Age-friendly Environments ECHO Mentorship Program

The engage and understand phase is critical to the needs and experiences of older people and other communities’ members in order to gain political commitment and generate ownership among all stakeholders.

Knowing how to start this process, who to engage and what tools are available to support this process notably to do a context analysis and an age-friendly assessment are the subject of this session.

Learning objectives:

Participants will be able to:

• Describe mechanisms to build a network of stakeholders
• Describe steps to identify the needs of the older population
• Understand steps needed to analyze the challenges and opportunities in a community and define priorities for action
• Describe strategies used to influence and inform the political commitment for age-friendly initiatives
• Describe what successful engagement looks like and the anticipated outputs

Developing and implementing a comprehensive age-friendly strategy, that aligns with the needs and assets of older people requires local stakeholders across sectors to agree on a common vision, identify priorities, and develop a plan that leverages the strengths of various stakeholders.

How to create a shared vision and develop a strategy and action plan informed by the findings of the context analysis and age-friendly assessment and ongoing deliberations with stakeholders is the focus of this session.

Learning objectives:

Participants will be able to:

• Describe the purpose, process, and key success factors in delivering an age-friendly strategy and action plan.
• Describe the steps needed to develop a comprehensive strategic plan
• Understand the importance of defining common objectives, aims, targets and stakeholder responsibilities
• Identify strategies for securing support and resources;

Taking action is at the heart of efforts to create an age-friendly city or community.  After the assessment, consultation, and strategic planning stages, concrete actions need to be taken.

There are a large number of actions that can be taken to impact the lives of older people.  Considering scientific evidence on effectiveness, estimates of costs of investment, stakeholders’ experiences of implementing similar interventions, outcomes and impact can inform the action plan.  Action planning and coordinating different stakeholders, while keeping older people meaningly engaged in the process, are all key to bringing about transformative change are the focus of this session.

Learning objectives:

Participants will be able to:

• Understand the importance of consulting on the action plan and involving older people at all stages
• Describe the process for designing a successful action plan
• Understand the steps needed to implement an action plan; and scale up successful action
• Understand the importance of learning from successful action in local, national and international networks

The success and sustainability of an age-friendly action plan is measured by its ability to show achievements but also to evolve in response to local changes in context and needs.   This depends on robust monitoring and evaluation.

Understanding whether a community has become more age-friendly (outcome and impact assessment) and how a community has become more age-friendly (process evaluation) can demonstrate the benefits of the actions but also help to sustain political commitment and ensure future funding for age-friendly initiatives.

Learning objectives:

Participants will be able to:

• Describe the steps needed to monitor processes continually
• Understand the principles needed to undertake both outcome and impact evaluations
• Describe strategies for sustaining and improving action informed by evidence

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