Abstract Objectives This study aimed to perform the cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric validation of the Mindfulness Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ) for the Brazilian context, in order to offer an adequate instrument to measure adherence to mindfulness practice in mindfulness-based interventions. Method The adaptation process followed international guidelines for translation and semantic equivalence, including translation-back-translation methodology, review by an expert committee, and application in a pilot study. A convenience sample composed of 303 participants (82.61% women), aged between 22 and 73 years, was recruited online. Participants completed the Brazilian versions of the MAQ, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21), Big Five Inventory (BFI), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Construct validity was assessed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability was analyzed using Cronbach's alpha and omega coefficients. Results The factor structure showed good adequacy, with satisfactory factor loadings. Internal consistency measures were adequate. The MAQ showed positive correlations with all variables related to mindfulness and personality traits, except for anxiety and stress scores. Conclusions The Brazilian version of the MAQ demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties and the preliminary findings suggest that the MAQ shows promising evidence of validity and reliability to assess the quantity and quality of formal and informal mindfulness practice, contributing to research and the integrity of clinical practice in Brazil. Preregistration This study is not preregistered.

Purpose Guided by the Theory of Gendered Organizations and concepts of institutional isomorphism, this study aims to the maturity of gender diversity in the top management of Brazilian state-owned, publicly traded sanitation companies. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative, documentary approach analyzed corporate reports from seven sanitation companies between 2022 and 2024. A seven-indicator maturity model, grounded in literature on symbolic versus substantive representation, was developed to assess the gap between policy adoption and outcomes. Findings The findings reveal a variance in maturity, with some companies achieving “Mature” status on policy adoption while female representation remains low (averaging 20%). This exposes a significant gap between symbolic commitment and substantive change. The results suggest that embedded gendered structures and informal mechanisms like homophily persist, rendering formal policies insufficient on their own to dismantle the glass ceiling. Research limitations/implications Reliance on documentary data may not capture informal practices influencing gender equality. Practical implications The study provides a replicable framework for diversity maturity and highlights the need to move beyond policy adoption toward implementing accountability mechanisms that address informal barriers and link diversity goals to performance. Social implications By demonstrating the persistence of inequality in a sector vital for public health, it underscores the need for stronger governance to advance social justice and democratic representation in public services. Originality/value This research contributes by providing a critical analysis of diversity maturity in the context of Latin American public utilities. It refines the application of maturity models to expose the symbolic-substantive gap and advances theoretical understanding of why gendered organizations are resistant to change.

Counterfeit pharmaceuticals represent a significant and evolving threat to public health and pharmaceutical governance in India. This comprehensive narrative review examines the prevalence of counterfeit medicines across major therapeutic drug categories and analyzes the structural vulnerabilities that enable diversion within the Indian pharmaceutical supply chain. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature, policy documents, and international research, the study identifies uneven distribution of counterfeit risks, with heightened exposure observed in anti-infectives, oncology drugs, and central nervous system medicines. These high-risk categories are influenced by strong market demand, high economic value, and misuse potential. The review further highlights systemic weaknesses within India’s multi-tier distribution network, including manufacturing compliance gaps, wholesale opacity, informal retail practices, and digital marketplace expansion. Diversion mechanisms-such as warehouse theft, prescription manipulation, and parallel trade-emerge as critical pathways that blur the distinction between legitimate and illicit pharmaceutical circulation. The findings indicate that counterfeit activity in India is strategically driven by market incentives, supply chain fragmentation, and regulatory coordination challenges rather than isolated criminal acts. Emerging trends reveal increasing digitalization of counterfeit trade and convergence between diversion networks and substance misuse markets. Addressing these risks requires an integrated approach combining strengthened regulatory oversight, technological traceability systems, and improved inter-agency governance. This review underscores the need for coordinated national strategies to safeguard pharmaceutical integrity, protect patient safety, and preserve India’s global credibility as a leading supplier of generic medicines.

ABSTRACT This article traces how European mediation has repeatedly rebalanced three variables—(1) the source of mediator authority, (2) the degree of institutionalization, and (3) the operative meaning of voluntariness—from antiquity to the present. Using three periods—Proto‐Mediation (c. 500 BCE–c. 1750), Classical Mediation (c. 1750–1976), and ADR‐Era Mediation (1976–present)—it shows how authority migrated from communal standing to professional or court‐adjacent credential; how informal practice became standardized procedure; and how voluntariness shifted from social expectation to legally managed participation (sometimes via “mandatory” gateways). The analysis explains contemporary court‐connected designs as the latest turn in a long European cycle and offers a historically grounded synthesis centred on the authority–institutionalization–voluntariness triad. How have authority, institutionalization, and voluntariness been historically reconfigured in European mediation, and what do these recurrent configurations imply for the design and legitimacy of contemporary court‐connected mediation?

This study investigates whether informal engagement with special-interest content can foster the acquisition of specialised English vocabulary and how such learning is shaped by individual and experiential factors. One hundred and forty-six Italian university students, who had received only general-purpose English instruction, completed a background questionnaire, a general Vocabulary Size Test (VST), a specialised VST targeting cooking terminology (with accuracy and reaction times), and a figurative-language interpretation task. The specialised test contained 120 cooking-related items (verbs, nouns and adjectives) sampled from B1–C2 levels and presented in a four-option multiple-choice format. Results show substantial knowledge of specialised culinary vocabulary despite the absence of formal instruction, with a clear proficiency gradient and a verb advantage across levels. At lower proficiency levels, specialised scores were strongly associated with general vocabulary size and with self-reported intensity of exposure to English-language videos. Regression analyses indicated that specialised knowledge was best predicted by proficiency, reading in English and domain-specific habits (e.g., language of recipes), whereas the same variables explained little variance in general vocabulary. Reaction-time data suggested partial “automatisation” of specialised items, particularly for intermediate learners. Figurative-language performance revealed that, for many participants, specialised lexical representations were sufficiently deep to support interpretation in novel, non-literal contexts, especially when learners frequently followed recipes or watched cooking videos in English. The findings highlight both the potential and the limits of learning specialised vocabulary through informal digital practices and point to ways in which formal instruction can systematically build on learners’ extramural experiences.

The methodological aspects of conducting qualitative near-sociological studies of informal communities in the context of urban studies have been studied. The paper analyzes the research approach transformation in the study of youth groups in the historical district of Rzhevka-Porokhovye in the Krasnogvardeysky district of St. Petersburg. The object of the research is the youth communities of the district, the subject is the informal rules and patterns of their intra-group interaction. The purpose of the study is to establish and systematize a set of unspoken rules that have been used for successful implementation of the included observation method in the study of closed social groups. The study result is a consolidated methodological analysis of the basic informal rules used to implement inclusive monitoring of youth groups in a specific urban environment. This study is a generalization of the results obtained in the framework of a successfully presented Master’s thesis in Urban Planning at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow) on the topic “Urban planning factors in youth groups formation: St. Petersburg’s Rzhevka-Porokhovye district case”. The established methodology of working with complex communities is of applied importance for urban and sociological research, as well as for working with youth.

This paper aims to examine how power struggles, competing leadership logics and governance failures shaped organisational learning and crisis response in Portuguese public hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. By analysing tensions between managerial, clinical and political actors, this study explores how fragmented authority and informal leadership networks conditioned hospitals' adaptive capacity under sustained systemic pressure. This study draws on 41 semi-structured interviews with hospital managers, clinical leaders and frontline coordinators across three major public hospitals, complemented by documentary analysis of contingency plans, internal communications and official reports. A deductive thematic analysis was conducted, supported by systematic triangulation, inter-coder validation and critical incident reconstruction. Three interrelated patterns emerged: strained relationships between hospital management and central and regional authorities undermined coordination and trust; informal leadership networks developed within clinical departments to address operational bottlenecks, frequently bypassing formal hierarchies; and political interference intensified power rivalries, reducing coherence, transparency and institutional learning. Although these dynamics often constrained organisational learning, they also enabled pockets of rapid local adaptation driven by autonomous clinical leadership. This study is limited by its focus on three large hospitals in Northern Portugal, which restricts generalisation to other regions or smaller institutions. The qualitative design, although suitable for exploring governance dynamics, captures perceptions that may be influenced by hindsight bias and the exceptional pressures of the pandemic. The absence of quantitative performance indicators limits the ability to assess the measurable effects of governance tensions. Future research should incorporate mixed methods, include diverse organisational contexts and examine longitudinal integration of informal practices into formal governance and learning systems. Hospitals require governance arrangements that recognise and integrate informal leadership and frontline expertise during crises. Strengthening transparent communication channels, formalising multi-level coordination mechanisms and embedding learning processes within crisis governance frameworks are critical for enhancing resilience and leadership effectiveness. This study highlights how governance tensions during the COVID-19 pandemic affected not only hospital functioning but also the broader social experience of healthcare. Unclear authority structures and delayed decisions contributed to public uncertainty, reduced confidence in health institutions and inconsistent communication with patients. Conversely, the emergence of informal leadership networks helped sustain essential services, mitigating the social impact of system fragmentation. Strengthening crisis governance, ensuring transparent decision-making and valuing frontline expertise can improve public trust and equity in access to care during future emergencies. These insights support more socially resilient and trustworthy health systems. This study advances current understandings of crisis leadership and power dynamics in healthcare by demonstrating how national governance cultures interact with organisational learning processes and informal leadership practices during systemic shocks. Drawing on comparative and multi-level qualitative evidence from Portugal, it offers actionable insights to inform future hospital governance reforms.

ABSTRACT This article advances the third generation of expertise scholarship by exploring how expertise is produced through socio-material practices within global climate governance. The Paris Agreement commits international climate policy to be grounded in the ‘best available science,’ yet the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) lacks a formal mechanism for scientific uptake. Focusing on the expert groups established under the UNFCCC’s Warsaw International Mechanism for Climate Change Loss and Damage, the study shows that expertise is the outcome of intertwined material arrangements and social relations. Through interviews and ethnographic observations, the analysis shows how terms of reference and expert rosters formally structure who may participate, while informal relational practices enable the loss and damage Committee to selectively recruit and socialise experts. These dynamics stabilise and legitimise a contested policy area, shaping what becomes recognised as ‘global loss and damage expertise’. However, these practices also create exclusions, privileging actors aligned with UN working cultures, those perceived as politically acceptable and those able to self-fund participation. Such practices risk limiting representational diversity and constrain expert’s autonomy in shaping their work. The findings highlight the need for greater transparency and resourcing of expert groups to broaden participation and address knowledge gaps.

Purpose This study aims to explore how corporate professionals in Chinese business environments interpret the role of Guanxi in navigating ethical dilemmas, focusing on its dual nature as both a facilitator of business relationships and a source of ethical complexity. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a qualitative research design, in-depth interviews were conducted with 28 corporate professionals in China. Thematic analysis was used to identify patterns in participants’ narratives, leading to the development of two core categories: the double-edged nature of Guanxi in decision-making and the negotiating boundaries between personal ties and professional integrity. Findings The analysis reveals that professionals interpret Guanxi as a double-edged tool that strengthens trust, facilitates opportunities and sustains relational stability, while simultaneously creating risks of favoritism, distorted decisions and weakened integrity. Participants describe how relational obligations often clash with ethical principles like transparency and fairness. In practice, this tension requires professionals to set personal “red lines,” bend rules selectively or rationalize informal practices as cultural necessities. Guanxi is therefore understood not as a static cultural relic but as a dynamic compass for navigating ethical dilemmas. It enables adaptive decision-making while exposing enduring tensions between cultural obligations and organizational standards. Originality/value This study contributes to the business ethics literature by developing a culturally grounded framework that integrates social capital theory with the ethical dimensions of Guanxi. The study offers new insights into how professionals subjectively interpret Guanxi not only as a mechanism of trust and reciprocity but also as a source of ethical dilemmas, thereby filling a gap in interpretive dimensions compared to prior research that primarily examined Guanxi as a network structure, social capital resource or organizational mechanism influencing firm performance and economic outcomes. It provides practical insights for organizations to develop tailored ethical training and governance that respect cultural norms while fostering accountability in China’s market-driven economy.

Purpose Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) are critical community-based/informal financial mechanisms, especially in underserved markets. Despite their enduring relevance, ROSCAs remain underexplored. This study aims to systematically map and synthesize 50 years of ROSCA-related scholarship, highlighting intellectual structures, thematic trajectories and emerging research opportunities relevant to financial inclusion and grassroots finance. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis was conducted using 177 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Scopus from 1973 to 2024. We employed the PRISMA protocol for article selection and utilized Bibliometrix (R package) for performance, network and thematic evolution analysis. Key indicators such as citation trends, co-authorship patterns and co-word clusters were visualized and interpreted. Findings Four dominant thematic clusters emerged: (1) informal financial practices and saving behavior; (2) ROSCAs as vehicles for social capital and gender empowerment; (3) developmental finance in low-income economies and (4) trust, reciprocity and group enforcement mechanisms. The analysis also traces the field's intellectual progression from descriptive ethnographies toward theoretical and digital financial inclusion discourses. Practical implications Findings offer insights for marketers and financial service providers targeting unbanked populations. ROSCAs provide scalable models for inclusive financial innovation, relationship marketing and culturally embedded service design. This study supports the integration of ROSCAs into mobile banking, agent banking and trust-based community outreach strategies. Originality/value This is the first comprehensive bibliometric review focused exclusively on ROSCAs. By bridging informal finance and banking marketing, it offers a strategic roadmap for future academic inquiry and innovation in inclusive financial services.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of young entrepreneurship on the evolution of sustainable corporate governance in Pokhara Metropolitan City, Nepal. The study employed a mixed-methods approach and analyzed the data from 36 young entrepreneurs through a survey and semi-structured interviews with six people to evaluate the awareness, practices, and difficulties related to the modern corporate governance principles. The findings of the study show that young entrepreneurs in Pokhara Metropolitan City exhibit moderate levels of awareness of formal corporate governance principles (mean familiarity score: 3.47), with strong adherence to core operational practices. In particular, this study shows a predominant emphasis to specific area of tax compliance (mean: 4.58) and systematic financial record-keeping (mean: 4.42) and relatively less focus to the area of engagement with advanced methods, where regular stakeholder meetings (mean: 3.58) are presented. Interestingly, modernization occurs via digital tools such as significant barriers include administrative e-complications (mean: 3.75), lack of knowledge (mean: 3.25), and resource shortages (mean: 3.14). The qualitative data through interviews reveal a tension between traditional informal practices and professional models. The findings suggest a need for specific training, policy changes, and support. This study fills empirical gaps and offers implications for policymakers, educators, and business associations in creating accountable and innovative governance frameworks to enhance economic resilience and attract investors.

ABSTRACT This case study presents qualitative observations and interview data to explore the operation of an informal urban garden in Shenzhen. In contrast with formal urban horticulture practices in neighboring areas, observation reveals that grower-squatters claim usufructuary rights to engage in informal horticulture activities which are commonly transferred through informal transactions. Non-confrontational land claims, social networks governed by tacit understandings, and self-motivated recycling of resources, all rooted in informal arrangements, have collectively sustained flourishing urban horticultural practices for the past decade. Strikingly, these informal arrangements have not only endured but consistently outperformed adjacent formal community gardens, which, despite official sanction and investment, fell into neglect. Such informal practices can contribute to the development of sustainable, self-organizing urban gardens in megacities.

The advertising industry has transitioned into a highly fragmented and dynamic environment, yet the nature of conflict within agency-client relationships remains under-researched, particularly in transitional markets. While literature extensively covers “success factors,” there is a notable gap in under standing the pragmatic, day-to-day conflict resolution strategies employed by practitioners. This study ex plores how advertising practitioners in Romania perceive the causes of conflict and identifies the informal practices used to prevent, manage, and resolve these tensions. Specifically, it examines the “expectation-ex pertise asymmetry” that characterizes modern digital advertising services. Using an exploratory qualita tive design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Romanian advertising professionals. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis framework. Findings reveal five dominant themes: (1) an epistemic gap where execution-level practitioners view academic theory as dis connected from rapid digital shifts; (2) a pervasive “expectation asymmetry” driven by “dreamer” clients seeking instant ROI; (3) the emergence of “technical translation” as a critical relationship-maintenance tool; (4) the proactive use of value-based boundaries to protect agency reputation; and (5) a deliberate shift from creative logic to contractual pragmatism during conflict resolution. The study concludes that conflict stems from role ambiguity and technical knowledge gaps. It identifies the Account Manager as a critical “boundary spanner” and informal media tor. By bridging conflict theory with practitioner-led solutions, this research contributes to a grounded understanding of how professional service relationships are sustained in emerging European markets. Keywords: Advertising agency, agency-client relationships, conflict management, account management, Romania, qualitative research, thematic analysis.

Purpose This study aims to examine supply chain resilience (SCR) in the defence industry by mapping supply-side, demand-side and internal risk dimensions and corresponding mitigation strategies disclosed by seven publicly listed defence firms over 2014–2024. Drawing on Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), the study introduces the Strategic Risk and Resilience Roadmap (S3R) to explain how firms use bridging and buffering to manage evolving resource dependencies. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a longitudinal qualitative content analysis of annual reports. It combines artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted extraction using large language models (LLMs), iterative prompt engineering and manual cross-validation against source reports to categorise risks, trace mitigation strategies and track shifts in disclosed mitigation postures across three disruption eras: Baseline (2014–2019), Pandemic (2020–2021) and Emerging Risk (2022–2024). Findings Firms adapt SCR by rebalancing bridging and buffering as resource dependencies change across disruption eras. In the Baseline era, firms rely mainly on bridging to stabilise external dependencies; during the Pandemic, they scale buffering to protect continuity under acute shocks; from 2022, they combine to adopt a hybrid posture as constraints persist and multiply. Supplier capacity and availability dominate post-2022 and customer-side risk reorients from funding uncertainty to delivery–performance exposure during ramp-ups. S3R traces a path-dependent process in which shifts in resource dependence drive risk reassessment, posture recalibration and learning that strengthens SCR over time. Research limitations/implications While based on publicly available reports and AI-extracted content, the analysis may omit informal or undisclosed practices. Future research should triangulate findings with interviews and firm-level performance metrics to deepen the insights. Originality/value This paper applies a longitudinal, AI-assisted qualitative content analysis of annual reports across supply-side, demand-side and internal risk dimensions, and it extends RDT into SCR by revealing dynamic bridging and buffering cycles across three disruption eras. It offers theoretical insight into the temporal evolution of defence SCR and a practical, multi-dimensional diagnostic framework.

Robust evidence confirms that physical activity (PA) levels among older people who live in care homes are considerably lower than those who live in their own homes. Low PA in care homes may reduce independence, function, and quality of life. To explore social ecological factors that influence PA facilitation in care homes. Focussed ethnographic study informed by social ecological models in five care homes for older people comprising 54 h of non-participant observation and 15 in-depth interviews with care workers. Observations focused on key interactions between staff and residents, the daily routines of care homes, and the physical environment. Interviews were informed by observations and sought explanations for observed behaviour. Data were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. The findings show how care workers' perceived roles, identity, and sense of purpose influenced how (or if) PA was facilitated. The study identified blurred role boundaries between formal and informal care practices in relation to PA. Blurred role boundaries led to a continuum between formal and informal PA facilitation practices that were mediated by intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational and physical environmental factors. Formal roles in PA promotion were defined by their explicit inclusion in job descriptions, for example, staff employed as activity coordinators, and were highly demarcated leading to limited interprofessional collaboration among care workers regarding PA. Conversely, informal roles reflected how recognising and creating incidental opportunities to promote PA occurred for all staff as they enacted their roles during day-to-day work. Social spaces in the care home physical environment acted as destinations that encouraged walking and incidental PA, especially when supported by staff creativity and encouragement. These findings provide evidence to support the transformation of care worker roles in a way that emphasises PA facilitation as a key part of the role. Care home staff, residents, and family members contributed to the design of the observation topic guide and the practical procedures to implement the observation element of the ethnography. Member checking of the themes with two care home managers and three members of care home staff that were participants in the study was conducted to obtain feedback on the findings.

Consequences that matter: Community insights from the Southwestern Puerto Rico Seismic Sequence

International studies report that teachers increasingly seek safety through compliance rather than pursue professional autonomy. Yet what remains insufficiently explored is the way in which teachers inhabit imposed educational policies without adhering to their intended logic. This article mobilizes Michel Foucault’s concept of counter-conduct and Karen Barad’s diffractive reading to analyze multiple enactments of everyday resistance through an empirical case of a South Korean teacher. By diffractively reading qualitative data drawn from a teacher’s experiences within state-led educational policies, this article reveals how a teacher’s day-to-day counter-conduct emerges through material and discursive entanglements. This article foregrounds the subtle and informal practices through which teachers inhabit power differently. It advocates creating new spaces for unheard or unvoiced empirical cases of teachers’ everyday resistance within contemporary educational reforms.

Land disputes constitute a persistent and destabilising governance challenge in Puntland, Somalia, driven by weak land administration systems, contested public land allocations, and widespread informal occupation. In contexts where enforcement mechanisms are limited, such disputes can escalate into organised violence and large-scale displacement, undermining social cohesion and local governance structures. This study examines the scale, dynamics, and implications of land disputes in Puntland, particularly their impact on governance systems and social stability. To address these dimensions, the study adopts a qualitative research design, framed as a program evaluation with a case-oriented analytical approach, drawing on numerous data sources, including analysis of unpublished training and field reports from seven districts, and key informant interviews with purposively selected local government officials, judicial actors, land conflict management committee members, and community representatives who participated in the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs, and Democratization of Puntland interventions. In addition, a case study of the Sheerbi conflict is used to illustrate the dynamics and severity of land disputes. Through this integrated design, the study assesses how these interventions have influenced local dispute resolution practices, mediation processes, and compliance with Puntland’s Urban Land Management Law (Law No. 2 of 25 August 2020). Data were analysed using thematic content analysis to identify recurring patterns and institutional challenges. The findings indicate that land disputes remain among the most critical drivers of instability in Puntland. These conflicts often stem from the absence of effective state control over land governance, contestation over public land allocations, and the prevalence of informal settlement practices involving individuals who are often involved with armed actors capable of mobilising. In some instances, the public officials, particularly those serving as mayors or executive secretaries within local governments, are among the primary actors involved in land grabbing and as major beneficiaries of illicit land accumulation, contributing to governance deficits. The study highlights the need for reforms to strengthen land governance systems, including the digitalisation of land registration processes, enhanced community engagement mechanisms, alignment and enforcement of local by-laws with state legislation, and setting up systematic land dispute incident reporting frameworks. These measures are critical to promoting sustainable conflict resolution and long-term stability in land administration.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) reported 93% completion of private house reconstruction after Nepal’s 2015 earthquake, but this achievement largely ignored local building cultures and community needs. Uniform enforcement of building codes and “Build Back Better” guidelines led to standardized concrete “grant houses” that often failed to reflect climate adaptation, livelihoods, social organization, economic capacity, or cultural practices. Many households view these houses as temporary and are modifying them informally, often without technical support. With the end of NRA, ongoing reconstruction relies heavily on untrained masons and informal practices, increasing vulnerability. The 2023 Jajarkot earthquake exposed persistent construction flaws, limited code compliance, and weak dissemination of earthquake-resistant knowledge. Traditional stone-and-mud housing was mistakenly blamed for failures, accelerating inappropriate adoption of industrial materials. Poor land-use governance and unresolved land ownership further compounded risks. Drawing on a decade of experience, ASF Nepal highlights lessons from community-based, socio-technical reconstruction programs that integrate local knowledge, skills, and livelihoods to achieve safer, culturally rooted, and sustainable housing outcomes.

ABSTRACT This paper explores the still under-researched implications of the migration – aging nexus for adult education and learning, drawing on the perspective of a caring society that positions care as integral to democratic life. It argues that theoretical frameworks and social movements – including care-democratic, care-revolutionary, and convivialist approaches – offer powerful insights for rethinking how adult education and civic learning can empower older migrants, foster active citizenship, and promote social inclusion. Highlighting the complex intersectional vulnerabilities faced by older migrants – including socioeconomic disadvantages, racism, ageism, and limited access to care – the paper emphasizes the need to move beyond deficit perspectives and to recognize their contributions as active, caring citizens through informal practices and community-based engagement. Adult education plays a critical role in supporting the development of relational, civic, and transformative competences and in co-creating participatory learning spaces where care and democracy can be practiced and expanded. The paper concludes by calling for more research on the migration – aging nexus and by underlining the value of integrating care ethics into educational frameworks. This has significant implications for policy and practice: it advocates for public spaces as inclusive learning environments that strengthen older migrants’ participation in community life and help build democratic structures centered on care. Positioning civic learning as a caring practice, the paper contributes to redefining adult education as a lever for solidarity, social justice, and democratic renewal in diverse societies.