Involving older citizens in monitoring governments' progress

As older people celebrate the 2002 International Day of Older Persons on 1 October, they face the challenge of ensuring that governments live up to the goals set in the International Plan of Action on Ageing

Six months after the Second World Assembly on Ageing agreed a new International Plan of Action, HelpAge International is launching a long-term programme to involve older people in citizen monitoring, to track how governments, international bodies and local authorities are acting on the commitments they made.

The International Plan of Action acknowledges for the first time older people's right to development. It calls for their inclusion in poverty eradication measures, and community-based support for their health and well being.

But no extra funding is being allocated to meet these goals. It will be up to older people in their local communities and citizen's organisations to lobby governments to make practical changes in budgets and development programmes.

A key aim of the monitoring project, which is funded by the UK's Department of International Development, is to ensure that older people's rights to a fair share of development resources and public services are being respected.

It will strengthen poor older people's ability to participate in national decision-making processes, especially relating to plans for reducing poverty. It will also support the development of older people's groups to monitor the implementation of the Madrid Plan.

Older people already active
Older people's organisations are already active in lobbying their governments in a number of countries.

In Bolivia, a new Vice Ministry for Older Persons has just been created. Its task is to follow up on the commitments made in Madrid, especially to combat social exclusion of older people and ensure their rights to healthcare and economic security.

In the October 1 celebrations in the Philippines, older people will raise banners saying "Pass the Magna Carta Now!" The proposed "Magna Carta" for older persons includes establishing a National Council for older persons. Lobbying by older people's organisations has raised the representation of older people on the proposed Council from 25 to 60 per cent, with government representatives making up 40 per cent.

HelpAge Kenya has been actively involved with the Kenya government in developing a national policy on older persons. Older people's rights have also been raised as an issue for the Constitutional Review Commission.

The project
The first step in the HelpAge project will be to identify policy makers, groups and networks already engaged in policy monitoring, and successful methods already used to inform older people of their rights and engage them in dialogue with policy makers.

Pilot citizen monitoring projects will then be established in five countries - Bangladesh, Bolivia, Jamaica, Kenya and Tanzania. Older people will be involved in monitoring activities at community, national and regional level, initially over a two-year period. They will discuss their findings with policy makers and agree follow-up action.

For example, in Tanzania, older peoples' groups are planning to monitor whether local taxes, which include a 10 per cent allocation for women, are including older women. In districts such as Karagwe and Kigoma, where older people have been made a priority group, they will monitor how the specific allocation for older people is being used.

A critical element in the project is to develop processes and tools that older people and others to can use to assess whether governments are delivering the commitments they made at the Second World Assembly on Ageing.

More information: Alex Bush or Mark Gorman, HelpAge International, PO Box 32832, London N1 9ZN, UK. Fax: +44 20 7713 7993 Email: [email protected] [2]; [email protected] [3]

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HelpAge International is a global network of not-for-profit organisations with a mission to work with and for disadvantaged older people worldwide to achieve a lasting improvement in the quality of their lives. For more information about the work of HelpAge International, please visit our website: www.helpage.org [4]