Marking the Municipal Plan for Older Persons 2013-2016, a multi-stakeholder event took place in Barcelona, aiming to take stock of the work done so far and formulate proposals for the future. Two Catalan AGE member organisations took an active part in the event.
On 3rd and 4th February 2015, the Council of Senior Citizens of Barcelona, the advisory body of the City of Barcelona on issues relating to older people that includes the most relevant civil society organisations working for and with older people, organized with the support of the Barcelona Provincial Council the fourth edition of the Convention of the voices of older people. This important tri-annual event gathered more than 750 participants, including high-level policymakers, NGOs and older people.
Four preparatory meetings defined the axes and political guidelines of the conference on the topics of : older people’s health and wellbeing; equality and dignity; older people in everyday life and active and engaged senior citizens. These pre-conferences followed a highly participative approach directly involving representatives of older people from the local level, including AGE’s Catalan members, FATEC and FOCAGG.
The two-day program included interventions by local stakeholders, such as the Mayor of Barcelona and other decision-making bodies dealing with older people in the city. The keynote speech, delivered by Dr. Alexandre Kalache of the International Longevity Center, discussed the Active Ageing paradigm as an important policy framework for cities. Many local initiatives, projects and research results were showcased in parallel working groups. Participants also had the opportunity to watch the screening of a film produced by a group of senior citizens taking classes in audiovisual arts in the city’s locality of Sant Antoni.
Reaffirming ageing as a social transformation that forces us to rethink public policy and highlighting the importance of older people as social movement, the Convention provided concrete recommendations that will serve as a model for future municipal action in this area.
Webpage of the event: https://www.convenciogentgran.org/#!cas/crib
