Austria The city of Graz, the capital of Styria, is the second largest city in Austria and home to about 226.000 inhabitants. All in all, 22.8 per cent of the total population are older than 60 years. During the last 30 years, there has been done a lot to help the elderly, e.g. by building a new Geriatric Center, establishing two Day-Care-Centers, providing a wide range of services (e.g. Seniorcard, Meals on Wheals for disabled people, Sunday afternoon programme) and investing enormous sums for the welfare of the senior citizens.

In 1996, the city of Graz opened the first "Seniors office" in Austria. The "Seniors office" is an institution of the city of Graz (Department for Social Affairs) for all older people and aims to enable initiatives from seniors to seniors (e.g. Internetcafé for Seniors, Cultural Meeting Point, English Talk Table and Parliamo Italiano, Women´s Discussion) and to interlink private and public offers. It addresses two target groups: seniors who are interested in activities & involvement and lonesome, elderly people in the need of care. Municipality of Graz/SeniorInnenbüro:
The government of Graz is promoter of an active social policy in the regional capital of Styria. The focus of this policy is on empowerment and self-determination, especially of the most vulnerable groups. The SeniorInnenbüro der Stadt Graz, as a department of the local government, is responsible for older citizens. The Seniorenbüro is a platform for public and private services for older people and acts in a networking function. The SeniorInnenbüro strongly promotes civic engagement and participation of older citizens and supports initiatives taken by older persons for older persons. Federal Ministry of Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection, Vienna (associated partner):
The Federal Ministry for social security, generations and consumer protection is responsible for social security, consumer protection, disabled people, families, young people and older citizens in Austria. Given the working areas of the Ministry, special attention is given to demographic changes and their consequences for the living situation of older people and - amongst those - the socially most vulnerable groups, e.g. people in need of support and care. One of the Ministry's major focuses of work is to promote and further develop civic engagement in Austria. The Ministry has been working in and has led numerous initiatives to strengthen civic engagement in general and has actively contributed to projects supporting civic engagement and participation of older citizens. queraum, cultural- & social research, Vienna:
queraum. cultural & social research. is experienced in the co-ordination of and participation in European projects. The main fields of work are: Empowerment and participation of socially excluded groups (e.g. people with disabilities, the elderly), volunteering, care for the elderly, quality of social services and new social partnerships. Another focus of the work is the evaluation of projects and European programmes.