SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Everyone has a role to play: Get involved!

This section provides a monthly update on the EY2012 news,

events and initiatives at EU, national and local level

EY2012 closing conference celebrates very positive outcomes!

The closing conference of the EY2012 was organised by the Cyprus EU Presidency on 10 December in Cyprus. This one day event brought together high level EU and national policy makers, a large delegation of AGE members and EY2012 Stakeholders Coalition members, Cyprus civil society organisations and other stakeholders to celebrate the numerous achievements of the Year and to announce follow-up activities to ensure a lasting impact of the Year.

“The EY2012’s main achievement is the level of awareness and mobilization around a common vision of a society for all ages”, said Anne-Sophie Parent, Secretary General of AGE in the closing panel. “There are now thousands of very diverse stakeholders across the EU who are committed to move forward and work together to promote active ageing and solidarity between generations and what we need now from the EU is a structure, such as a European Covenant on Demographic Change, to enable them to connect with each other ,and to work in partnership to achieve an age-friendly EU by 2020.”

Read more in AGE press release issued prior to the event.

Cyprus Presidency website - report on EY2012 website

Issue 129

November 2012

EU Policy Developments 3

Special Briefing 9

Other news 11

News about AGE 15

Publications 18

Call for Proposals 19

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Report on third AGE-CoR Thematic seminar on ‘Creating an Age-Friendly EU by 2020’

To mark the European Year 2012 for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, AGE has been co-organising

throughout the Year with the Committee of the Regions a series of thematic seminars. This third and last of this

series took place on 20 November and looked at the creation of Age-Friendly Environments.

Creating an Age-Friendly European Union means fostering solidarity between generations and enabling the active

participation and involvement of all age groups in society while providing them with adequate support and protection.

This is also the goal of our campaign for the EY2012.

Our aim is to promote the role of local and regional authorities in the creation of an Age-Friendly European Union by

2020 and to draw recommendations on what can be done at grass-root level to adapt goods, products and services

to the specific needs of all age groups.

The programme was split in two round tables: concrete examples of age-friendly environments in the morning and a

discussion with policy makers on whart needs to be done to promote age-friendly environments acros the EU in the

afternoon session.

A more detailed report as well as the presentations shown at this seminar are available on AGE website

On that occasion, AGE also launched its new publication ‘Active Seniors for Europe: A guide to the EU’ (also

available in French) aimed at informing senior citizens on the main EU policies of interest to them and facilitating

their participation in the EU decision-making process.

The first thematic seminar discussed age-friendly labour markets and social protection systems (in March) and the

second one tackled the impact of the crisis on older people (in June), the outcome of which has fed into AGE’s new

publication ‘Older people also suffer because of the crisis’ (also available in French)

Click here for more information about AGE campaign on an Age-Friendly EU.

You can also register on Virtual Network set up by AGE to promote an EU Covenant on Demographic Change at

www.age-platform.eu/en/component/content/article/1457

!! Reminder: Join our On-Line Survey for Local and Regional Authorities

AGE, CEMR and Eurocities have prepared a survey to collect the views of local and regional authorities (LRAs) across the EU as well as older citizens’ groups on the feasibility of launching an EU initiative such as a European Covenant on Demographic Change to promote age-friendly environments across the EU.

The survey can be completed in 10 minutes and can be accessed at:

English: www.surveymonkey.com/s/agefriedly

Italian: www.surveymonkey.com/s/agefriendlyIT

French: www.surveymonkey.com/s/agefriendlyFR

Spanish: www.surveymonkey.com/s/agefriendlyES

German: /www.surveymonkey.com/s/agefriendlyDE

Finnish: https://elomake.samk.fi/lomakkeet/2088/lomake.html

The results of this survey will feed into the discussions we are currently running with the European Commission and the World Health Organisation in the framework of the European Innovation partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. We have already received numerous responses from local and regional authorities but many more have just heard about our initiative and would like to contribute to our survey. Furthermore during the closing conference of the EY2012, our call of a Covenant raised a lot of interest among many participants and was supported by the Mayor of Strovolos (Cyprus) who was on the final panel. We have therefore decided to extend the deadline to allow more interested parties to contribute their views.

The deadline to answer is postponed until 31 January 2013

EY2012 Awards Ceremony

The winners of the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations

Awards were unveiled and officially awarded at the prize-giving Ceremony on 13th

November 2012 at the European Commission in Brussels. The awards aimed to

highlight inspiring people and initiatives making a significant contribution to active

ageing and solidarity between generations.

Out of 1300 submissions, 7 projects were selected for each of the 7 awards category: Social Entrepreneurs,

Workplaces for all Ages, Towards Age-Friendly Environments, generations@school, Life Story Challenge, written and

audiovisual journalism.

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After a pre-selection at national level, the European 3 winners in each category were selected by an EU Jury

composed of representatives of EU-institutions and key stakeholder organisations.

Discover the winners and finalists here.

EY2012 main contacts:

For questions or information requests on the EY2012 and on the official website, please contact Janine Duchar, janine.duchar@paueducation.com

For questions on AGE’s activities around the EY2012 and on the EY2012 coalition, please contact: Alice Sinigaglia, alice.sinigaglia@age-platform.eu

For information at national level, please contact your national EY2012 coordinator: http://europa.eu/ey2012/ey2012main.jsp?catId=986&langId=en You can also find on that page (under each country) a list of the initiatives and events organised at national level, as well as the link to national EY2012 websites.

Council Equality Summit 2012 highlights age discrimination in the labour market and social and economic benefits of inclusion

The Equality Summit, organised once a year by the Presidency of the Council of the European

Union with the cooperation of the European Commission, deals with issues of equality and elimination of

discrimination, particularly in the areas of national or ethnic origin, religion , belief, age, disability, sexual orientation

and gender equality. The 2012 edition of the Summit, which brought together around 300 participants (government,

NGOs, social partners, academics, independent experts, etc.) from EU Member States and acceding countries,

focused on the topic of "Equality for Growth", looking at the impact of the current economic situation on public

finances and on the most vulnerable groups in society. It aimed to provide evidence supporting the fact that

accessibility and equality policies can contribute to economic growth, economic development and prosperity.

In his opening speech, Cyprus’ the Minister of Justice noted that the economic crisis highlighted the need for stronger

solidarity and social cohesion, a target which constitutes a priority for the Cyprus Presidency.

The participants looked at the situation concerning discrimination of people with disabilities and of older people in the

labour market. The discussion highlighted the overall benefits that eliminating discriminatory behaviours which

prevent capable and skilled people of working can bring to society and growth. Also highlighted were the links

between discrimination and poverty and the benefits of social cohesion and inclusive education for all.

Read more in the Presidency’s press release

In a press release issued on that occasion, AGE sheds light on the multiple discrimination faced by many older

people, in particular in time of crisis, and provides links to a number of joint policy papers looking at the issues of

discrimination on the ground of:

age and sexual orientation: ‘Equality for older lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people in Eu-

rope November 2012’

age and ethnic/religious origin: ‘The voices of older ethnic and religious minorities and migrants…’

age and autism: ‘The Rights of Ageing People with Autism: towards a better quality of life’

Education Ministers validate non-formal and informal learning

The Education Council adopted a recommendation on 26 November calling on the member states to put in place arrangements for validating non-formal and informal learning no later than 2018.

The proposal stresses that the validation of non-formal and informal learning experiences in the EU Member States can have an important impact in addressing skills shortages in growing sectors and support economic recovery, through enhancing employability and mobility, as well as providing more motivation for lifelong learning, particularly in

EU Policy Developments

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the case of the socio-economically disadvantaged or low-qualified groups. It can make an essential contribution to EU's ambition to achieving smart, sustainable and inclusive growth set by the Europe 2020 Strategy.

For more information: Council’s proposal - Council’s press release

European Parliament

Pilot project proposal to improve deaf and hard-of-hearing’s participation in EU policy debate

On 20 November, a proposal for a pilot project intended to facilitate direct communication between the deaf and hard-of-hearing sign language users in Europe and the European institutions was presented in Strasbourg by MEPs Ádám Kósa and Werner Kuhn (EPP) and Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding. In line with the goals of the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, the 'European Union Real-Time Sign Language Application' would develop a service concept and later a technology platform and service that can be used by any deaf or hard-of-hearing citizen within the European Union to assist them with real-time live sign language interpretation by a certified sign language interpreter and/or a real-time captioning service in

order to enable independent communication with the European Institutions.

This project pursues the overall objective of promoting the equal right of all citizens to take part in the demographic life of the European Institutions and will seek to increase the quality of free communication for the whole hearing-impaired population in the EU (10% of the European population, according to Mr Kósa), in particular in accessing the EU Institutions, conferences and meetings.

The final decision on the financing of the project will be made during the 2013 budgetary process.

European Union Real-Time Sing Language Application

Adoption of the resolution on ‘Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mo-bile payments

On 20th November, MEPs adopted in Strasbourg the EP resolution on “Towards an integrated European market for

card, internet and mobile payments”, calling for legislative action to ensure interoperability, safety and transparency, and also to provide more competition, choice, innovation, payment security, financial inclusion and customer trust. Moreover, MEPs pointed out the need to reform the SEPA governance to ensure that its decision making process is democratic, transparent and serving the public interest. It also recalls the need to guarantee the balanced representation of all stakeholders and notably the sufficient involvement of end-users.

AGE welcomes this initiative as it goes in line with AGE recommendations aimed at protecting EU consumers including the vulnerable ones: transparency and comparability of fees, fair prices, and access to basic banking services.

Erasmus for all – vote in the EP Culture and Education Committee

On 27th November, the EP Committee responsible for culture and education

adopted its position on the next programmes 2014-2020 on youth, education, training and sport “Erasmus for all”. Most notably, MEPs proposed to adopt a new name, YES Europe, to better reflect the programme’s priorities, i.e. Youth, Education and Sport. However, sub-programmes are meant to keep their current names: Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo and Grundtvig.

Negotiations will now start with the Council, which objects the new name. A final agreement is expected during the Irish Presidency.

AGE will closely follow these debates to ensure that all EU citizens whatever their age can benefit from lifelong learning opportunities.

For more information, please contact ophelie.durand@age-platform.eu

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European Commission

European Year of Citizens kicks off on 10 January

2013 will be the “European Year of Citizens”. The decision has been formerly adopted by the Council on 14 November and by the European Parliament on 22 November.

The official launch event will take place in Dublin on 10 January 2013, at a date coinciding with the beginning of the Irish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers.

The European Year of Citizens will mark the 20th anniversary of the introduction of EU citizenship, with the entry into forces of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993. Throughout the European Year of Citizens, events will explain how people can directly benefit from their EU rights and which policies and programmes exist. It will also be the opportunity

to stimulate an EU-wide debate with citizens about what the European Union should look like in the future and what reforms are needed to improve their everyday lives. In 2013, the Commission will adopt its next EU citizenship report presenting targeted EU initiatives to remove the remaining obstacles that prevent citizens from fully enjoying their rights. This report is to be published on 9 May 2013, based on the outcome of the broad EU public consultation launched last summer, during which citizens were asked what problems they have encountered in exercising their rights as EU citizens.

More information on the European Year of Citizens 2013 can be found on the provisional website http://ec.europa.eu/citizenship/european-year-of-citizens-2013/index_en.htm

To access the official website of the EYC2013: www.europa.eu/citizens-2013

AGE has been involved in the preparation of the EY2013 within an alliance of NGOs. Throughout 2013, we will keep on working to ensure that older citizens’voice is heard in the EU debate and that a bridge is made with the outcome of the EY2012.

Eurobarometer on discrimination in the EU in 2012

On 22 November, on the occasion of the Equality Summit, the European Commission releases a new Eurobarometer on discrimination in the European Union in 2012. This survey looks into attitudes and perceptions of Europeans towards discrimination, based on different grounds (gender, ethnic origin, religion or beliefs, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity) and includes several questions on the impact of the crisis on the implementation of anti-discrimination policies and efforts. The study also covers other topics, such as the situation of the Roma in Europe, the perceptions on discrimination against transsexual and transgender persons, the discrimination outside the workplace or the links between discrimination and accessibility. According to that survey, more than two-thirds of Europeans regard limited access to goods and services as discrimination against people with disabilities and older people and see age as a common ground of discrimination, in particular in access to employment and in time of crisis.

Click here to access the survey and a summary of the results in all EU languages and here for some keys results.

Second Convention of the European Platform Against Poverty and Social Exclusion, Brussels, 5-7 December

The European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion is one of the Flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It was launched in 2010 and sets out actions to reach the EU target of reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 20 million by 2020. The Second Convention of the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion aimed to review the progress made towards reaching the poverty target and act as a forum for consultation on the upcoming Social Investment Package. This Convention also featured a broad call for support towards building a coalition across Member States, policy fields, levels of government, institutions and civil society actors for a more social Europe by 2020.

AGE took part in the event to highlight the important impact of the crisis on older people and stress the specificity of poverty and social exclusion in old age. Read more in AGE press release.

The Convention was also the occasion for AGE to present its new publication ‘Older People also suffer because of the Crisis’, built on the outcomes of the thematic seminar AGE co-organised with the Committee of the Regions on ‘The impact of the crisis on older people’ on 19 June 2012 in Brussels (see section on AGE news).

A Commission’s report of the event is available here

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Latest Eurostat data on poverty and social exclusion: figures must be gender- and age- proofed! Prior to the Second Convention of the EU Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion (see previous article), Eurostat unveiled figures on at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion within the 27 EU Member States (click here for the complete tables). The data confirm that poverty and social exclusion continues to increase across the EU for total population, as well as inequality and in-work poverty, with widening gap across the EU.

As regards older people, the picture is more nuanced:

At-the-risk-of poverty for the population 65 years and over in the EU-27 decreased between 2008 and 2011 (from 19% to 16%), while for people aged 25-54 years old, the same figure increased (from 13.8% to 15.3%).

When comparing with the total population, older people 65+ in 2011 also faced a slightly lower risk of poverty at EU-27 level (16% as opposed to 16.9 %) and in the majority of countries.

At the same time, differences in poverty risks of older people 65+ among member states remain striking as the poverty risk in 2011 ranged from less than 5% in Luxembourg and Hungary to about 20% in Greece and the UK, up to around 30% in Bulgaria and 36.9% in Cyprus.

Important differences are also hidden when one looks at sub-groups of older people. With no surprise, older women tend to face much higher poverty risk rate than men in the EU-27 (respectively 18% versus 13%), and in most of the countries (sometimes the older women’s poverty risk is double of the figure registered from older men)

Similarly, when looking at the at-risk-of-poverty rate of older people by detailed age group, the population aged 75 years and over, the risk is higher than for the overall population 65+.

All the above confirms that, when referring to poverty figures, we should pledge in favor of very cautious interpretation of the results for older people. This must be age and gender-proofed, given the fact that overall older population is not homogenous and very significant differences in poverty risk exist among its sub-groups.

The figures under the section on ‘income distribution and monetary poverty’ also cover the ‘monetary poverty for elderly people.

For more information, please contact maciej.kucharczyk@age-platform.eu

Mr Tonio Borg from Malta appointed new Commissioner for health and consumer policy Following Mr John Dalli’s resignation (see October issue), Malta’s Dr Tonio Borg has been

appointed new European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy (a decision

confirmed on 22 November by the European Parliament). In a hearing at the European

Parliament, Dr Borg committed to abide by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the

European Union, to proactively combat discrimination, and to the full respect of the rights

of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community. Dr Borg also pledged to

support the Commission’s proposal for gender balance in executive boards, and to keep

up the EU’s fight against HIV/AIDS. He also pledged to take forward the long-delayed review of the Tobacco

Products Directive realized and stated that a "top priority” of his term would be fighting conflicts of interests. This last

commitment has been particularly welcome by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) as ‘too often economic

interests are put ahead of the public health’. In a statement released on that occasion, EPHA welcomes Mr Borg’s

appointment and expresses its support, but insists that the new Commissioner put his conservative opinions to one

side and make his decisions in strict respect of the European treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. EPHA

also calls for more transparency with regards to some sensitive health issues, including in contacts with the tobacco

industry. www.epha.org/a/5437

First Conference of Partners of the EIP AHA, 6 November The first Conference of Partners of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP AHA)

was headlined by European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes, Commissioner Máire Geoghegan Quinn,

Kathleen Lynch, the Irish Minister of State from the Department of Health and Department of Justice, and the

Spanish Secretary General of Health and Consumers, Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, María Pilar

Farjas Abadia. High level representatives and Ministers from European regions and innovative projects discussed

how to implement and scale up innovations for active ageing and what contribution they can make to regions. They

were joined by leading figures in the field of active and healthy ageing from across Europe, from universities and

research groups, public authorities, health providers, industry and non-governmental organisations.

The first part of the conference was dedicated to the presentation by the six Action Groups of their Action Plans on:

Prescription adherence

Fall prevention

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Frailty and malnutrition

Integrated care

Independent living

Age-friendly environments.

During the second part, candidate reference sites from different regions highlighted the important role of regions in

the Partnership by presenting some concrete examples of their work.

Last but not least, the European Commission provided information on horizontal issues – such as regulatory frame-

work conditions and funding opportunities – and explained the next steps for the Partnership. In addition to the plena-

ry session, an exhibition, open to all, displayed real life examples of innovation in this field.

More information: Conference website - speakers' presentations

AGE is very much active in the EIP AHA. After its involvement through the Steering Committee and the

drafting of the Strategic Implementation Plan, AGE decided to submit a commitment to support the

implementation of age-friendly environments and to lead activities in this area including the campaign for

the setting up of an EU Covenant on demographic change.

Commissioner Vassiliou calls for adequate resources for EIT

At the opening of the EIT Stakeholders Conference – Addressing Societal Challenges through the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), in Larnaca (Cyprus) on 8-9 November, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou called for national governments to “invest seriously in growth enhancing measures such as the EIT, and not to cut investment in Europe's human capital, which is still our comparative advantage on the global stage”. The objective of the EIT, which has now been running for four years, is to boost the European Union's innovation capacity and support entrepreneurship, through what they call the “knowledge triangles” (education-research-innovation). But adequate resources are needed so as not to endanger its future development.

For the next 2014-2020 funding period, the European Commission proposes to strengthen the EIT's role as an institute at the service of Europe. In order to do this, it proposes consolidating the three current KICs (InnoEnergie - in the field of sustainable energy; Climate - in the field of climate change; and EIT ICTLabs - which deals with questions on the information society and communication) so that they can serve as a model for new KICs and compete on a global scale, and the Commission also proposes creating new KICs in six fields of action that can help address current economic and societal challenges. The programme the Commission proposes would consist of two phases:

1- the creation of three new KICs in 2014 in the fields of health and demography (focusing in particular on active ageing and healthy living), food security and sustainable access to raw materials;

2- at a later stage, three other KICs would be created in the field of added-value manufacturing, urban mobility and smart secure societies.

In order to make a success of this ambitious project, the Commission has proposed a budget of €3.19 billion for the next 2014-2020 financial framework.

More information on the EIP in this Commission’s Memo and on the EIP website

Patient safety: Commission publishes report on state of play in the Member States

The Commission has issued a report on patient safety, which focuses on the state of implementation of a number of actions to increase patient safety agreed to by the EU's member states in 2009. Pa-

tient safety means that patients are not exposed to unnecessary harm or potential harm associated with healthcare, including the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections. The report concludes that Member States have implemented various measures such as embedding patient safety in public health polices and identifying com-petent authorities on patient's safety; however more effort is needed towards actions targeting patients, e.g. patient empowerment, and health professionals, e.g. more education and training. The report also shows that the economic crisis slowed down the implementation because of changing public health priorities. The crisis should not undermine patient safety: for the sake of the patient and because unsafe care has a cost: research shows that between 13 and 16% of hospital costs are due to healthcare related injuries and ill health. In the current financial context it is crucial to reduce the costs of unsafe care and to develop cost-effective patient safety programmes.

To access the full report: www.ec.europa.eu/health/patient_safety/policy/index_en.htm

Report of the session on ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing - ICT Competitiveness Week

On 19 September, as part of the ICT for Competitiveness Week, over 30 stakeholders came together to discuss the

use of new technology in support of active and healthy ageing. The overarching objective of the week was to bridge

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the gap between research and innovation to enhance European competitiveness.

The following report summarises the discussions:

Report of the session on ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing - ICT Competitiveness Week

Annual growth survey proposes measures to boost employment in 2013

On 28 November, the European Commission brought out its latest Annual Growth Survey (AGS), a set of proposed measures that the member states are asked to implement in 2013 in order to tackle the consequences of the economic and financial crisis, and boost growth and employment. The overall objective of this survey is creating jobs for the 25 million or so Europeans who are today without work and marrying flexibility of the labour market with social protection. Those measures include incentives for businesses (reduction of the tax burden on labour, flexible employment contracts by reducing the differences in protection provided by the various types of contract, reforming salary indexation systems and adapting the minimum salary to productivity) and various measures (lifelong learning, promoting traineeships and specific training) to improve the employability of Europeans, particularly the under-25s, in making the supply fit the current criteria of demand in terms of labour.

The social protection section has to be adapted to the context of the crisis, setting up “active inclusion strategies”. The social assistance and labour incentives should be personalised, supporting “vulnerable groups” through “affordable and high-quality services”.

Governments are free to dip into this guide as they like. It will help them draft in the next six months their national reform programmes (NRP), specific to each country.

Read more on the Commission’s website

Spanish pension legislation violates principle of equal treatment

On 22 November, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Spanish legislation on contributory retirement pensions for part-time workers discriminates indirectly against women because in order to be entitled to a contributory pension, part-time workers (most of whom are women) are required to contribute for a longer time, proportionately speaking, than full-time workers despite the fact that the former receiving a smaller pension.

As it is, the Spanish legislation works to the disadvantage of part-time workers who have worked part-time for a long time, since, in practice, it excludes those workers from any possibility of obtaining a retirement pension because of the method used to calculate the requisite contribution period, which takes into account only the hours actually worked. That national legislation affects women far more than men, given that in Spain at least 80% of part-time workers are women. In addition, the Court says there is no evidence that this measure is really necessary for the Spanish government to achieve its objective of protecting the contributory social security system.

The ECJ has therefore ruled that the Spanish legislation on contributory retirement pensions for part-time workers introduces a different in treatment that is not allowed under the EU directive on sexual equality for social security (Directive 79/7/EEC).

Read the judgment of the Court

UN Open-Ended Working Group will consider proposals for a legal instrument on the rights of older people: Seniors’ organisations have an important role to play!

On 27th November the UN General Assembly Third Committee, which deals with Human

Rights issues, adopted a resolution put forward by El Salvador asking the Open-ended

Working Group on Ageing (OEWG) during its fourth session to be held in 2013, to consider proposals for an

international legal instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of older people. The resolution was

adopted by 54 votes in favor, 3 against (US, Canada and Somalia) and 109 abstentions.

Cyprus spoke on behalf of the EU member states which abstained in the vote, because they are not convinced that a

Convention is the best way to advance older people’s rights, especially since existing human rights bodies are

already overburdened and underfunded. The EU member States asked for more time to consider the proposal of El

Salvador and argued that for such important questions as new legal instruments, a solid international support is

Other EU and international institutions

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needed, which cannot be achieved unless there is consensus.

While the adopted resolution, does not set up a drafting committee for a new Convention, it gives a new focus to the

work of the OEWG, which will from now on concentrate on necessary steps towards a new UN legal instrument on

the rights of older people.

AGE Council’s decision to work towards a UN Convention is very timely, as NGOs representing older people have an

important role to play in this long process and their engagement is crucial to achieve wide political support and a

strong human rights protection of older people at the UN level.

For more information on AGE’s work on the rights of older people in the UN you may contact Nena Georgantzi at

nena.georgantzi@age-platform.eu

The European Quality framework for long-term care services

On 14 November 2012, AGE Platform Europe together with 18 partners from 12 European countries launched in the European Parliament the European Quality framework for long-term care services. This document is one of the main results from the WeDO Project, a European Partnership for the wellbeing and dignity of older people (2010-2012), awarded by the European Commission DG EMPL call for proposal for a pilot project on preventing elder abuse. The project builds on the results from the EUSTACEA project (2008-2010) which developed a European Charter of the rights and responsibilities of older people in need of care and assistance.

Challenges for quality long-term care in the EU

One of the key challenges for Europe is to transform the longer life expectancy into longer active and healthy life years. It is also to ensure that our ageing population will receive the care and assistance they need to age in dignity and be protected from elder abuse. In the last few years the fight against elder abuse and the improvement of the life and care quality of older people have gained importance at international and European level with the support of several EU Presidencies, the European Parliament and the European Commission. Answering a call for proposals from DG Employment and Social affairs on ‘Preventing Elder abuse’ in 2010, AGE and 18 partners were involved in the development of the WeDO project.

The EU Quality framework for long-term care services (EQFL) states that ‘ensuring high quality and dignity in care should contribute to improving the quality of life for all older people receiving care and assistance and to preventing elder abuse. We can and need to develop care models that are socially and financially sustainable in the long term and fair to all generations and social groups. All relevant stakeholders i.e. public authorities, service providers, older people’s and carers’ organisations, funders, need to be responsive, proactive, and innovative. They need to be aware of existing practices which offer older people high quality social and long-term care services while improving their cost efficiency.’

Introduction to the EU quality framework for long-term care services

Based on a common vision and analysis of long-term care services throughout Europe among the project partners, the EQFL get inspired from the Social Protection Committee ‘voluntary quality framework for social services’ and proposes 11 quality principles and 7 areas of actions where quality of long-term care services can be improved. For each of them, an explanation (‘What does it mean?’) and a case example from different EU countries is

Special Briefing by Maude Luherne

Managing Director

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provided. Guidelines for implementation, including recommendations and examples for quality tools, as well as a methodology to develop a participatory approach in improving quality long-term care are provided in the second part. Finally, a list of 28 good practices and useful ressources is available in the end.

The Quality framework is available in 10 languages in its longer version (48 pages) and in 12 languages in its shorter version (4 pages). More information here.

The WeDO EU partnership for the dignity and wellbeing for older people in need of care and assistance

The WeDO project was developed with the active involvement of 18 partners working with 12 national coalitions, one in each partner country. The success of the WeDO project can be explained by the active participation of these coalitions which gathered a wide range of stakeholders: older people organisations, service providers, carers ’ organisations, local and national policy makers, research centers, etc. The coalitions actively worked on the different draft versions of the EU quality framework for long-term care services, gathered good and bad practices in their countries, and reflected together on how to improve the situation of long-term care in their country with the development of a national strategy to be developed after the end of the project. All the national strategies are available here. Some countries already used the WeDO EU quality framework at national level:

In Slovenia, the EU quality framework for long-term care services and the European Charter for the rights

and responsibilities of older people in need of long-term care and assistance are used as reference docu-

ments in care workers contracts

In Sweden, the EQFL was used to inspire the ongoing reform on long-term care

At EU level, a pool of EU-wide organisations gathered in an EU coalition which contributed to the EQFL and developed an EU strategy for the wellbeing and dignity of older people, available here.

A successful final conference in the European Parliament on 14 November 2012

The conference, which gathered around 120 participants, aimed at presenting the outcome of the WeDO project, i.e. the EU quality framework and the EU partnership. It was chaired and hosted by Mr. Heinz K. Becker, MEP and Co-Chair of the European Parliament Intergroup on Ageing and Solidarity between Generations.

The Opening session was a good opportunity to gather the views from high level stakeholders at EU policy level. Mr. Von Nordheim, DG EMPL, welcomed the very good results from the WeDO project, speaking of ‘state of the art’ in the field,

and appreciated the continuity of the partnership after the end of the project. Ms. Papamichalopoulou, DG JUST, mentioned the upcoming Eurobarometer on discrimination and indicated that age discrimination is becoming a key priority for the EC. Mr. Toomey, Irish Coordinator of the European Year 2012 and representative of the Irish Presidency, added that the EU quality framework will be a reference document in all policy work regarding long-term care in Ireland.

Anne-Sophie Parent, AGE Secretary-General, presented the EU quality framework to the participants. Her presentation was completed with 5 examples of national strategies in Belgium, Austria, Ireland, Czech Republic and Sweden.

The panel discussion aimed at treating different aspects of the implementation of the EU quality framework. Ms. Iglesia Gomez, DG SANCO, insisted on the link to be made between the WeDO Project results and the European Innovation Partnership on Active and healthy ageing. Mr. Dominkus, Director General of the Slovene Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs, gave the example of implementation of the quality framework in Slovenia and stated that the document will be useful for upcoming legislation in Slovenia on quality long-term care and the fight against elder abuse. Mr. Leichsenring, European Centre for Social Welfare and Research, linked the WeDO results to the results of the Interlinks project on the specific item on the ‘identity of long-term care’ and provided recommendations for the implementation of the Quality framework. Mr. Anderson, Eurofound and Eurocarers, welcomed the high recognition in the quality framework of the role of informal carers adding several challenges: the sustainability of the LTC system, the need to include social partners. Finally, Mr. Sedmak, AGE President and Slovene partner in the WeDO project, completed the presentations by insisting on the need to reconstruct welfare states. In Slovenia, the challenge is to gather the organisations of Mayors and work together to implement the EU quality framework. The questions from the participants raised a number of issues regarding the follow-up of the work, the need to work on palliative care, the challenge of the current austerity measures and the gender inequalities.

Mr Heinz K. Becker concluded on the need to support social entrepreneurship to drive change and let Mr.

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Dominkus, member of the SPC sub working group on ageing, explain that the Social Protection Committee sub-group on ageing will develop a report on LTC by 2014 and will get inspiration from the WeDO EU quality framework and will cooperate with AGE Platform Europe.

A press release was sent by AGE on 14 November. All the presentations and documents of the event (and the upcoming conference report) are available here.

Join the WeDO EU partnership!

All the organisations, whether involved in the national and EU coalitions or not, are now invited to continue to contribute to the WeDO EU partnership, which will open to new organisations and new countries. On 15

th

November, representatives from the national coalitions gathered to reflect on different tools and ideas on how to continue the work at transnational level, through the WeDO website and meetings. It contributed to develop a strategy for the WeDO Project follow up that will be used in 2013-2014 to carry on the work.

So the WeDO project has not ended. It is just a start!

More information on how to join the partnership on the website front page, section ‘Join us!’

Useful links:

Project website

European Quality framework for long-term care services

European Strategy for the wellbeing and dignity of older people

National strategies

Final conference webpage

Press release

The EUSTACEA project and the European Charter for the rights and responsibilities of older people in need

of long-term care and assistance

For more information, please contact Maude Luherne, WeDO Project coordinator, at maude.luherne@age-

platform.eu

O Campaign ‘EU Money for Poverty for Poverty Reduction NOW!’ : Joint letter and Press Release

Together with 19 Social NGOs, AGE is partner of a EU-wide campaign, led by the European anti-poverty Network

(EAPN) ‘EU Money for Poverty Reduction, NOW!’ to push Member States to defend the minimum shares for the

European Social Fund (ESF) (at least 25% of the Cohesion Policy’s budget for the ESF, and, at least 20% of the ESF

earmarked for social inclusion and poverty reduction) proposed in the draft regulation by the European Commission.

This proposal, supported by the European Parliament, was severely undermined by

the Council at the General Affairs Council in June, as a vast majority of Member

States seemed to reject it.

EAPN mobilize its members to be even more vocal to urge Member States to respect

their commitment to reduce poverty in the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

EAPN also sent a joint letter to the Prime Ministers/ Representatives of the General

Affairs Council and issued a press release in English and French prior to the Council’s meeting on 20 November to

further discuss the EU budget. EAPN’s reaction to the outcome of this meeting can be read on EAPN website.

You are invited to support this campaign through action at national level and in signing this petition.

Report of EAHSA conference Active Ageing: the Challenge for Providers report, 27-28 September

The European Association for Homes and Services for the Ageing (EAHSA), held its fourth European Conference on

27-28 September 2012 under the theme Active Ageing: the Challenge for Providers.

The conference, hosted in Malta by CareMalta Ltd., Malta’s leading private care provider for older persons, was an

opportunity for over 150 delegates from all over Europe and Australia, to share and discuss recent developments in

best practices and innovations in housing, care and services. Keynote sessions were complemented by breakout

Other news

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sessions. Site-visits showed cased Malta’s aged care in Residential Care and Rehabilitation Services. Presentations

covered a number of topics including dimensions of active ageing; care spectrum; dementia; partnerships; ageing in

place and creative, innovation and lateral thinking. Key note speakers included Professor Ilona Kickbusch, Director of

the Global Health Programme in Switzerland, Mr. Patrick Connolly, CEO of Sodexo, USA, Professor Joseph Troisi,

Director at the International Institute on Ageing, United Nations-Malta (INIA), Dr. Charles Eugster, the world’s oldest

competitive oarsman and bodybuilder and Professor Edward de Bono, the originator of the concept and formal tools

of lateral thinking. An innovative session was the Pecha Kucha, where six presenters spoke about various topics on

ageing.

A general insight from the conference was the need to put the person first, no matter his age or role in society and

the importance of listening to what they need and desire, seeing the world from their own point of view. One might

be surprised to find that even octogenarians are winning challenges that we all should work and aspire for.

At the end of the two-day conference, Ms. Natalie Briffa-Farrugia, CEO of CareMalta Ltd., was nominated as the new

EAHSA Chairperson. Mr. Freek Lapre, outgoing Chairman, described Ms Briffa

Farrugia as “his favourite choice”, saying she has passion for the sector, is a leading

provider and is committed to the association.

EAHSA represents more than 2,500 providers of housing, services and care in the

ageing sector spread in 15 different countries, ranging from Norway to Malta and from

Ireland to the Russian Federation.

http://cms.eventassist.nl/websites/uniglobe_EAHSA2012/docs/EAHSA%20A5.pdf

CECODHAS Conference: "Preparing the future: ageing and affordable housing" on 28 November

AGE was invited to take part in this seminar around social housing and ageing to illustrate and reflect on the long

lasting tribute of European social housing organisations to develop “flexible” and accessible houses in order to allow

the elderly to live independently in their own homes and keep on participating in the social, cultural and economic life

of their communities.

Different areas where explored during that day from the impact of housing on health to the

EU existing financial support. AGE was more specifically asked to react to the presentation

of the HOST project related to ageing, ICT and housing. It was the opportunity to remind

about our main messages these different areas and to highlight our current campaign on

age-friendly environments and the need for an EU Covenant on Demographic Changes.

For more information, please contact Julia Wadoux, julia.wadoux@age-platform.eu

HOST Project: http://www.host-aal.eu/cms/welcome-host

CECODHAS: http://www.housingeurope.eu/event/2715

End 2010, AGE published a brochure “Towards Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Places for All Ages - Follow

up to the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion and input to the preparation of

the 2012 European Year on Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations”

CECODHAS publication on ‘Affordable Housing and the challenge of an ageing population’

eHealth Acceptance Conference and outcomes of ICT for Health project

AGE was invited to address the needs and expectations of older people in eHealth solutions during the eHealth Acceptance Conference held in Brussels on the 5-6 November 2012. This event, which gathered 120 participants from all around Europe, was an initiative of the ICT for Health project, aimed to persuade citizens with chronic diseases and medical professionals in

the Baltic sea region to more readily accept eHealth, and to have the capacity and knowledge to use technologies in prevention and treatment. Ms. Nena Georgantzi, Legal and Research Officer, presented older people’s perspective in the debate focusing on

technology-related but also ethical challenges linked with user acceptance. Experience from projects like DREAMING and Home Sweet Home has demonstrated the potential of eHealth but also the need to further explore the barriers to its wide acceptance.

The results of the project are very interesting and can enhance understanding of eHealth for citizens, professionals and policymakers. Some of its outcomes incude:

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The eHealth portal for citizens, which includes simple realistic scenarios that show how eHealth can support users during their daily life with their chronic diseases: www.ehealth4citizen.eu/home.html

An interactive online Benchmark atlas that provides an overview of the predicted development in eHealth-related indicators in the countries of the Baltic Sea regions:

Examples of Good Practice Use of ICT in Healthcare and its Potential Transferability

How to teach eHealth

Framework for the evaluation of eHealth: Evaluation Concept

Read more on the event

Closed seminar on age discrimination in employment

In the frame of the European Year 2012 the Belgian Center for Equal Opportunities organised on the 29th November

a seminar targeting experts from different fields in order to tackle the issue of age as ground for discrimination. AGE was invited to participate in a panel addressing the freedom of appreciation of national judges on cases of age discrimination in employment. Ms. Nena Georgantzi, Legal and Research Officer, presented AGE’s work in this field, stressing that the caselaw of the European Court of Justice does not offer clear guidelines on when age discrimination is justified, putting thus in risk the level of protection of older workers. Besides, older workers have been portrayed as being secure in their employment but, in practice, they have been hit badly due to restructuring by companies to cut down on costs, as also demonstrated by the recent Eurobarometer on discrimination in the EU in 2012.

On this occasion, the Belgian center has published a survey, according to which stereotypes portraying older workers as expensive, less motivated, frails, less productive, inflexible and unfamiliar with new technologies, still prevail, while 1 out of 3 respondents find age-based discrimination in employment to be justified. Since age has long been used as a criterion for social structure, it is particularly difficult to fight age discrimination, compared to other grounds. The Belgian center offers useful information to workers and employers, including a checklist to evaluate whether a job offer is ageist or not.

The outcomes of the seminar will be included in the Center’s annual report which will be issued in May 2013 and will focus on age discrimination.

AGE presentation at the capacity building seminar on EU projects

On 22 November, AGE was invited to participate in a capacity building seminar to help local actors in the health sec-

tor to manage European projects and have access to EU funding. The seminar was supported by the project “Mat-

tone Internazionale”. This project aims at increasing the role of the regional health systems and policies in Europe by

strengthening their competences in investigating opportunities offered by the European Union and other international

organisations. It foresees the implementation of educational and information activities addressed to Ministry organi-

zations, Italian Regions, local social-health authorities, hospitals as well as other stakeholders involved in health

topics, in order to promote the dissemination of EU policies and opportunities to access EU financed programs in the

framework of health, research and innovation in the national territory.

This was the occasion for AGE to present its brochure ‘How to promote active ageing in Europe – EU support to local

and regional actors’ presenting the EU funding opportunities to create an age-friendly European Union and its new

publication ‘Active Citizens for Europe: A guide to the EU’. Given the aim of the project “Mattone Internazionale”, the

meeting was a good opportunity to promote our campaign for a Covenant on demographic change and a network on

age-friendly environments to support local authorities to promote active ageing and solidarity between generations.

Finally, AGE also presented its involvement on EU research projects and how AGE members participate in them. It

was explained why it is important to involve users in EU research and how this can be done.

For more details, please contact Alice.sinigaglia@age-plafform.eu

AGE presentation during the conference “ICT solutions to stay active”

On 30 November, AGE participated in the local debate on demographic change organised by Europe Direct in Ales-

sandria (Italy), where we raised awareness on the need for an age-friendly European Union to promote both active

ageing and solidarity between generations. We also presented the work we have done during the European Year

2012 for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations.

AGE also informed participants about its involvement in the European Innovation Partnership and invites them to

reply to the survey on the needs of regions, cities and towns for EU support on age-friendly environments that AGE

prepared together with CEMR and Eurocities. We hope that the event will enable a wider dissemination of the survey

and will enable AGE, CEMR, Eurocities and the other stakeholders that are working with us on the framework of the

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EIP to prepare recommendations on how a Covenant on Demographic Change should look like to better support

local authorities.

For more details, please contact Alice.sinigaglia@age-plafform.eu

Report from ESN Seminar on ‘Retaining and regaining independence and inclusion in later life: the role of social services’

On 24-25 October 2012, AGE was invited by the European Social Network to participate in a seminar on ‘Retaining and regaining independence and inclusion in later life: the role of social services’. AGE’s Vice-President, Halina Potocka, focused her intervention of the following issues:

What are older people’s expectations/fears of social and health care?

What can older people do themselves to stay independent and included?

What formal and informal support do they need to achieve independence and inclusion?

How can older people be helped most quickly to “recover” independence and inclusion, e.g. after il l-ness/hospitalisation or bereavement?

Ms Potocka’s presentation was mostly based on testimonials collected within the WeDo Project and on European Charter of the rights and responsibilities of older people in need of long-term care and assistance.

Moreover AGE’s Vice-President explained the role of Age Friendly Environments and the crucial importance of setting up a Covenant on Demographic Change.

AGE participation in European Symposium for Family Assistants, 22-23 November

Home support is seen as one of the major challenges of the Europe of tomorrow and can be very diverse, ranging

from support for people receiving palliative care, to support for parenting, mental illness, serious illness, and for

psychosocial problems. The training of home support workers is essential in order to meet these challenges and

were at the core of the debate held at the European Symposium for Family Assistants, which gathered Belgian and

international participants, practitioners, field workers, service managers, and training centre managers. Family

support organisations deplore the numerous unskilled offers of support services and are calling for a quality training

model recognized at EU level in order to ensure the quality of these specific services.

Elisabeth Dispaux represented AGE at a plenary debate on disabilities and elderly and presented AGE activities and

role at EU level.

More information on this event at: http://aidefamiliale.be/symposium_en_info.html

Final conference of the ‘Train Improve Reduce!’ project of Mental Health Europe, 23 November, Brussels

Prompted by the knowledge that every fifth woman in Europe has been a

victim of intimate partner violence, Mental Health Europe and its partners decided to tackle domestic violence by

training law enforcement agents - the first points of contact for women denouncing their aggressors - on the mental

health aspects associated with this type of violence. AGE was associated to the project “Train Improve Reduce -

Diminishing the mental health impact of violence against women by training law enforcement agents” to bring

expertise on elder abuse and women victims of violence in care situations. The Final Conference presented the

outcomes of the project, i.e. ‘Shaping attitudes’, a handbook on domestic violence and mental health, and the results

from the pilot trainings developed on the partner countries. Recommendations were also presented to pave the way

for future action in this area.

More information: http://trainimprovereduce.wordpress.com.

Outcome of a EWL study on the impact of austerity on women’s rights and gender equality in Europe

The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) has published the outcome of a study mapping the

consequences of austerity measures on women and gender equality in Europe. Based on a survey of

EWL member organisations as well as other sources, ‘The price of austerity – the impact on women’s

rights and gender equality in Europe’ focuses on three areas: cuts in public sector jobs and wages,

cuts in services and benefits and cuts in funding for women’s rights and gender equality. The EWL study questions

the long term impact of austerity measures on women’s rights and gender relations, and shows that the impact of

austerity measures could roll back years of progress. Read more…

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Good practices:

French Restos du Cœurs dedicate space for seniors

Since 26 November the Restos du Cœur, a French non-profit association providing free meals to deprived people and seeking to fight poverty and favour social inclusion, has opened a first special space dedicated to seniors in Montreuil, near Paris. This is to respond to the specific needs of the worryingly growing number of deprived older people. Many of them are reluctant to come because of the long queue in the cold and the fear of feeling as strangers in the crowd. Many seniors are also reluctant to ask for help.

Read more in French - Restos du Coeur website

New interactive online platform to facilitate patients’ self management in France

Entrepatients is an online platform enabling all health actors (practitioners, carers, patients, relatives…) to get reliable information on more than 100 pathologies, dialogue, interact with other actors, exchange experience, advice, good practices, etc.

The objective is to break the patients’ isolation and help them take an active part in their own health, promoting the concept of ‘patient empowerment’.

This platform can work as a social network with ‘communities’ in which the exchanges between members (other patients, relatives, professionals), and the sharing of information on a specific pathology are facilitated in all safety and confidentiality. It also provides a comprehensive directory of all health professionals involved in the patients’ daily life, including e-learning, e-coaching, games, and other innovating products in relation to the pathology/patient typology.

http://www.entrepatients.net/fr

AGE new publications

‘Active Senior Citizens for Europe: A Guide to the European Union’

This publication, which was officially presented at AGE’s third thematic seminar on ‘Creating an age-friendly Europe-

an Union’ on 20th November at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels, aims to support older people’s active in-

volvement in the decision-making process of the EU. It explains to senior citizens in their country how decisions are

made at European Union level, what impact these decisions have at national or local level and, more generally, what

the EU is doing which is of relevance to older people. It also helps seniors better understand why they should get

involved in the EU policy development and how they can make their voice heard in debates on EU policies that con-

cern them.

This publication has been posted on the official EY2012 website as a contribution to the European Year 2012.

It can be downloaded following this link:

http://www.age-platform.eu/images/stories/EN/activesenior_citizens_for_europe-_a_guide_to_the_eu.pdf

French version: http://www.age-platform.eu/images/stories/EN/seniors_actifs_pour_leurope-_guide_de_lue.pdf

‘Older People also suffer because of the Crisis’

This publication builds on the work in the field of social inclusion and social protection carried out by AGE and its

member organisations since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008, and on the outcome of the second thematic

seminar AGE co-organised with the Committee of the Regions on ‘The impact of the crisis on older people’ on 19

June 2012 in Brussels. It aims to highlight the impact of the financial and economic crisis on the daily lives of millions

of older Europeans and stress the specificity of poverty and social exclusion in old age.

This brochure was officially presented at the second Convention of the European Platform against Poverty and So-

cial Exclusion, on 5-6-7 December in Brussels.

It can be downloaded following this link:

http://www.age-platform.eu/images/stories/EN/olderpeoplealsosufferbcofthecrisis-en.pdf

AGE news

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French version: http://www.age-platform.eu/images/stories/EN/olderpeoplealsosufferbcofthecrisis-fr.pdf

Employment

!! Contribute to AGE’s assessment of the Employment Equality Directive

AGE is asked by the European Commission to provide information on our members’ assessment of the implementation of the Employment Framework Directive on the age ground, which will be taken into account for their report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation the two anti-discrimination (2000/43/EC and 2000/78/EC) directives. This is therefore an important opportunity to include the views of older people in the Commission’s report.

In the input which it will provide, AGE would like to update its position on the implementation of the Employment Framework Directive and to look at how it’s been applied in Member States in the context of the crisis.

We therefore ask AGE members to help us evaluate what the impact of the Employment Framework Directive has been in terms of (1) awareness of rights of older workers to non-discrimination (2) national case law and complaints received by Equality Bodies (3) situation of older workers in today’s crisis context.

For more information and to send your contributions, please contact Rachel Buchanan, rachel.buchanan@age-platform.eu and Nena Georgantzi, nena.georgantzi@age-platform.eu by 15 January 2013.

Save the date!

Goldenworkers Final Conference: the future of work for an ageing population; how innovation and technologies will transform organizations, Barcelona December 18th

The Conference will address how technology will support the contribution of ageing people in organizations and

which innovative technology solutions should be developed; these technologies can transform organisations making

them more flexible, enabling the transfer of knowledge between generations, supporting lifelong learning, simplifying

the integration of paid work and informal care, increasing the entrepreneurial possibilities for older workers, and

matching skills and stimulating older workers innovativeness.

Click here for the agenda and logistic of the Event.

Click here to register to the Event.

It will moreover be the occasion for having a look to the project Roard Map and know more about its implementation

via the Goldenworkers’ Action Plan, to be released in that occasion.

For more information, visit the project website: http://www.goldenworkers.org/

Goldenworkers awarded at the Closing Event of the EY2012 in Spain, for the category Workplaces for all Ages

Yesterday in Spain, the ‘Goldenworkers’ project received recognition at the Spanish Closing event of the European

Year of Active Ageing, 2012. This honorific mention was offered by the Ministry of Health of Spain and the Institute of

Seniors and Social Services (Imserso). Goldenworkers, participated in the category of Workplaces for all Ages

Awards, where it was selected winner finalist from Spain candidatures.

Read more…

.

Independent living / New technologies

Want to participate to a new collaborative portal on ICT Assistive technologies? Become a supporter of the Atis4All project!

Next year 2013 will see the launch of a new, open European collaborative web portal,

collecting information about assistive technologies and inclusive solutions for all. The portal is being created by

thematic network "ATIS4all" - Assistive Technologies and Inclusive Solutions for All – jointly with thematic network

“ETNA” -European Thematic Network on Assistive Information and Communication Technologies. Both Thematic

Network projects are funded European projects that began in January 2011 and will conclude in December 2013.

The joint portal takes advantage of existing repositories and other Internet resources based on ICT-AT thanks to the

previous work of “EASTIN” - European Assistive Technology Information Network- and will provide registered

members with functions to get information of ICT-based AT products as well as the possibility of commenting, and

sharing knowledge through a “community” by means of different forums and an expert blog. Join us! The ATIS4all

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network is just now inviting interested parties to join as “supporters”: Any organisation working in any field related to

ICT-AT and inclusive solutions. A supporter of the network has no formal obligations to deliver information, participate

in meetings, etc. but is very welcome to do so, and will also receive invitations to network and related events,

breaking news about network activities, etc. The list of supporters is also available at the consortium web site, and

will also be included on the portal when it launches.

More information on AGE website: http://www.age-platform.eu/en/all-projects/1325-atis4all?start=1.

ASAPS is looking for Ambassadors !

The ASAPS project looks for ASAPS Ambassadors who can play a more

active role and be directly engaged in the project (when fees e.g. for travel

and accommodation will occur, they will be covered by the project).

If you enjoy taking part in group activities, talking to people in your community or keeping in contact with people over

the internet, then you can help by becoming one of our Champions!

We want to ensure that ASAPS – Sharing Age has real relevance for you. We want our project to benefit from your

experience and knowledge. We want to engage in a creative dialogue with users over the lifespan of the project.

ASAPS Champions will play a significant role in shaping the project and in building a Sharing Age community.

Champions can act as ambassadors for our project by raising awareness in a number of ways, including:

Recruiting volunteers for focus groups

Encouraging volunteers to complete questionnaires

Contributing to online blogs

Tweeting,

Helping to design and organize international people powered events (e.g. flashmobs)

Contributing to film content and

Sharing our films with others - and encouraging them click, watch and share our films.

As a Champion, you can choose which of these activities you would like to get involved in, depending on your

preference and availability.

Ideally, there should be an ASAPS Champion per Country. Would you like to get involved?

Write to ilenia.gheno@age-platform.eu and ophelie.durand@age-platform.

Home Sweet Home Advisory Group visit in Belgian Pilot Site

The first group visit of the Home Sweet Home Advisory Group (AG) took place in Antwerp on

3rd

December 2012. This meeting was attended by 6 experts (Angela Cluzel, Barbro

Westerholm, Heidrun Mollenkopf, Marja Pijl, Fausto Felli, Philippe Swennen) and enabled

the Group to have an overview of the Belgian pilot site. The members of the Advisory Group

visited two seniors’ flats where they witnessed the use of the technology by older people and

professionals and were able to evaluate its acceptance, added value and impact. Based on

presentations given by the Belgian partners and the project’s coordinator, the experts

discussed the successes and failures of technology components, gave advice on specific

issues of concern to the pilot site in Antwerp and provided long-term perspectives to the projects’ outcomes. The

Advisory Group in particular highlighted the need for qualitative analysis of data related to the acceptance of

technology of users. Carefully considering the profiles and specific living situations of users who accept and reject

the service can give useful insights about its usability, the target group and mitigate the risk of drop-outs. The project

should -based on such a qualitative evaluation -establish a list of drivers and barriers that can be useful for future

research and wide deployment of the solutions.

For more information on you may contact Nena Georgantzi, nena.georgantzi@age-platform.eu or Ophélie Durand,

Ophelie.durand@age-platform.eu

Mobility/transport

Help the ICARUS project gather experiences of older people in air travel and improve access for people with reduced mobility

The ICARUS Project is an EU- funded project aiming to support the European Disability Strategy, by providing insights on Research & Development areas that might improve air transport access for people with disabilities and older people. AGE is a member of the project’s Stakeholders network, which will help identify research needs and technical solutions and will be an integral part of the ICARUS’ implementation plan. As part of our involvement in the project we are asked to gather the opinions of older people who have been

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travelling frequently (5 or more flights in the last 4 years) using the assistance provided by airlines and airports for people with reduced mobility. This service which has been established by the Air Passengers’ Rights Regulation is free of charge. Your views will help us evaluate the quality and efficiency of the assistance and provide recommendations for improvements in this field. If you or your members have similar experience, please send an email to Nena Georgantzi at nena.georgantzi@age-platform.eu For more information on the project you may have a look at its website: http://www.icarusproject.eu

News from AGE members

FOCAGG’s EY2012 Manifesto

The Spanish organisation FOCAGG (Federacio d’Organitzacions Catalanes de Gent Grant, Dones y Família), has issued a Manifesto on Solidarity between Generations Manifesto based on the outcome of 6 conferences aimed to give value to the exchanges between people of different generations as a mechanism of social integration, a way of keeping one’s traditions and culture, as well as enhance the welfare and quality of life of people and collectives.

Click here to access the Manifesto

Some upcoming conference/events:

Inno 4 Ageing: Workshop of the Catalan Innovation Hub on medical devices and health-care

Vodafone – AGE – EDF 2012 Smart Accessibility Awards ceremony

EY2012 closing conference in France

Goldenworkers Final Conference

Other ageing related events can be viewed on AGE website at:

www.age-platform.eu/en/component/jevents/year.listevents/2012/02/03/-

"Health at a Glance: Europe – 2012”

Resulting from the cooperation of the OECD and the European Commission, this second edition of ‘Health at a Glance: Europe’ presents a set of key indicators of health and health systems in 35 European countries, including the 27 EU member states, 5 candidate countries and 3 EFTA countries. Those indicators are mainly based on the European Community Health Indicators (ECHI) shortlist, a list of indicators that has been developed by the European Commission to guide the development and reporting of health statistics. It is complemented by additional indicators on health expenditure and quality of care, building on the OECD expertise in these areas. An annex provides addi-tional information on the demographic and economic context within which health systems operate.

To access the full report – a summary of the report

Eurofound’s report on “Income from work after retirement in the EU”

This study investigates retirees’ motivations for seeking paid work and their employment opportunities. It also ex-plores the types of paid employment that retirees take up and identifies ways in which companies seek to recruit and retain retirees. The report concludes with recommendations for governments, employers and retirees.

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef1259.htm

Publications

Conferences

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Healthy ageing: Practice and innovation at the four universities of applied research in the northern Netherland

This collection presents a sample of applied research activities in the field of Healthy Ageing currently being carried out at the four Universities of Applied Sciences in the Northern Netherlands and which were presented at a conference in Groningen on 8 November 2012. It includes an introduciton by Anne-Sophie Parent, AGE Secretary-General.

Read more - To order the publication: http://www.bookalike.nl/shop/title.asp?barcode=ISBN&id=9789051798043

Proceedings of the conference "Changing Images of Ageing", 12 December 2011, Berlin

This documentation brings together the revised versions of the contributions made by the various speakers at the conference. These remain in the language in which they were delivered at the time, with a summary of each contribution included in German and English at the beginning of each contribution.

An article by AGE can be found on p.173

http://www.konferenz-altersbilder.de/konferenz-altersbilder.html?&L=1

Loneliness in old age in Eastern and Western European societies: theoretical perspectives

This article investigates the differences in social integration and loneliness between countries in Europe and tackles the issue of loneliness in old age taking both individual and societal perspectives into consideration.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10433-012-0248-2?no-access=true#

European calls for projects in the ageing field can be accessed on AGE’s website at:

www.age-platform.eu/en/call-for-proposals

Did you know that…?

Louise del Busto Gomez undertook law studies after retirement and

has just officially become a barrister… at the age of 84…

Read more…

If you would like to contribute with news stories, please contact AGE Platform Europe,

Information and Communication Officer, Anne Mélard at: anne.melard@age-platform.eu

Call for proposals