Being Digitally Savvy Empowers Seniors To Remain Connected And Engaged
We equip seniors with digital skills as a means to overcome isolation and loneliness as they age
Our Story
Pre-Covid, Empower Ageing, a registered charity that is recognised by the government as an Institution of a Public Character, ran daily exercise classes for seniors at different Senior Activity Centres (SACs) around Singapore.
When the Circuit Breaker hit in 2020, the team was faced with this question: How can we continue bringing community into the homes of seniors when seniors are not able to come out?
That began Empower Ageing's journey into the space of engaging seniors by digital means. Its online programme, the SilverSurfers Initiative, started off as a WhatsApp group chat which sent out daily exercise videos. Over time, as more seniors all across Singapore started joining the group, a Telegram channel was created to accommodate the ongoing increase in numbers.
The SilverSurfers Initiative Telegram channel has since grown to almost 1,000 seniors and runs a senior-centric programme that includes interactive contests, educational content and even nostalgic songs from the past.
In 2021, Empower Ageing partnered with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) under the Digital for Life movement and successfully piloted a teaching method to engage senior learners in picking up digital skills.
Riding on the success of its the pilot, the SilverSurfers Initiative has gotten further support from IMDA to scale its programme in 2023 and 2024. It will be running group digital classes in SACs as well as a Values In Action (VIA) programme for schools that will see students teaching their grandparents digital skills.
By bringing the generations together to help seniors to become more digitally savvy, Empower Ageing hopes to build Singapore into a good city to grow old in, and a good city to grow up in.
Our Mission
To end senior isolation and disconnectedness, one digital skill at a time.
Our Programme
The SilverSurfers Initiative consists of three components:
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Meet Our Team
Fun fact: The SilverSurfers Team is a highly intergenerational one, consisting of people from their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s!
Other than diversity in age, the team also combines a rich spectrum of experiences from the startup, social service and corporate sectors. The varying perspectives and strengths from these different backgrounds and generations bring together a unique synergy - the older generation brings the insights of what a senior needs, and the younger generation utilises best practices and technology to build the solutions!
We are always looking for people with similar vision and relevant experience to grow the strength of the team. Interested to see how you can contribute? Drop us a note and we would love to chat!