Age Friendly
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Ten Steps to writing an <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Strategy<br />
1. Start with a concise background on our ageing population and message of an <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong><br />
Ireland (refer to general introduction).<br />
2. Use specific details about your own county’s profile – percentage of older people, percentage<br />
of older people with disabilities, rural/urban spread of older population. This information is<br />
available from the Central Statistics Office and in other county publications.<br />
3. Highlight the good things about the county – areas in which it already excels.<br />
4. Then, introduce the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> City and County programme and what it aims to achieve.<br />
5. Use the eight World Health Organisation themes as your chapter headings alongside the <strong>Age</strong><br />
<strong>Friendly</strong> Ireland desired outcomes and a relevant quote from an older person.<br />
6. Use lots of local photographs throughout the document. For example, older people at the<br />
launch of the programme, Alliance members, local older people’s groups, etc.<br />
7. Find out if there has been research into the significance of these issues and include a<br />
reference to it if so. For example, the Clare <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Strategy refers to the Liveable<br />
Communities for All <strong>Age</strong>s report which states, “when older adults have to limit or stop driving,<br />
they can experience a drastic decline in mobility that can put them at greater risk of poor<br />
health, isolation and loneliness”. It’s the voice of experience like this that drives the search for<br />
solutions and commitments from the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Alliance.<br />
8. Include some discussion on proposed solutions to the concerns raised<br />
9. Clearly lay out the short, medium and long term plans/goals as solutions to the issues raised<br />
under each heading. Some counties have chosen to outline the planned actions to each theme<br />
in the appendix rather than clearly laying out plans in each chapter. While this keeps the broad<br />
thrust of the issues in each chapter, it can leave the reader at a loss for practical solutions.<br />
However, some <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Coordinators prefer this approach as it separates the broad<br />
strokes in the strategy from the Action Plan to be followed by the various working groups.<br />
10. Use the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> County Logo on the cover and where appropriate within the document.<br />
88
Change language