A Society for ALL Ages - AGE Strategy 2022-2025

A Society for ALL Ages
 AGE Strategy 2022-2025

 photo by Gregor Fischer/re:publica

Preamble

 The Strategy 2022-2025 (referred to adjusted through the annual work
 subsequently as ‘Strategy’) is the core programme.
 document designed to direct the overall The Strategy’s ultimate objective is to
 operation of AGE Platform Europe increase AGE’s capacity to maximise
 (referred further as ‘AGE’) for the four- positive changes for older people.
 year cycle. Its aim is to set priorities, focus
 Members can at any point, refer to the
 energies and resources, establish agreed Strategy to define further actions for the
 objectives and results, and strengthen day period 2022-2025. The Strategy should
 to day activities. In response to changing also clarify our objectives toward external
 environments it provides a method of partners and, therefore, strengthen our
 ensuring that our members and collaboration.
 secretariat work toward common goals,

 Figure 1 - younger and older women posing together

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Why? Direction and context

 VISION

 A society for ALL ages. entitlement to enjoy life, participate in
 and contribute to society. At the same
 AGE’s vision encompasses an inclusive
 time, each person’s rights and
 society, based on well-being for all,
 responsibilities throughout their life
 solidarity between generations and full
 course have to be fully respected.

 MISSION

 AGE celebrates longevity as one of the - we will transform our members’
 greatest achievements of humanity. We experiences and ideas into policy
 seek to combat ageism, promote human proposals, advocacy, campaigning,
 rights throughout the life course, reduce dissemination actions and projects.
 inequalities and enable everyone to live - we will support our members’ active
 a full and dignified life. involvement in AGE’s work while
 promoting mutual learning and
 To achieve this mission:
 networking.
 - we will raise the aspirations and
 needs of older people bridging the
 gap between them and policymakers.

 CORE VALUES AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES

 > Respect for human dignity and > Older women and men are a resource
 human rights, freedom, democracy, for our societies through their
 equality, and the rule of law, the contributions through work,
 European Union's fundamental values, volunteering, informal care, creativity,
 unite our members. experience and as consumers.
 > Human rights and dignity do not > Intergenerational solidarity
 diminish with age and must be strengthens inclusion and justice
 respected throughout each individual’s between generations respecting and
 life course. benefiting everyone’s experiences,
 sensibilities, and expectations.
 > Older people are self-advocates.
 Everyone should be supported to speak > Age-friendly environments are
 on their own behalf as the ultimate essential for equitable and inclusive
 experts of their own lives. communities for all ages.

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OPPORTUNITIES

Living longer, our success story opportunity for our societies to examine
 the structural gaps and problems of our
The success story of longer lives must be
 economies and social protection systems.
accompanied by increased health, well-
 These can be reshaped with a new vision
being, and personal fulfilment for all. The
 for more inclusive, participatory and just
full recognition of the value of each
 societies where all ages, including older
person, whatever their condition and
 people, are treated with consideration
situation, promotes a life-course approach
 and their human rights respected.
that brings intergenerational balance,
recognizing that the past and present The diversity of older people
experiences of individuals and cohorts
impact the future. Older people are hugely diverse: whether
 in terms of chronological and physical age,
Beyond the pandemic gender, education, health, frailty,
Never have older person’s human rights residence e.g., at home or in nursing
been as challenged or questioned as homes, minority status, income, relations
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Never with family and friends or people who
have the weaknesses and challenges of grow old alone. Socio-economic and
health and long-term care systems been cultural differences within the European
so visible. Rarely have our economies Union further adds to this diversity.
needed more impetus to recover and This diversity is our strength and will be
grow in a sustainable way. Nor have our translated in our advocacy work, into
societies been so challenged to rethink policy responses that address the whole
their organisation, and the role and spectrum of realities faced by older
contribution of all actors and population people.
groups. This provides an opportunity for
older people to affect policy making and,
ultimately, enhance their human rights.
The COVID-19 pandemic, beyond its tragic
impacts and consequences, offers a major

CONSTRAINTS

Externally
Taboo of ageing forward-looking, and realistic vision.
Ageing is still taboo in our society. We Ageism needs to be challenged through
need to change current negative the creation of a positive stories about
perceptions, narratives, and language older people, the promotion of the art of
about ageing into a more positive, ageing, bearing in mind that ageing occurs

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throughout life. Dignity and wellbeing lead a life of dignity and independence
must be respected until the very last day and to participate in social and cultural
of life. life.”
EU versus national competence Euroscepticism
AGE’s goals and objectives are aligned With growing euro scepticism in some
with the principles of subsidiarity and countries, the EU has lost its initial appeal
proportionality which govern the exercise for many Europeans including older
of EU versus national competences. Our people who followed its foundation and
work reflects these boundaries and expansion. The withdrawal of the United
attempts to support and amplify the Kingdom has further exacerbated this. In
advocacy work of our members at this challenging environment, AGE will
national level. When implementing this pursue its pro-European approach to
Strategy, AGE will rely on the engagement policies on ageing. Our membership
of the European Union to respect the development should also reflect the
rights of older people, as enshrined in the challenge of euro scepticism by promoting
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and its the European Union’s fundamental values
article 25 where “The Union recognises and emphasising the added value of the
and respects the rights of the elderly to European project.

Internally
Differing strengths of members populations in the EU leaving no one
 behind. We will continue efforts to
There is uneven representativeness and
 address these challenges by developing
strength amongst our member
 our membership to ensure greater
organisations, linked to differences in
 diversity and representativeness.
their internal structures (individual and
umbrella-type organisations), their human Erosion of AGE membership
and/or financial resources, or language In recent years, some members have
capacity. We will continue our efforts to withdrawn from our network, reflecting
address these challenges by strengthening challenges at national level, decline in
the capacity of our members to act as self- public and private support for civil society
advocates, promoting mutual learning across the EU, or difficulties in linking
within the network. their work to AGE's objectives. To
 strengthen our membership, we will strive
Representativeness of network
 for a stronger alignment of our respective
AGE’s membership should better agendas and objectives as set out through
represent the diversity of the ageing this Strategy.

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What? AGE’s priorities

 Mirroring our vision and mission, AGE will measurable actions set out and reviewed
 move forward by 2025 toward our goals – on a yearly basis.
 the desired results we seek to achieve.
 They will guide our objectives – specific,

 ADVOCACY GOAL AT EU LEVEL

 Adoption, if not substantive progress towards an EU strategy for age
 equality

 To achieve this goal…
 AGE will prioritise advocacy in:
 AGE will continuously:
 - the adoption of an EU law on age
 discrimination beyond employment; - Mainstream gender equality across the
 life course in EU policies to strengthen
 - a follow-up to the Green Paper on
 equality between men and women in
 Ageing, ideally in format of a White
 old age;
 Paper on Ageing underpinned by EU
 policy legislations and/or initiatives, - Mainstream older people’s
 such as: perspectives in EU equality strategies;

 o the renewed long-term care - Ensure a proper implementation of EU
 model, ensuring a proper initiatives on accessibility, such as the
 implementation of principle 18 of European Accessibility Act, and
 the European Pillar of Social Rights contribute to new actions;
 on access to health and quality - Monitor EU initiatives to ensure
 long-term care; inclusive digitalization, building on the
 o adequate pensions and minimum 2020 EU Council Conclusion on Human
 safety nets to enable a dignified Rights, Participation and Well-Being of
 life and social inclusion, by Older Persons in the Era of
 implementing the principle 15 of Digitalisation;
 the European Pillar of Social Rights - Monitor the COVID-19 recovery plan,
 on pensions and old age income; its underpinning instrument “Next
 - monitoring the implementation of the Generation EU – COVID-19 recovery
 EU Employment Equality Directive; package”, and the multi-annual
 financial framework 2021-2027.
 - building on the lessons learnt from
 the COVID-19 pandemic in failures to
 respect human rights and the dignity
 of older people.

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AGE will seek to: - impact on the EU agenda on the Silver
 - advance the social, civic, and political Economy.
 participation of older people as equal
 rights holders, using relevant policy
 process and initiatives, such as the
 Conference on the Future of Europe;

 AGE’S ADVOCACY GOAL AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

 Adoption, if not substantive progress towards a UN Convention on the Rights
 of Older Persons

 To achieve this goal…
 AGE will prioritise advocacy in: - Contribute to the UN Decade of
 - Reaching a critical mass among EU Healthy Ageing 2021-2030;
 members states to support a UN - Participate in the WHO Global Network
 Convention on the rights of older of Age-Friendly Cities and
 people and the establishment of a Communities;
 drafting group; - Contribute to the WHO Europe
 - Obtaining relevant support from EU’s Programme of Work 2020-2025;
 major institutions to advance and - Participate in the UNECE processes
 elaborate the proposed UN Convention around the Madrid International Plan
 on the rights of older people, aligning of Action on Ageing (MIPAA).
 them with the promotion of human
 rights in EU external actions. AGE will seek to:
 - Contribute to key processes of the
 AGE will continuously: Council of Europe (Revised European
 - Contribute to the United Nations Social Charter, Recommendation on
 Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing; the promotion of human rights of older
 - Seize the potential of the United persons)
 Nations Convention of the Rights for - Monitor the UN Sustainable
 Persons with Disabilities for older Development Agenda 2030
 people;

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Diagram summarising AGE’s European and international advocacy goals and objectives:

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PROJECTS

 AGE’s advocacy goals and priorities are making a tangible improvement to the
 supported by participation in the quality of life of older people. Our
 conception, implementation, and objective is to voice older people’s
 promotion of project results. The decision perspectives, to involve them as effective
 to participate in projects shall be based on end-users, and to ensure ethical and legal
 their added value in informing and issues are correctly addressed.
 impacting our policy work on ageing and

 Our internal goals:

 Reflect the voice of older people in all their diversity among our members
 across Europe

 To achieve this goal…
 AGE will prioritise actions in: - Facilitate networking and learning
 - Being a representative network across platforms where the diversity, ideas,
 the whole EU influencing policy and and experiences of our members are
 putting forward new horizons built on reflected, shared, and deployed.
 grass-roots evidence and participation.
 AGE will seek to:
 AGE will continuously: - Help our members raise their profile
 vis-à-vis national policymakers.

 Adequate and sustainable financial and human resources

 To achieve this goal… the EC operational grants by enlarging
 the membership base and searching for
 AGE will prioritise actions in:
 new donors and additional sources of
 - diversifying sources of own and
 external income.
 external income, using available EU
 funding through the new “Citizens, AGE will seek to:
 Equality, Rights and Values
 - Develop cooperation with foundations
 Programme”;
 or other external partners who will
 - supporting a professional secretariat financially support our advocacy
 and empowering members. actions.

 AGE will continuously:
 - Reduce the pressure on members to
 cover the co-financing part required by

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 Stronger co-ownership of the network by all members

 To achieve this goal…
 AGE will prioritise: - Create a multiplier effect and build on
 - Regular updates of members on EU the knowledge, intelligence, and skills
 and international policy developments of members.
 on ageing to underpin and inspire their
 own work and, whenever possible, to AGE will seek to:
 raise their profile at national level; - Develop and make available to our
 - Frequent collection of information on members a database of good practices
 specific situations at country level related to ageing;
 across Europe. - Promote stronger interaction and
 networking between members by
 AGE will continuously: increasing opportunities for joint
 - Increase members’ capacity to have a meetings and the sharing of
 stronger impact when advocating for experiences and ideas.
 our vision of societies for all ages;

 Figure 2- AGE workshop participants interacting xx

 photo by Gregor Fischer/re:publica

Who? Our resources

 HUMAN RESOURCES

 AGE’s mission and objectives relies on our Secretariat
 members and our secretariat which are The Secretariat is responsible for the day-
 complementary and mutually reinforcing. to-day administrative governance of the
 association, for the implementation of
 Members
 work programmes, decided by our
 AGE brings together self-advocating members, and for liaising with all
 organisations of older people and civil stakeholders in this respect. The
 society organisations working with and for Secretariat ensures regular contacts with
 older and retired people, with the aim of external stakeholders, namely EU
 giving visibility to their views, opinions, institutions, and liaises with our project
 needs and interests. Our membership is partners. The scarce resources of our
 diverse and pluralistic. Secretariat will be deployed to best serve
 Members contribute, through AGE’s members in the achievement of common
 statutory bodies and task forces, their goals and the objectives set out in the
 skills and knowledge of the situation of Strategy.
 older people and national policies in their
 countries.

 FINANCES

 The financial strategy aims to seek longer income, permanent or limited in time,
 term financial support beyond 2021 derive from third parties such as
 including from our main funder, the corporate or institutional donors. While
 European Union, through its “Citizens, AGE welcomes donations from a range of
 Equality, Rights and Values Programme”. external stakeholders, these must comply
 with AGE’s agreed Code of Ethics which
 EU grants and projects
 aims to protect the independence and
 AGE’s financial resources for our work image of AGE as the voice of older people.
 2022-2025 consist of own income
 EU funding is received in the form of
 (internal and external) and EU funding.
 subsidies (annual operating grants) and
 The sources of internal own income derive EU-funded projects. These sources of
 from membership fees, members finances are earmarked based on the
 donations, or other exceptional internal 2021 budget, as follows:
 incomes. The sources of external own

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20% AGE own income
 (internal and external)

 European Commission
80% DG Just
 European Commission
 Operating Grant funded research 100%
 projects

 Policy work 63% Project work 37%

 Figure 3 - AGE members sitting at General Assembly

How? Working methods and partnership

Diagram summarising the internal organisation of AGE

 TASK FORCES
 The aim of the task forces - our main in the EU. They stimulate the exchange of
 internal working tool - is to use and access experiences and good practices, propose
 the diverse expertise of members to recommendations, and inform AGE's
 inform AGE's positions and better reflect policy and advocacy work.
 the situation and concerns of older people

 COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
 AGE’s communication addresses older This is structured through:
 people, their representative and diverse
 organisations, and policy makers with the - AGE internal communications
 following objectives: informing our members of relevant
 developments and actions that can
 - ensuring the perspectives of older
 underpin their work (top-down),
 people are brought into public debates;
 organising the collection and
 - strengthening the visibility and the
 dissemination of information from the
 impact of our advocacy work; and
 grass-roots level (bottom-up), and
 - exchanging information on ageing
 stimulating exchanges within our
 policies amongst our members and
 network (horizontal);
 other target audiences.

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- AGE external communications inform target audiences and preferred channels
 target audience about our positions and format are specified in AGE’s
 and seek to influence relevant policy communication strategy, available as an
 annex to this document.
 processes.
 All flows of information give visibility to
 and amplifies our members’ work. AGE

 KEY STAKEHOLDERS
 In addition to our members, AGE pursues private sector, and civil society.
 cooperation with a wide range of Collaboration with relevant media and the
 stakeholders whose actions, directly and use of various forms of communication
 indirectly, influence policymaking on and networks will be further developed to
 ageing and older people. Our stakeholders reach a wider range of stakeholders and
 consist of international institutions, public the public.
 authorities, academia, the media, the

 EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT
 This two-fold process includes monitoring and external evaluation, leading, where
 and evaluation of activities and the annual necessary, to a re-evaluation of
 work programme to assess progress and objectives, targets and tools.
 performance in our policy/project work The assessment exercise will take a
 and undertake impact assessment of minimum three-year perspective to assess
 policy changes resulting from our work. results. External evaluations, done on an
 Monitoring and evaluation will be done on annual basis, will be used as indicators for
 a yearly basis based on internal review the long-term impact assessment.

 Figure 4- older adults listening at AGE General Assembly

Monitoring Evaluation Impact assessment
 Measures on-going Measures performance Assesses long-term
 activities vs initial plans against objectives impact on policy and any
 changes for older people
 Actual work during Actual work in middle or at Can be included at all stages
programme implementation end of project/programme and/or can be used
vs. initial plans cycle specifically after the end of
 programme/project
Focus on actions Focus on actions Focus on policy making and
undertaken vs. actions undertaken versus older people’s lives
planned objectives
Focus on outputs of our Focus on outcomes (results) Focus on long-term policy
policy and project work / and, if possibly, immediate impact and change
expected results policy impact

• What is being done? • What happened? • Which polices did we
• Did implemented actions • Did we achieve what we influence, at what levels?
 meet expectations? set out to achieve? • What changed for older
 If not, why? What should If not, why? What should people?
 be improved or be improved or • How significant is this
 modified? modified? change for them?
 • What, if anything, did our
 work contribute?
 • Do we need to do more
 in this respect?
 • Is there any follow-up
 needed? What and how?

 AGE work is co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the
 European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of AGE
 Platform Europe and cannot be taken to reflect the views of the European
 Commission.

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