Summary
Age Friendly Ireland is a shared service embedded in local government. This service provides support and guidance to all 31 local authorities across the country, in developing their Age Friendly Programmes. Since 2009, every local authority has committed to developing as Age Friendly counties and cities. Age Friendly Ireland works in partnership with the Irish Government, and the public, private, and NGO sectors to prepare Ireland for population ageing and to address older peoples issues under the eight themes of the WHO's Age Friendly Programme. Age Friendly Ireland's work contributes to lasting and sustainable improvements in peoples lives by: focusing on how environments and buildings are designed to be age friendly; working with elected members and all public sector agencies to change how they deliver services; working with the business community so that they are more aware of the needs of older consumers; developing appropriate networks and structures; creating widespread awareness of population ageing and older peoples issues.
Planning and Implementation
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What was the challenge you were trying to address?
As a response to an increase in worldwide population ageing, the WHO published a vision document, and in Ireland, our response was that local authorities, also known as municipalities, would lead the rollout of a dedicated National Age Friendly Programme. Age Friendly Ireland's main goal was to identify and establish a structure that would build very strong links between the public, private and NGO sectors and older people, providing support, advice and sharing of learnings and to develop a model of international Age Friendly best practice. At a national level, the Age Friendly programme is dedicated to improving the lives of older people through collaboration, and co-design of solutions to issues raised by older people.
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Who were you trying to impact?
Older people in general, Older people with chronic health conditions or disability, Older people with vulnerabilities, Both older and younger people
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What sectors were you targeting?
Education, Health, Housing, Information and Communication, Labour, Social protection, Transportation, Urban development
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Who else was involved?
Government, Civil Society Organization, Older People's Association, Academia, Health Care, Social Care, Private Sector
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How did older people participate?
Older people were part of the process at multiple or all stages
Lessons learned
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Please describe how collaboration worked in your initiative.
Collaboration has been key to the success we have achieved since our programme rolled out in 2009. Our success is a direct result of the collaboration that has taken place at local, regional and national level. The Age Friendly Programme at national level has established a National Advisory Group. This group is chaired by the Chief Executive of Meath County Council who hosts the National Shared Service. Membership consists of the Assistant Secretary from five Government departments, they are, the Department of Housing Heritage and Local Government, the Dept. of Health, the Department of Transport, and the Department of Rural & Community Development. They are joined on the National Advisory Group by a National Director from the Health Service Executive, An assistant commissioner from an Garda Siochana (Police), the Chief Executive of Chambers Ireland, National Dementia Awareness Campaign and the National Chair of Age Friendly Alliances. The Age Friendly National Advisory Group provides governance, oversight, strategic direction and advice in relation to the overall programme achieving its goals and objectives. They provide guidance and advice where local implementation & best practices can influence national policy on a cross departmental basis and seek to integrate the Programme into existing structures and consider how best to align with other relevant national policies and plans. The National Advisory Group ensures the Age Friendly Programme achieves its strategic objectives and ensures expenditure is in line with budget. With this level of government support, Age Friendly Ireland's future is secure.
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What was the impact of your initiative on older people, their families, and/or their communities?
31 Older Peoples Executives: Working with the support of the local Programme Manager to engage in the Age Friendly Programme at local, national and international level. Giving them a voice at Government level. 31 Housing Technical Advisors: Working with older people to develop housing suitable to their long term needs. To provide advice on a one to one basis on housing options for older people. Public Realm: Older People are actively involved in the development of towns as age friendly. Having their say on the built environment as it affects them in their every day lives. Volunteering: Greater levels of volunteering among older people than any other age group. Direct access to five Government Departments by the OPE national network established as part of the Age Friendly Programme. Positive impact on older peoples health and well-being, as a result of engagement with the array of initiatives rolled out across the country.
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What issues did you face, and how did you address them?
The transition from being a philanthropically funded programme to being embedded in the Local Government system was a huge challenge, however, the structure we had in place with our older people at its centre meant that the transition happened without issue. Once our embedding process was completed, it was business as usual for the older peoples councils and Executives, and the collaboration that had previously taken place continued. Low staffing levels in the early days also meant that we had to depend on volunteers from our older people to ensure attendance at events, meetings and conferences.
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What lessons did you learn from implementing this initiative?
"Nothing about us without us" became the mantra of our older people. Their inclusion in initiatives from the planning stage right through to completion and launch (Age Friendly (AF) Airport, AF Towns, AF Parking, Suite of nine AF housing documents among others) showed us clearly that we were working with strong articulate independent older people who were happy to have their voice heard at government level, and were happy that they had the ability to influence national policy.
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Do you have any other reflections you would like to share?
In Ireland, we want to be prepared for the future. We recognise that our population of older people is increasing year on year, and that there will be increasing demand on services into the future. We also recognise that older people today have higher expectations to be involved, to be heard and included. While it is necessary to plan for services, we are also focusing on the opportunities that an ageing society brings. Older people are a resource for their communities and their inclusion will enrich the communities they represent.