher after retiring from working at a trading company. By chance, she participated a part-time job exchange program in Hualien Art Institute, and further joined the work of the seniors' play gathering station. Tiffany said that many companies do not understand the working status or physical constraint of middle-aged and elderly people. Mustard Seed Mission plays an important role as a bridge to properly communicate with companies and alternatively design a 4-hour guided tour, 3-day-a-week work schedule. The physical requirement of this job for a 62-year-old person like her is suitable. This tour provides her with the opportunity to cooperate with the younger generation. She believes that as long as she demonstrates her professionalism, she can learn from each other and share knowledge with young people.

Ms. Xie, the manager of this exhibition, after retiring from the public sector last year, saw the job opportunity of " 50+ Elderly Empowerment" from MSM over the Internet. Although she had no exhibition experience, she is courageous enough to sign up. From her previous rigorous and standardized workflows to this exhibition job which requires creativity, she said: "Maybe after retirement, I have rediscovered another part of myself, full of innocence hidden deeply in my soul." She also admitted that the previous routine in life makes her stay in a comfort zone for quite some time. It is stressful for her at the beginning of re-employment, but soon she is able to happily embrace challenges. She very much agrees with the concept of curation and is also eager to try new things and seek more opportunities to interact with people.

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Jul 27, 2023
The Original Intention

By Chia-Yi Chou | Project Leader

"Can my profession really help others?", "How should I set plan on my Third Act?" Many people who come to 50+ Elderly Empowerment programs will have such questions. We started conducting the senior leader training courses in 2022 to help middle-aged and elderly partners move towards their Third Act. "New York Times" best-selling author David Brook recommended people who want to cross over to the next phase of life, should focus on the concept of "serving people" and "helping others" as a career mindset.

The senior leader training starts with building the mindset. They are different from general volunteers doing assigned volunteer work. The senior leader training courses are mainly to extend their professions into services. In the training courses, the professions will be designed and made into a series of courses that can be taught and shared. At the same time, it provides training to the senior leaders to speak on stage and accompany them all the way from scratch to become professional trainers who know how to make teaching materials, speak in front of people, and share skills and knowledge with others in an effective way.

Different from other lecturers who aim to make profits from where they are getting jobs, senior leaders mainly serve disadvantaged groups, such as disadvantaged youths and families. They also help aboriginal families to stand on their own and provide what they know to fit the community's needs. The rural tribes served by the MSM often difficult to find trainers due to the remote locations. In 2022, our senior leaders with financial backgrounds headed to remote villages to provide financial management classes for aboriginal families, such as household income and expenditure investigation, income and expenditure control, and financial investment management. They assisted aboriginal families to build a stable financial cash flow to ensure their children could live under a stable financial status.

By sharing life experiences, senior leaders even help disadvantaged youths broaden their horizons. On May 8, there was an online "Two Generations Talk" and it made good conversations between senior leaders and youths. Senior leader, Wang Lili shared her career transition, and youths asked questions about the workplace where Lili had worked in. Through the conversations, youths could see the world that Lili had experienced. It is helpful for youths to know the unknown world through the senior leaders’ sharing. Moreover, it makes two generations more understanding of each other.

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