Cast Your Vote
 

In 2024, four billion people – 49% of the global population -  will go to the urns across the world in more than 65 countries plus the European Union (27 member states). In many parts of the world – USA and Europe, for example - the weight of the older voter exceeds that of younger voters.

In the build-up to the European elections on 6 June, our friends at OLD’UP, the French association that works to give meaning and usefulness to our longer lives, teamed up with the European Youth Forum in an intergenerational project across 15 countries and funded by the European Union, to encourage all generations to exercise their democratic vote.

Although the video is in French – the message is clear – everyone has the right to vote and it has never been more vital to exercise that vote, nor to remember that voting is the first step.

Join us for an engaging 50/50 conversation where we'll unpack the challenges of the upcoming 14th United Nations Open-ended Working Group on Ageing session and brainstorm solutions together. 

Femada Shaman
Chief Executive Officer of The Association for the Aged, South Africa

Vijay Naraidoo
Lead Person of the Commission for the Rights of Older Persons
 of Dis-Moi, Mauritius

Margaret Young 
Founder of Age Knowble, and Chairperson of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) 

Our PIONeers Margaret Young, Femada Shamam, and Vijay Naraidoo will lead this conversation:

• What's on the agenda at the United Nations this year?
• Finding ways to embed human rights in daily programs and policy making.
• How do we strengthen the link between active ageing and human rights?
• Outlining strategies for advocating a UN Convention on rights for older people.

This event is part of the Age With Rights Global Rally happening during the week of 8-14 April 2024, and Pass it On Network (PION) proudly kicks off the launch on day one!
 

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Every month Moira Allan, our co-founder and international coordinator, hosts an Open House for anyone who wants to find out more about our network. We offer a choice of two sessions to accommodate PION’s global outreach.

Americas, Europe, Africa
Tuesday, 9 April
 1pm EDT / 6pm BST 
 7pm CEST / 7pm SAST

Asia, Australasia
Wednesday, 10 April
 7am CEST / 6am BST 
 1pm SGT / 3pm AEST 

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The GAROP’s Global Rally is a key initiative of the Age with Rights Campaign for a UN convention. Last year the Rally reached 2.8 million people online and 10,000 interacted with the campaign. Thousands participated virtually and physically on a range of topics and hundreds of people marched in solidarity.

Pass It On Network PIONeers hosted or presented in more than eight Rally events in 2023. Let’s raise our diverse thematic and regional voices again this year and include the global petition as a call to action. The Rally will be taking place over one week from 8 – 14 April 2024. Find the campaign action guide, concept note, social media toolkit, and other tools here. Contact Margaret Young if you wish to organize a rally. 

#AgeWithRights Global Rally 2024

OEWGA Call for Inputs, Registration, and Accreditation

The 14th Session of the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWGA) will be held from 20 to 22 and 24 May 2024. For OEWGA accredited and/or ECOSCO status organizations, written input submission, deadline is 12 April 2024, and session registration deadline is 10 May 2024. See details on the official OEWGA website.
 

If you want your NGO to make submissions or attend the session, your NGO would need to go through the OEWGA or ECOSOC accreditation process. Full details here accreditation The deadline is April 2024. Follow ongoing updates and preparatory activities on the OEWGA website and on this GAROP webpage.

5 Strategies for Managing the Intergenerational Work Place

In “Redesigning Retirement” (Harvard Business Review, March-April 2024), Ken Dychtwald, PhD, Robert Morison, and Katy Terveer of Age Wave, showcase leading companies and highlight five strategies for success. They also spotlight the spectacular growth of the 65+ in the labor market.

Due to the demographic shift, organizations worldwide are facing shortages of experienced talent. Sectors bearing the brunt include health services, education, manufacturing, and trade. The authors say the solution is in plain sight, at least in the USA where the fast-growing segment of the labor force is the 65+ who are ready, willing, and able to continue working and contributing past the conventional “retirement age.” Organizations need to make specific adjustments to their employment and management practices.

Only 1 in 6 South Africans has saved for retirement (Business Tech, 2022) and the ageing population is growing at a rapid rate. In addition, the conservative retirement age limits formal work opportunities. The combination of these facts results in a situation where the majority of older persons are destitute, vulnerable to abuse, and financially dependent on the State or family.

TAFTA’s CEO, PIONeer Femada Shaman, stepped up, and gave the 6,000 people in TAFTA’s residences the opportunity of participating in a pilot Experience Incubator® in collaboration with the Elizabeth Isele’s Global Institute for Experienced Entrepreneurship (GIEE). The project capacitates older people with entrepreneurial skills by working through modules to build resilience and self-reliance in older people through entrepreneurial opportunities whilst using their life experience to sustain and supplement their livelihood. It builds on the experiential knowledge and skills of older persons to promote their economic empowerment thereby enhancing their resilience and self-reliance. Elizabeth Isele, creator, said at the final session, “Your pilot roll-out of the Experience Incubator for the first time in Africa has far exceeded my expectations. You have created a model that can be replicated throughout the world to elevate the value of older adults. And for individual older adults, you have opened a window to restore their relevance and a new sense of joy. I am truly grateful for your understanding and your immense amount of work to achieve this success”. See the attached evaluation report.

ASCCA has been a Be Connected Network Partner from since the launch of the Government-funded national network in 2017.  Partnering with the Indian Ocean Group Training Association (IOGTA), ASCCA’s trainer Natika marked a significant step forward in the ongoing efforts to enhance digital skills and awareness within these communities. On Cocos Island, she worked closely with mentors from the Community Resource Centre and Indian Ocean Group Training, sharing her expertise and insights to enrich their capabilities in guiding others on their digital journeys. Read about their progress in their newsletter.

Beyond the Goggles: VR for Empathy and Inclusion 

Simon and Leonie Sanderson in Australia are the innovative minds behind People Tech Revolution, an organization that is pioneering the use of virtual reality to foster empathy and inclusion in the workplace. 

Listen in to their podcast.

"To exist is to change, to change is to mature, 
to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly." 

                                                                   Henri Bergson     

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