- According to the Tsunami Latam study, aging in Latin America is growing by leaps and bounds and projects to the “silver generation” the great challenge of a more productive longevity and greater well-being.
- Generation Plateada Scholarships will award 100,000 scholarships in virtual courses at the Romero Campus to people over 50 years of age in order to update their knowledge and enhance their employability.
Lima, August 22, 2023. Having fewer and fewer children and being a population mainly of adults over 50 years of age is a reality that also reaches Latin America. According to the Tsunami Latam study, the region faces accelerated aging, projecting that by 2050, 27.5% of the population on this continent will be over 60 years old and will have to face a more productive longevity.
Thus, in a context in which adults over 50 years of age will need to remain current in the world of work, the Silver Generation Scholarships initiative was born, an alliance between the Romero Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE), which unites efforts for the well-being and economic inclusion of this generation.
Through this program, 100,000 scholarships will be awarded in virtual courses designed to strengthen the entrepreneurial skills and work competencies of those over 50 years of age, preparing them to face the challenges of the work of the future and enhance their employability.
This initiative has as its background Campus 50+, a platform developed by the Romero Foundation and the IDB – with the academic methodology of the Romero Campus – that was created to identify training gaps in the silver generation, train them to improve their employability and raise awareness among the human resources areas of companies and public institutions on the possibilities of intergenerational work and the potential in the work of those over 50 years of age. To date, more than 4 thousand people have been assisted and accompanied in this process.
“At the Romero Foundation we have a commitment to the families of Peru. We want to help them through virtual education, to be more employable and have a success story. With the Silver Generation Scholarships we continue to add to the more than 1.5 million scholarships in virtual courses on the Romero Campus that we have delivered since 2020. But we also reinforce our commitment to education for all. The Silver Generation Scholarships are a step towards building a more inclusive society, in which experience and knowledge are recognized as valuable assets, and thus this generation continues to be a source of wisdom and experience, in addition to contributing actively and productive to the development of the country,” said Martín Pérez, executive director of the Romero Foundation.
“Although Latin America and the Caribbean is perceived as a region of vibrant youth, we cannot ignore that 11% of its inhabitants have already crossed the 60-year-old barrier. As time goes by, this figure will grow, contributing to an unprecedented rate of aging globally. But in this transition, we not only see challenges; We also identified great opportunities. We see an era where the knowledge of our older population will translate into productive longevity and will contribute to economic development. At the IDB, through our innovation laboratory BID Lab, we not only visualize this future, but we actively work to materialize it, which is why we seek to create collaborative ecosystems in the Silver Economy with our program in Peru, with Fundación Romero, and now we add the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion,” said Ezequiel Cambiasso, AI representative of the IDB in Peru.
“This valuable collaboration between the MTPE, the Romero Foundation and the IDB has the purpose of supporting the silver generation that has contributed significantly to our country for many years. And that, in addition, today it has the unconditional support of the State and private companies to continue in its career, recognizing that life does not follow a single direction, but that it is enriched over the years through experience as an invaluable treasure that should not be forgotten. For this reason, we invite all adults over 50 years of age to train in the Silver Generation Scholarships to continue expanding their knowledge and enhancing their capabilities,” said Fernando Valera, Minister of Labor and Employment Promotion.
How to access the courses
The courses offered through the Silver Generation Scholarships program are organized into 7 learning routes: Change Management and Digital Transformation, Office Mastery, Soft Skills, Employability and Reintegration into the Labor Market, Effective Communication, Start Selling, Intergenerational Learning and Personal development.
Registration for the scholarships will be open from August 22, 2023 and to access the following steps must be followed:
- Go to www.becasgruporomero.pe
- Click on the red button at the top that says “Sign up for scholarships” and complete the form.
- In the form, in the Agreement section, choose “MTPE Generation Silver”.
Silver generation and its rapid growth in the region
Silver Generation is the term used to refer to the population made up of people over 50 years of age, who, thanks to advances in medicine, today have a life expectancy higher than that of previous generations, and therefore, the need of more productive longevity.
According to the Tsunami Latam study, in Latin America between 1950 and 2018, the region “added almost 25 years to its life expectancy.” But, in addition, the birth rate between 1950 and 2020 fell from 6.1 to 2.2 children born alive per woman. This means that in the next 30 years, the percentage of Latin Americans over 65 years of age will double, reaching 18% of the total population, thus transforming the economic dynamics and the composition of the region’s workforce.
In Peru, according to a study by Emprende UP, there are more than 6.5 million adults who are between 50 and 70 years old, and who already represent 24% of the total population. In fact, even more important is to take into account that more than half of the households in Peru (54%) have a person aged 50 or older as the head of the household, whose plans for 2023 – according to this same study – there was starting a business (28%), continuing to work independently (25%), getting a job as a dependent (12%) or continuing to work as a dependent (11%).
Thus, the silver generation is a group of people that already represents an important part of our population, who not only must be trained to provide them with tools for a professional boost, but also requires a view of public and market policies. that meet their needs and contribute to the creation of well-being.
