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The coalition for Ageing with dignity 

The first organizational meeting of the members of the future coalition was held on November 14 in Minsk. In addition to discussing issues related to the creation of the non-formal coalition, the participants developed proposals for a National Strategy for active longevity.

The aim of the coalition is to improve the quality of life of older persons through their intellectual, social and physical activation, advocacy and promotion of the rights and interests of senior people, as well as through strengthening the capacity of organizations working in this field.

The participants of the meeting agreed that representatives of public, state, academia, international and foreign organizations working in Belarus, as well as experts dealing with improving the quality of life of senior people will be able to join the coalition.

The main areas of joint work will be:

• exchange of information and experience;
• organization of dialogue platforms on issues related to improving the quality of life of older people;
• development and harmonization of recommendations in the National strategy for active longevity;
• representing the country’s public sector in the international arena to improve the quality of life of older persons.

Development of proposals for a National Strategy for active longevity

An important part of the meeting was to coordinate the proposals in the National Strategy of active aging, which was sent November 2018 and May 2019, the Ministry of labour and social protection, which is engaged in the development of the Strategy.

According to the participants of the meeting, the national strategy should be based on such fundamental documents as the Madrid international plan of action on ageing (2002) and regional strategies for its implementation, who documents on active longevity and health, the experience of the Global network of cities and communities friendly to older people, and other such documents and initiatives.

The main objective of the Strategy should be to create conditions for functional and decent ageing and maximize the potential of each person throughout life, improving the quality of life of older people in a friendly environment.

What preceded the creation of the coalition?

Over the past few years, the coalition has initiated a number of activities to discuss priority issues aimed at improving the quality of life of older persons.

Examples of such activities are:

International conference “Intellectual, physical and social activization of elderly people” (Hrodna, March, 2013)

International conference “Improving the quality of life of older people: towards the development of action plans on ageing” (Hrodna, April, 2016)

Round table “City friendly to the elderly” (Hrodna, October, 2017)

Forum of third-age universities (Minsk, May 2018).

At each of these events, questions were raised about the need to establish a National strategy for active longevity.

The main proposals for the content of this Strategy were accumulated back in 2016 in the Resolution on the results of the conference “Improving the quality of life of older people: towards the development of action plans on ageing”, which was held in Hrodna.

The idea of creating a coalition “For decent aging” was first announced during the Forum of universities of the third age, held in may 2018 in Minsk.

The Coalition for Ageing with dignity

Memorandum of Cooperation

We, representatives of public, governmental, academic organizations and independent experts, aware of their involvement in providing a decent living standard of people of all generations, have signed the present Memorandum of Cooperation.

The aim of our cooperation is the creation of a society in which there is a worthy place for the elderly.

The priority of our joint activities is to promote the idea of the National Strategy for Active Ageing ​​developing, to promote local action plans in the interests of people of all generations, to collect proposals on the contents of these documents as well as to monitor the effectiveness of these plans.

These strategies and plans should be based on the documents such as the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, the National Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Republic of Belarus for the period till 2030, The 2002 Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and regional strategies for its implementation, the documents of the World Health Organization for active Ageing and Health, the principles and experience of the global network of age-friendly cities and communities, other documents and initiatives of the same kind.

The main goal of the National Strategy for Active Ageing should be: creation of the conditions for ageing with dignity and lifelong realization of every individual’s potential, improvement of the older people quality of life in a friendly for them environment.

We declare our willingness to coordinate work in such areas as:

• Goint preparation of proposals for the content of the National Strategy for Active Ageing and other regulatory documents related to a dignified longevity;
• Exchanging of the information and experience to activate older people, improving their life quality and ensuring dialogue between generations;
• Organization of platforms for dialogue on issues related to improvement of the life quality of older people, ensuring their constitutional rights and interests as well as opposing to ageism;
• Increasing the capacity of organizations and initiatives that deal with improvement of the quality of life of older people;
• Initiating and promoting scientific research aimed at the study of status, needs of older people and quality of service for them, as well as other issues of ageing with dignity, participation in these studies and popularization of their results;
• Raising awareness of the Belarusian society about the real state of older people in the country;
• Forming of a positive image of the elderly person in the media;
• Initiating public debate on ageing with dignity;
• Monitoring effectiveness of the implementation of the National Strategy for Active Ageing and other plans that affect interests of older people;
• Representing interests of the coalition members on improving the quality of life of older people in the international arena and ensuring their rights and interests.G

The Memorandum is open for signing by representatives of public, governmental, academic organizations from Belarus and other countries as well as independent experts who share the provisions of the present document.