Side event
Cities and communities across the UNECE region work to make their communities better places to grow old - by placing older people at the centre of the decision-making process and addressing several domains of action to create age-friendly environments. These include enhancing accessibility of built environment and services, opportunities for social participation, intergenerational exchange, and inclusion. The side event, co-organised by WHO and UNECE, will showcase good practice of vertical collaboration between national and local levels in developing and sustaining age-friendly cities and communities.
Speakers will include representatives of national programmes/networks in the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities, as well as local champions. The event will introduce new WHO Guidance for strengthening or establishing such national programme. Aligned with the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, 2021-2030, the event will put a spotlight on the social dimension of sustainable development to "leave no-one behind" and highlight the importance of platforms to nurture partnerships, demonstrating the synergies between SDG 11 and 17.
Objectives and expected outcomes
This 90-minute side event will:
- Demonstrate how age-friendly cities and communities are a crucial investment towards sustainable development for all ages, with people meaningfully engaged in the decisions and actions impacting sustainable development
- Showcase concrete actions - from local to regional to national levels - that the global age-friendly community is developing to foster intergenerational solidarity and ensure communities that foster the abilities of older people for this and future generations, including in times of crisis
- Highlight the importance of platforms to nurture partnerships, demonstrating the synergies between SDG 11 and 17.
Tentative programme:
Moderator: Liz Mestheneos, 50+ Hellas (Greece)
Opening and Welcome Remarks (10 min)
- UN Decade for Healthy Ageing video (2 min)
- UNECE - Standing Working Group on Ageing
- WHO - Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities
Inspirational talk (10 min)
- Dr Shodikhon Jamshed, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Protection (Tajikistan)
- Dr Saodat Kamalova, Director of Central Asian Gerontology Centre (Tajikistan)
Panel Discussion (45 min)
- Sara Ulla Díez, Coordinadora de Estudios y Apoyo Técnico, Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales (IMSERSO)
- Anne Rizzo, International Relations Officer, Age friendly Ireland
- Anna Okońska-Walkowicz, Plenipotentiary of the Mayor of Kraków for Senior Citizen (Kraków, Poland)
Q&A, interventions from the floor (15 min)
For more information on the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities
https://extranet.who.int/agefriendlyworld/who-network/