1. ‘A report prepared by UNFPA in collaboration with
HelpAge International and with input from United
Nations bodies and other international
organisations’
Launch date 1st
October 2012
July 9, 2014
World of Older People 2012
Sylvia Beales
Head of Strategic Alliances
sbeales @helpage.org

2. July 9, 2014
Background
The challenge of the Madrid Plan of Action
on Ageing (MIPAA)
The key challenge
for world is how to
build…
“You are talking of a Second World
Assembly on Ageing. What happened to
the first? We were never consulted, yet
you tell us a Plan of Action to address our
situation emerged. Who made it?”
Older woman, Zimbabwe
(State of the World’s Older People, HelpAge
International 2002)

3. July 9, 2014
Bottom up review and appraisal
• Government, the UN system and civil
society invited to participate in a bottom-up
approach to the review and appraisal of the
Plan (Economic and Social Council, res.
2003/14 of 21 July 2003)
• UNDESA Guidelines for review and appraisal
of the Madrid International Plan of Action on
Ageing
• Collaboration with UNFPA to review policies
and implementation with older persons
2010/11
• First ever global World Older Persons report
to be published in October 2012

4. July 9, 2014
World of Older People 2012 report
The key challenge
for world is how to
build…
To position population ageing within the global development
and human rights agendas based on an assessment of
progress since the Second World Assembly on Ageing in 2002
Why is this special?
Focus on the perspective of older persons themselves, to
identify gaps and to propose the way forward
Global reach
UN agency input (UNDESA, ILO, UNICEF, UNDP, OHCHR,
UNHCR, FAO, UN Women, IOM, Regional Commissions
Recommendations for ICPD plus 20, MDGS post 2015
agenda

5. July 9, 2014
1.Situation analysis eight years
after the implementation of MIPAA
Information was collected from 133
countries and 32 country case
studies
Review of status/availability of
• Data and research
• Policies and legislation
• Institutional arrangements
Living document (work in progress)
Available on UNFPA and HelpAge
websites
Goal: assess progress and gaps on
MIPAA’s three priority directions

6. July 9, 2014
Findings
Between 2002 and 2010
48 countries approved and published national policies on ageing
10 countries brought into force overarching legislation on ageing
51 produced research or surveys on ageing,
64 countries set up official bodies and institutions to respond to ageing
with at least one ministry responsible for ageing or older people
• Big variations across regions – limited or no policy coverage in:
• Mainstreaming of ageing into poverty reduction programmes
• Emergency programmes
• Migration/rural development
• HIV/AIDS, NCDs, mental health, disabilities
• Violence and human rights
Little evidence on budgets to implement policies

7. July 9, 2014
Main recommendations
• Urgent policy action needed in all priority directions to
respond to the demands of demographic transition
• Use and improve existing data sets; disaggregate data by
age
• Ensure age adjusted sectoral and public policies
• Mainstreaming plus integrated age targeted programmes
• Follow legislation with accountable budgets
• Focus on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
• People centred/bottom up evaluation of policies and
programmes more necessary than ever
• Share and communicate best practice in policy
implementation, legislative action, data collection and
analysis

8. July 9, 2014
2. Older Persons input
To assess
- older people’s awareness of MIPAA and knowledge of and
engagement with the national implementation of government
action linked to MIPAA
-the impact of national actions relating to MIPAA on older
people’s lives
-Priority actions for next steps
The innovation is to
- provide an authentic older people’s voice on the
implementation of MIPAA
- offer a global vision of what needs to be done to implement
MIPAA

9. Consultations in over 40 countries

10. July 9, 2014
Bottom-up approach manual
Activities at national level are:
- Group discussions (in 2 rural and 2
urban communities)
- Community profile charts with
contextual information
- Participant profile questionnaires
(for each participant)
- Individual case studies

11. July 9, 2014
Voices and aspirations of active, articulate
but often excluded older women and men

12. July 9, 2014
Some findings
• Lack of knowledge of MIPAA and other policies, rights and entitlements
• Improvements put down to infrastructure – water, roads, health clinics
• Importance of secure income - pensions
• Intergenerational interdependence on family and community; caring,
livelihoods (work)
• Marked differences between urban and rural in relation to poverty,
inclusion, participation, basic service provision
• Worries about being costly to families (health, frailty)
• Disputes over land and housing – family, official and police abuse
• Increasing cost of food, medicines, consultations, care and transport
• Short sighted policies – free consultations but expensive medicines
• Government policies not known by service providers
• Abuse a source of shame and anguish
• Value placed on caring for others – neighbours , grandchildren
• Value of being organised – many benefits including sense of worth and
political recognition

13. July 9, 2014
Some overview recommendations
• Ageing is the issue of our time. It is a reality for us all, wherever we
are whatever age we are
• Globalisation challenges together with global ageing demands a radical
rethink of how we organise our societies
• Older people are our unacknowledged ‘global good’; all must support
their contributions, activism and economic weight
• The data gaps on age lead to invisibility, discrimination and human
rights violations
• Investing in older people and their organisations brings important
societal and economic benefits
• Policy on ageing through MIPAA without budgets and cross sectoral
implementation will not deliver results
• We have choices, we have the knowledge, we have the evidence; it is
time to think and act differently
• Age Inclusive and rights based policy frameworks for our sustainable
future are urgent