Goal 10 of The Positive Ageing Strategy

Older people make a vital contribution to our economy and our communities – as leaders, mentors, taxpayers, consumers, skilled workers, volunteers and caregivers.

Details below about this goal are taken from the 2014 report on the Positive Ageing Strategy, published in April 2015.  Your feedback will help inform the next comprehensive update due to be carried out in 2017.

More information and references are available by downloading a full copy of the report.

Opportunities for Personal Growth and Participation: key achievements

• Providing services and programmes to connect older and younger people and promote better understanding between age groups
• Councils undertaking positive ageing strategies in their regions
• Older people being given a voice in council and government policies

What’s happening?

Councils are developing positive ageing strategies

Some councils have developed region-specific positive ageing strategies, reference groups and forums, enabling older people to participate and have their voices heard in policies.

However, many councils, including Auckland’s, don’t have specific policies for older people or staff responsible for responding to older people’s issues. While this is understandable given that many are refocusing their services, they may need to respond to large older populations in their areas in future.

ACC – Older Persons Advisory Group

As the voice of older people to ACC, the Older Persons Advisory Group (OPAG) plays an integral role in providing a older person’s perspective to ACC. OPAG meets every two months and is made up of members who represent various organisations that provide services to older persons. These members provide the coverage needed in obtaining the consumer perspective of older people in New Zealand. OPAG’s role is to provide input, advice and recommendations into new services being designed, and for resolving issues with current services being delivered.

New Plymouth – recognising the need for a cross-generation approach

New Plymouth District Council has identified a need to:

• engage people in their 30s–50s, not just those who are already ‘older’, in discussions about the ageing population
• focus on older people’s positive contribution, not their cost, to the community.

More older people are using digital services

Many older people, especially those in the baby boom generation, are becoming more technologically savvy. Services that help older people to get digitally connected include Age Concern’s computer hub in the Napier Connects initiative and SeniorNet’s computer training for older people, which is offered in 80 locations countrywide.

Examples of services, programmes and research

OSC – Volunteer Community Co-ordinators programme

The Volunteer Community Co-ordinators (VCCs) programme is a network of volunteers, administered by OSC. They promote positive ageing and inform central and local government of matters affecting older people of all cultures, in urban and rural areas. VCCs are selected because of their experience and expertise in issues concerning older people, their wide range of community networks, and their cultural diversity.

MSD – SuperGold card

As well as enabling free off-peak access to public transport, the SuperGold Card offers discounts and special offers from local businesses within and beyond the main centres. At the end of June 2014, 7,218 businesses (representing 11,801 outlets) offered discounts to all 643,526 SuperGold Card holders.

Research – Digital media use by older people

A third research project at the University of Waikato (also funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) looked at older people’s digital media use. Those interviewed were older people who used and didn’t use the internet, and organisational personnel who used the internet to communicate and deliver services, including to older people. The research found that using the internet:

• enhanced older people’s participation with family and friends
• enabled their productive engagement in leisure interests and community groups
• facilitated their access to goods, services and information in the marketplace
• enabled older people to meet the expectations of others, including family members, and to feel part of the ‘digital age’.

 Not using the internet had little perceived negative impacts on the interviewees’ participation in:

• leisure pursuits and social activities
• the marketplace, as long as viable alternatives were available. 

However, it did contribute to feelings of being stigmatised and side-lined because of others’ assumptions about its universal use.

So how are we doing?

It’s pleasing to see some councils engaging with older people through positive ageing strategies and targeted services. However, they need to ensure that any forums and groups are representative of all generations in the community, as these age groups don’t live in isolation from each other.

Other councils have yet to focus specifically on older people, mainly because of other priorities. While this is understandable, many will have large local older populations in future that will need their attention – so where possible they should find ways now to include older people’s perspectives in policy and service decisions.

What do you think?

1. Are older people’s needs and wants adequately integrated into community decision-making?
2. How can we include younger people in discussions about services for older people, and promote a more cohesive community for all ages?
3. Do you think technology plays a role in increasing opportunities for personal growth and community participation and what can we do to support that?

If you would like to share with us your views on Goal 10, then please send us an email.