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SPONSORED FEATURE© Phil Moore/Age InternationalRealisingpotential in anageing worldPeople of all ages must be part of ourresponse to post-2015 development realitiesBy Chris Roles, Director of Age InternationalOne of the great untold stories of development is that of radicaltransformation, overwhelming success and hidden champions, butone which does not feature in the UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals. This is the story of ageing: of greater numbers of older peopleworldwide, increasing longevity and the indispensible role older people playin society.The numbers speak for themselves. In 2013, there were 841 million olderpeople worldwide and this is due to increase to 2 billion by 2050. By thetime the post-2015 framework comes to a close in 2030, there will be morepeople over the age of 60 than children under 10 and almost three quartersof the world’s older people will live in what are now developing countries.And one of the fastest growing groups is people aged 80 and over.Even in sub-Saharan Africa where the ‘youth bulge’ dominatesimmediate concerns, the numbers of older people are growing rapidly.History teaches us that with development success comes increasedlongevity and decreased fertility. Ageing is a development reality.The story of older people and development is also the story of missedopportunities, marginalisation and discrimination. The role of older people asfarmers, business people and net contributors to household economies goesun-noticed by traditional development programmes. Older people are alsoroutinely denied basic health and care services. Discrimination, violence andabuse against older people on the basis of age are commonplace in all partsof the world.What we lose as a society by ignoring the reality of ageing and thepotential of older people is the opportunity to benefit from the experienceand knowledge of the very people who helped build our countries. We failto capitalise on the social and economic contributions they make to theirfamilies and communities every day. More importantly, we lose the dignityand respect that comes from truly valuing a person throughout their lifecourse that should underpin our society.So what makes it possible to realise the potential of older people? Thefirst obvious step is knowing more about them and being able to measureour efforts. This is why the post-2015 promise of a ‘data revolution’ withdisaggregated data by age is absolutely vital. At the moment, we stopcounting when people reach older age. Not knowing what happens in aperson’s life when they are 60, 70, 80 and above means not understandingthe support they provide to their grandchildren and the wider family. It alsomeans not really knowing where vulnerability, marginalisation and povertylie. How can we truly achieve anything post-2015 without this?We must also recognise older people as rights holders and clearlyarticulate what protecting their rights means. We have seen how humanrights conventions for women, children and people with disabilities havetransformed our understanding of society’s roles and responsibilities tothese groups. A convention on the rights of older people is long overdue andwould help clarify their rights, motivate an informed discussion among allstakeholders and stimulate development processes such as post-2015 totake older people into account.Building partnerships for delivering the post-2015 promises andcommitments must include looking for the potential within countries andempowering people of all ages and abilities. Surely this is the embodiment of‘leave no one behind’ and is the measure upon which all efforts shouldbe judged.Age International is a UK charity, part of the Age UK group, and the UK memberof the global HelpAge network. We support programmes in over 30 developingcountries to meet the needs of older people and to promote and protect theirrights. In the UK we work to raise awareness and influence opinion formers anddecision makers about the needs and rights of older people in developing countries.© Antonio Olmos/HelpAge International