The Ageing and Development Programme’s (formerly Global Education) main aim is to:
Develop a constituency of support on ageing and development issues in Ireland

Our two main objectives are to:

o        Raise awareness with older people and aid agencies about the position of older people across the globe, and

o        Work on development policy and practice with aid agencies which reflects the interests and needs of older people in the third world, or as it now sometimes called, the global south

Background

The Programme was launched on UN International Day of Older Persons October 1st 2009. It is part of a bigger programme funded by Irish Aid and operating through our international partner HelpAge International. This larger programme funds advocacy work with older people in Colombia, Ghana, Uganda and Jamaica.

In Ireland the programme funds one part time Development Officer. The target groups for the Irish programme have been development policy makers, older people living in Ireland and Age Action as an organisation.  

Our work in 2009/2010

This was the first pilot phase of the programme and focused on a range of awareness raising initiative across the country. The work included:

o        An awareness raising workshop with Irish Aid in February 2010

o        The development of an Education Pack which was used extensively throughout the year in workshop settings

o        A joint photographic exhibition with the Latin American Solidarity Centre on The Role of Older People in Ireland and Latin America in Food Security

o        An awareness raising workshop with older people jointly with Waterford One World centre

o        An awareness raising workshop focused on older people in Latin America during Latin American Week.

o        A major international Conference on UN International Day of older persons October 1st 2010 which attracted the Minister of Overseas Aid, Peter power TD and other international speakers

o        A Comhlámh debate on valuing older people in the global south and global north.

Our Work in 2011.

While our focus for 2010 was awareness raising, our main focus in 2011 was developing a series of actions relating to older people. The primary themes of the work focused on policy development relating to (a) the Millennium Development Goals/Beyond 2015/Madrid Plan of Action and (b) Hunger.

Based on our experience of working with older people in 2010, and on their identified interests we aimed to:

o        Develop base data and systems to establish a linking scheme between older people in Ireland and the global south

o        Develop and disseminate more widely development education material.

o        Develop a Positive Ageing Photo pack for use in workshop setting

o        Develop short Information Sheets on key development issues which look at these through the lens of older people.

o        Develop the section of the website into a useful resource both for older people concerned about global justice issues and for aid agencies developing policy and practice on older people

o        Develop an eNewsletter focused on older people and global justice issues.

o        Work with a small number of aid agencies to develop the visibility of older people in development policy and practice

o        Develop ‘Age Proofing’ Guidelines

o        Deliver a series of workshops which engage older people in the policy processes of the Millennium Development Goals/Beyond 2015, linking in the review of the Madrid Platform of Action on Ageing (2012) and the option of a Convention on the rights of older people