UN/NGO Committee on Ageing

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS (AARP) – INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES plans to work in collaboration with the U.S. Administration on Aging in convening workshops with U.S. governmental offices to raise awareness about the IYOP, and to plan for an increasing ageing population. AARP produced a paper, entitled, “Strategies for a Society for All Ages,” which will be circulated to help stimulate worldwide explorations of the Society for All Ages. In addition, AARP’s International Activities Office plans to:

• Organize a symposium on images of older women in the media, which will explore stereotypes of older women and ways to improve those images;
• Contribute a poster to the United Nations for the IYOP that depicts the theme Towards a Society for all Ages;
• Present to the United Nations a booklet containing specially-made postcards with handwritten messages from older people around the world about the meaning of human rights, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights;
• Distribute Coalition 99 Update, the newsletter for Coalition 99 that shares information regarding IYOP activities;
• Co-sponsor, with UNESCO, a symposium on Lifelong Learning in New York City through the National Retired Teacher’s Association of the AARP.

Address: 601 E Street, NW, Washington DC 20049, U.S.A. Tel: (202) 434-2402. International Activities Office/NY: 919 Third Avenue, 9th floor, New York, NY 10022. Tel: (212) 407-3725. AARP web site: www.aarp.org
COALITION 99 is an informal network of NGOs around the world that work together to promote the issues of an ageing population at an international level. Their ongoing activities during the IYOP include to:

• Publish and distribute the quarterly newsletter, Coalition 99 Update, which shares information about worldwide activities and proposals, and preparations for the IYOP;
• Translate, into French and Spanish, and distribute the UN Secretariat newsletter, Countdown to 1999.

Address: c/o AARP International Activities, 601 E Street NW, Washington DC 20049, U.S.A. Tel: (202) 434-2402.

EUROLINK AGE acts as a central clearinghouse for collecting and disseminating information on ageing activities in the European Union. They plan to:

• Publish during the IYOP, a special supplement to their information bulletin in English, French and German on activities across the European Union;
• Act as a link to the European inter-governmental bodies to promote action for the IYOP.

Address: Eurolink Age, 1268 London Road, London SW16 4ER, United Kingdom. Tel: 44-181-679-8000. E-mail: aweurope@ace.org.uk Eurolink Age web site: http://www.eurolinkage.org/euro

EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF THE ELDERLY (EURAG) is planning conferences for the IYOP that will focus on multigenerational development. This includes to:

• Organize, with EURAG Germany, and together with “Sozialwerk Berlin,” an international Colloquy on 12-13 October, 1998, entitled “The Importance of Voluntary Work and Self-Help for a Harmonious Co-Existence of Generations;”
• Convene its XVI International Congress in Graz, 21 – 23 April 1999. The aim of the Congress, “Young and Old 2000 – Towards A Society for All Ages“, is to bring young and old people together to share ideas and exchange different points of view.
• Organize a panel discussion on 27 April 1999 in Vienna, entitled “Are the Old About to Eat Up the Young”-organized to discuss difficult questions between the generations in an open Dialogue of Generations.

Address: EURAG General Secretariat, Wielandgasse 9, A-8010 Graz, Austria. Tel: +43 316 81 46 08  Fax: +43 316 81 47 67 Email: eurag.europe@aon.at. EURAG web site: http://www.eurag.org

EUROPEAN INSTITUTE FOR THE MEDIA (EIM), together with the Netherlands Platform for Older People and Europe (NPOE), has launched two projects:

• “Changing Media in an Ageing Society” was established to strengthen the relationship between NGOs and media services. Some of the initiatives underway include the Media-Age Network of journalists and broadcasters, the Media-Age Research Group, an on-line news service, and a Conference on Changing Media in an Ageing Society toward the end of 1998.
• MediaAge, launched in 1998, is an internet service that covers policy related issues on ageing and ageing societies.

Address: EIM, Kaistrasse 13, 40221 Düsseldorf, Germany. Tel: 49-211-901040.   EIM web site: www.eim.de

FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE des ASSOCIATIONS de PERSONNES AGÉES (FIAPA) is planning a number of activities for the IYOP, which include to:

• Undertake a survey, carried out by its member organizations (and more specifically, a team of one older and one younger person) entitled “Adolescents of yesterday and today,” whose objective is to discuss issues and determine the place of young and old in the next century;
• Present the results of the survey, “Adolescents of Yesterday and Today,” at a meeting in Paris on 8-12 October 1999, which will also provide an opportunity for the generations to gather and exchange views;
• Conduct activities for the October, 1998, launching of the IYOP, including a parade of 10 boats along the banks of the Seine to symbolize the ten decades of life;
• Participate in an international meeting organized by University of the Third Age (UNATE), on “Senior Citizens, Society, Culture and Economy,” on 20-25 October, 1998, in Santander, Spain;
• Participate in the Global Walk on 2 October, 1999, organized by WHO with the support of numerous international partners.

Address: FIAPA, rue d’Anjou, 75413, Paris, France. Tel: (33-1) 44-56-84-50/31.   FIAPA Web site: www.1999.geronto.net

GENEVA INTERNATIONAL NETWORK ON AGEING (GINA) consists of representatives of organizations that have programme activities focusing on ageing issues. Some events that are planned for the IYOP include to:

• Convene, beginning 1 October, 1998, a three-day official launching of the IYOP that involves inaugurating an exhibition on “Centenarians”; convening a roundtable on the theme, “Challenges and opportunities of a Society for All Generations”; and conducting a walking reminiscence tour of the streets of Geneva;
• Co-organize a conference on 24-25 November, 1988, with the Geneva Association, on “Productive Ageing: the Future of Pensions and of Retirement;”
• Participate in devoting World Health Day, 7 April, 1999, to “Active Ageing” in Geneva;
• Conduct seminars, symposia and workshops during the IYOP on ageing issues;
• Work in close collaboration with WHO in implementing The Global Movement for Active Ageing which will be officially launched on 2 October, 1999, with a 24 hour giant walk event. Every country worldwide is invited to take part in this global walk event, entitled a Global Embrace.

Address: GINA, P.O.Box 413, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland. Fax: (41) 22-791-48-39.

GLOBAL ACTION ON AGING convened a preparatory event for the IYOP with the Stanley Foundation in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. in August 1998. The conference, “A Society for All Ages,” examined the Nashville Declaration on Older Women’s Human Rights, which was ultimately adopted by those present at the conference. Additional plans for the IYOP include to:

• Organize a national satellite teleconference across the U.S. on 16 October 1999 to discuss emerging issues facing older persons and draw up action plans for the IYOP.

Address: Global Action on Aging, P.O. Box 20022, New York, NY 10025, U.S.A. Tel: 212-557-3163. Fax: 212-557-3165.

HELPAGE INTERNATIONAL (HAI) has compiled, through its Asia Regional Development Centre and in cooperation with ESCAP, a report entitled “Mekong Basin Initiative on Ageing,” which provides information on ageing issues in the Mekong Basin region. In addition, HAI will continue to distribute “Action Packs” produced for the IYOP that contain display materials, suggestions for activities and events, fact sheets, and media briefings about ageing issues. Additional plans for the IYOP include to:

• Launch in June, 1999, an “Ageing and Development” report giving definitive information on older people in developing countries;
• Plan a photographic event that will feature photographs of older people by older people;
• Lobby other development NGO’s to support a “contract” committing them to include older people in their client group;
• Conduct a postcard mailing campaign to begin on 1 October, 1998, that will alert legislators, ministry officials, NGO’s, the media and the academic community to the start of the IYOP.

Address: HelpAge International: 67-74 Saffron Hill, London ECIN 8QX, United Kingdom. Tel: 44-171-404-7201. HelpAge International web site: http://www.oneworld.org/helpage/ E-mail: helpage@dial.pipex.com

INTERNATIONAL ASCENT (VIE MONTANTE INTERNATIONALE) is the international Catholic Movement of retired and older people. It is in the process of planning several seminars in which people from Latin America and the Caribbean Islands will take part.

Address: International Ascent, “Monteclaro” Plaza Del Tilo 4, Pozuelo Del Alarcon 28223 Madrid, Spain. Tel: 34(1)715-07-91.

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GERONTOLOGY (IAG) promotes research, training and practice in the field of ageing, as well as the interests of gerontological organizations worldwide. For the International Year of Older Persons, the IAG plans to:

• Work with the United Nations programme on ageing in preparing a research agenda on ageing for the next century. The Novartis Foundation for Gerontological Research will provide financial support for an initial expert group meeting in 1999 and the following meeting in 2000, to draft and finalize a framework for the research agenda;
• Collaborate with West Virginia University Center on Aging, the United Nations programme on ageing, and the World Health Organization Programme on Ageing and Health, on the International Project on Rural Ageing. This four-year project (1997-2001) will involve a series of rural networking and planning meetings with national and international experts on ageing;
• Convene the Pan-American Congress of the IAG, entitled “Aging in the Americas: Frontiers of Care, Policy and Research” on 21 – 25 February, 1999, in San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.;
• Convene the Asia/Oceania Regional Meeting of the IAG from 7 to 11 June, 1999, in Seoul, Korea under the theme, “Changing Family Systems and Care for the Aged in the 21st Century;
• Convene the 4th European Congress of Gerontology in Berlin, Germany, from 7 to 11 July, 1999;
• Convene the COMLAT Regional Meeting of the IAG on Gerontology and Geriatrics, ’99, in La Havana, Cuba, from 27 September to 1 October, 1999;
• Participate in the WHO Expert Committee on Determinants of Healthy Ageing, in Geneva, 1 – 7 December, 1998;
• Contribute as a participating organization to the International Federation on Ageing’s 4th Global Conference on Ageing, 5 – 9 September, 1999, Montreal, Canada.

Address: IAG, c/o Centre for Ageing Studies, Mark Oliphant Building, Laffer Drive, Bedford Park, SA 5042. Tel: (08) 8201-7552, E-mail: iag@flinders.edu.au  IAG web site: www.cas.flinders.edu.au/iag/

INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (ICC), through its membership, has recommended that the ICC contribute towards solving the international social security/pension crisis. To this end, the first meeting of the Commission on Financial Services and Insurance was held on 16 June 1998, in London. For the IYOP, the ICC plans to:

• Play a role in raising awareness and encouraging meaningful public discussion of the global pension crisis;
• Include a session on “The Grey Crisis–Finding a Safety Net” as part of the programme at the gathering of its worldwide membership, the Geneva Business Dialogue, on 23-24 September, 1998.

Address: ICC, 156 5th Avenue, Suite 308, New York, NY 10010, U.S.A., Tel: (212) 206-1150.

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR CARING COMMUNITIES (ICCC) is an international organization established to stimulate and showcase innovative concepts that address the impact of the “Age of Longevity” on communities worldwide. Through its research, educational programmes, architectural and interior design student programme, ICCC seeks to identify successful solutions and encourages their adaptation or replication by local cultures. A conference held in February 1999 focused on “Caring Communities for the 21st Century: Villages and Cities for All Generations”. ICCC plans to continue these efforts on behalf of older persons, including to:

• Convene a conference at United Nations Headquarters in New York City on 10 February, 2000, entitled: “Caring Communities for the 21st Century: Imagining the Possible”. Experts from the fields of urban planning, architecture and design, government, finance, real estate development, business, technology, health, education and tourism will discuss possible solutions that enhance the quality of life of all generations. An international exhibition and presentations of architectural and design students’ projects, entitled: “Integrated Communities: A Society for All Ages” will be on display.

Address: ICCC, 24 Central Park South, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A.  Fax: 212/688-4321. E-mail: iccc@undp.org

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION ON AGEING (IFA) provides a worldwide forum for ageing issues and fosters the development of associations and agencies that serve older individuals. Plans for the IYOP include to:

• Convene its 4th Global Conference, from 5 to 9 September, 1999, in Montreal, Canada with the participation of the United Nations. The main themes to be covered at the Conference will include economic security, personal security, creativity and social participation;
• Launch the publication of the first edition of “State of the World’s Older Persons” in 1999, which will provide a comprehensive review of the current and potential roles of the world’s older population;
• Study, through IFA Latin America, the situation of older persons and international relationships in Buenos Aires in the last decade of the 20th century;
• Work in partnership with the UNDP on the project, “Global Meeting of Generations”, a four-year programme designed to engage in dialogue those who will, in the future, carry major responsibility for improving the human condition, and those who currently lead the effort. The first Meeting is planned for January, 1999, in Washington D.C., United States.

Address: IFA, 380, rue St.-Antoine Ouest, Bureau 3200, Montréal (Québec), Canada H2Y 3X7. Tel: (1-514) 287-9679. E-mail: ifa@citenet.net  IFA web site: http://www.ifa-fiv.org

INTERNATIONAL IMMIGRANTS FOUNDATION (IIF) will host a press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the foreign media on 1 October, 1998 to publicize the IYOP among the diverse ethnic communities in the United States of America.

Address: IIF, 1435 Broadway, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10018-1909, U.S.A. Tel: (212) 221-7255.

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGEING (INIA) conducts a number of training programmes in gerontology, demographics, and geriatrics each year, both in-site and at INIA headquarters in Malta. In late 1997, INIA organized an Intergovernmental Conference on Ageing Populations in the Mediterranean Region. This was the first in a series of regional conferences that will lead to a Global Memorandum on Ageing, charting the needs and expectations of each region. Additional programmes will include to:

• Develop ad hoc Working Groups to focus on practical problems relating to ageing;
• Set up distance learning programmes for developing countries;
• Promote the motto, A Society for All Ages, in INIA’s collaborative networks INIANET and TWINAGE;
• Sponsor a seminar in Malta for Israeli and Chinese policymakers on the “Political Implications of a Society for All Ages” on 2 – 13 November, 1999;
• Sponsor an International Conference on “Communicative Technology and Ageing” on 2 – 4 December, 1999;
• Convene a Training Conference, “Changing Population Age Structure and Implications for Development: National Policy Formulation and Policy Development in the Least Developed Countries of South East Asia” in Thailand, 25 – 29 January, 1999.

Address: INIA, 117 St. Paul Street, Valletta, VLT07, Malta. Tel: (356) 243044/5/6. E-mail: UNC 962

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT (IIHRD) is an independent entity with the College of Health and Human Services of the San Diego State University. In anticipation of the IYOP, the Institute is planning a conference in coordination with the World Associations of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination, on “Urban Elderly,” with the theme, “Cities for All Ages.”

Address: IIHRD, College of Health and Human Services, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, California, 92182-1872, U.S.A. Tel: (619) 594-6765.   E-mail: tshuman@mail.sdsu.edu

INTERNATIONAL LONGEVITY CENTER (ILC-U.S.) co-sponsored a symposium with the Mission of the Dominican Republic and the United Nations, on “The Quality of Life in Old Age: Views from Various Cultural Perspectives.” This seminar, held in 1997, was one of a series of seminars to prepare for the IYOP. The ILC also co-sponsored, with the International Council for Global Health Progress and UNESCO, a conference in 1998 in France, on “Worldwide Revolution in Longevity and Quality of Life: Opportunities, Challenges and Responses.”

Address: ILC-U.S. New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, Suite 552, New York, NY 10029, U.S.A. Tel: (212) 241-1472. Fax: (212) 360-6338.

INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR THE PREVENTION OF ELDER ABUSE (INPEA) was founded at the World Congress of Gerontology in Adelaide, Australia in 1997, to increase society’s ability to recognize and respond to the mistreatment of older people. INPEA aims for international collaboration and to have representation at all of the major conferences involving older people throughout the IYOP.

Address: INPEA, DHCE, Bancroft Unit, The Royal London Hospital (Mile End), London E1 4DG, United Kingdom. E-mail: gerry.bennett@THHT.org

INTERNATIONAL PROJECT ON RURAL AGEING – WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY CENTER ON AGING wishes to focus on the area of rural ageing. In collaboration with the United Nations programme on ageing, the World Health Organization Program on Ageing and Health, and the International Association of Gerontology, it plans a four-year project with the following components:

• Sponsor a series of rural networking and planning meetings with national/international experts;
• Sponsor the 1998 West Virginia Conference on Aging with the theme, “Images of Aging” in October, with national and international participation;
• Continue plans for an Expert Group Meeting on Rural Ageing in 1999 that will lead toward a major international conference on rural ageing in the year 2000;
• Contribute policy input on rural ageing to the UN’s IYOP;
• Launch a Worldwide Web Resource and information site on rural ageing.

Address: WVU Center on Aging, P.O. Box 9123, Morgantown, West Virginia, 26506-9123 U.S.A. Tel: (304) 293-6771.

LIVERPOOL PERSONAL SERVICE SOCIETY (PSS) has provided leadership and management to establish and operate the Salmon Group, a transnational network of professional organizations providing small supported housing units for older, disabled people as an alternative to large institutions. In relation to the IYOP, they plan to:

• Focus on international cooperative work between organizations from different parts of the world on the subject: “Innovation: Changing the Traditional Institution into Housing Facilities with Client Centered Care.”

Address: PSS, 18 Seel Street, Liverpool, I1 4BE, United Kingdom. Tel: 44-151-707-0131.  E-mail: robin.currie@which.net

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE ON AGEING, UNITED NATIONS/NEW YORK will organize, in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Public Information and the United Nations programme on ageing, the official launch of the IYOP at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 1 October 1998, the International Day of Older Persons.  Additional plans for the IYOP include to:

• Continue the project, “Creative Connections,” launched in 1997, in which the objective is to locate national affiliates of the NGOs that are members of the Committee, and put those national NGOs in touch with each other in order to promote the IYOP and the topic of ageing;
• Launch a Global Video Conference on 11 February, 1999, for the thirty-seventh session of the Commission for Social Development. Selected countries will report on ageing issues and actions planned for the next century;
• Co-sponsor a research project on “Living Conditions of Older People in Urban Communities” with the UN Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT) and the Institute of Public Administration;
• Sponsor “The Julia Tavares Alvarez Lecture Series,” designed to stimulate discussion about ageing issues in the next century.

Address: NGO Committee on Ageing, 49 West 45th Street, 7th floor, New York, NY 10036, U.S.A. Tel: (212) 398-3175. Fax: (212) 869-0902.

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE ON AGEING, UNITED NATIONS/VIENNA, comprised of organizations affiliated with the United Nations Office at Vienna, Austria, is planning a three-day conference to launch the IYOP on 1 October, 1998, entitled “Generations Lending Wings to Each Other–Learning With Each Other, From Each Other, For Each Other.” The Committee plans, during the IYOP, to:

• Work in cooperation with other Vienna-based organizations in tasks that support policy-making, life-long positive individual development, and reinforcement of positive attitudes;
• Participate with the Austrian focal point in developing the report on preparations for 1999, which include the following working groups: intergenerational solidarity; a new culture of ageing; healthy living/healthy ageing; social and political participation by older persons; care and nursing; old age and housing; and older persons and the law.

Address: NGO Committee on Ageing, Vienna Magdalenenstr, 21, 1060 Vienna, Austria. Tel: (43-1) 587-9220.

OLDER WOMAN’S LEAGUE (OWL) will participate in the IYOP through its agenda in the areas of health care, economic security, access to housing, violence against women and elders, quality of life and discrimination in the workplace.

Address: OWL, 666 11th Street, NW, Suite 700, Washington D.C., 20001, U.S.A. Tel: (201) 783-6586.

THE PAN-AFRICAN FOUNDATION FOR CHILDHOOD AND THIRD AGE PROTECTION (FETAG) is a non-governmental organization that works to form bridges between the generations. Formed in 1992, FETAG promotes traditional African values of intergenerational solidarity as well as responsibility for the wellbeing of children and older adults. For the IYOP, FETAG hopes to:

• Promote competitions that advance research in a variety of areas, including empowerment and participation of older persons in political and social life; the situation of older widows in polygamic families; the relationship between a woman’s age and her status in society; and discriminating practices towards older Africans;
• Create FETAG clubs in educational institutions with the aim to sensitize students to their obligations towards older persons;
• Create movable groups of volunteers to fulfill basic needs for vulnerable groups of older persons;
• Open FETAG delegations in other African countries.

Contact: La Fondation Panafricaine pour la Protection de l’Enfance et du Troisième Age (FETAG), B.P. 6253, Yaounde, Cameroon.  Tel./Fax: (237) 31-87-19.

OTHERS:

African Gerontological Society
P.O. Box 01803
Osu, Accra
Ghana

World Veterans Federation
17 rue Nicolo 75116 Paris
France
Tel: (33-1) 40 72 6100
Fax: (33-1) 40 72 80 58