Age Friendly
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Users Introduction to Handbook for <strong>Age</strong><br />
<strong>Friendly</strong> Cities and Counties Programme<br />
12<br />
Welcome to the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Cities<br />
and Counties Programme Handbook.<br />
Congratulations on joining this growing network<br />
of people working towards making Ireland a better<br />
place to grow old in. By bringing together a group<br />
of people committed to making their city or county<br />
age friendly, there is a real possibility to embed age<br />
friendly thinking into our society. Being part of this<br />
process is both exciting and daunting.<br />
The aim of this guide is to offer practical<br />
support but also to inspire you on a journey<br />
towards making your city or county a better<br />
place to grow old in.<br />
An effective approach to developing <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong><br />
Cities and Counties throughout Ireland has been<br />
built up over the last five years. This handbook<br />
aims to give all those starting out and those in the<br />
midst of developing an <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> City or County<br />
programme an understanding of this approach.<br />
The four stages – Set Up, Consultation, Planning<br />
and Implementation - of developing an <strong>Age</strong><br />
<strong>Friendly</strong> City or County will be carefully outlined<br />
across four chapters. At each stage, there is<br />
step-by-step guidance on what to do – whether<br />
it’s making contact with senior managers<br />
asking them to join an <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Alliance<br />
or consulting with a group of older people or<br />
writing an <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> strategy that will have real<br />
meaning for the older people in your county.<br />
Throughout the handbook, we have included<br />
templates that will assist you in writing letters,<br />
press releases and invitations to launches. It’s<br />
a dynamic process to be involved in and the<br />
further along the route, more people will become<br />
involved, providing leadership and direction.<br />
For this handbook, we have drawn on the<br />
experience and expertise of Chief Executives<br />
and the local authority based <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong><br />
Coordinators. We have also spoken to<br />
independent Chairpersons of <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong><br />
cities and counties. And, most importantly,<br />
we have listened to the voice of older people<br />
through the Chairs of the Older People’s<br />
Councils in various counties. The <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong><br />
Ireland Regional Consultants and the local<br />
authority based <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> City and County<br />
Coordinators have also developed much of the<br />
reference materials for this handbook.<br />
Ultimately, this handbook helps to build a<br />
confident group of decision makers amongst<br />
the older population who will continue to<br />
inform, influence and embed the collaborative<br />
cross-sector agency work that the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong><br />
programme has at its core. The sharing of bestpractice<br />
will also become increasingly relevant as<br />
more counties join the programme. Resources<br />
like this one – and its companion document, The<br />
Story So Far sets the groundwork for those who<br />
use them to add to, update and develop into what<br />
will become an active repository of <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong><br />
knowledge and practice over time.
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