Knowledge product
Active, empowered and young at heart: implications of participatory
community work with older people
Monika Christofori-Khadka
The rapid ageing of
populations is a well-documented fact and a key policy issue in the
twenty-first century. Europe has one of the oldest populations in the
world. More often than not, ageing is treated as a source of concern by
governments, which fear that revenues will be insufficient to meet the
needs of an ageing population, that an impossible strain will be placed
on pension and social security systems, and that demands on health and
long-term care systems will increase. The feeling that they are a burden
is shared by many older people.
However,
various studies and papers by development partners and multilateral
institutions have found that ageing presents many opportunities. Older
people are a resource for their families, and are willing and eager to
contribute to the development of their communities. What they lack are
opportunities.
The Swiss Red Cross
(SRC) Department for International Cooperation has been active in
Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States for many
years. Its programmes target the most vulnerable people and socially and
economically marginalised groups. The SRC recognises that older people
are particularly vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion. In its
continental strategy for Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of
Independent States 2017–2020 and the Health Policy, ageing and health is
a thematic priority. It involves not only health promotion, but also
capacity building and organisational development support for partner
organisations in order to use the potential of and create opportunities
for and with older people.
Study rationale
In 2003, the SRC began to introduce participatory projects involving older people1
alongside much larger home-based care programmes, in order to support
older people form initiative groups (or IGs) for self-help, help for
others and advocacy activities. The groups' guiding principle is that
they are led by the older people themselves, who make decisions and
implement activities. The assumption was that methods of participatory
group work would result in older people improving their lives and
thereby reduce their vulnerability.
Study methodology
In
order to learn from its work with older people, the SRC asked two
consultants specialising in strategy, evaluation and research to conduct
an independent assessment in three SRC project countries: Bulgaria,
Belarus and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The study highlights whether and how the
participatory community work (PCW) approach has had an impact at
individual, community and national level. The three case studies were
used to compare approaches, draw lessons and make recommendations, in
order to improve future interventions by the SRC and its local National
Society2 implementing partners.
Findings and lessons learnt
For the SRC and its local implementing partners:
- The
level of organizational development of partners working with older
people is a decisive success factor. There appears to be a linear
relation between the capacity of the implementing partner and the
development of the IGs. Working on empowerment of older people requires entering personal, cultural and structural levels and is a longer-term mission.
IGs develop better, do more, and are more independent and empowered
when the implementing partner has the requisite qualified staff, and a
shared understanding of, and readiness to apply, participatory
approaches and empowerment in its own organisation.
- A
balance must be found between ensuring that the partners understand the
complexity of the concepts of participation and empowerment, on the one
hand, and the need to reduce those concepts to a set of practical
approaches and tools, on the other. Skilful facilitation is instrumental for empowerment work with older people.
Close partnership between local implementing organisations, SRC
professionals and experienced, independent backstopping specialists,
combined with constant exchanges of experience across countries, have
proven successful to that end.
- The IG's attachment
to the National Society has advantages and disadvantages. It requires a
trade-off between visibility and sustainability. Using IG
members as volunteers is beneficial for the older people and the
implementing partner. However, the IGs in the countries studied are less
empowered and remain dependent on local Red Cross law and principles,
which may hamper independent decision-making and fundraising.
- The
impact at national level depends greatly on the political climate and
how serious the country is about fulfilling its commitments under the
Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing.
For the Initiative Groups:
- All
group members interviewed stated that their engagement in the group had
positively changed their lives and reduced their social vulnerability. Older
people said that they were once again looking ahead, felt needed and
more alive, had made new friends, and much more. The projects in all
three countries, irrespective of the methods used, reduced social
vulnerability, producing significant changes in older people directly
involved in IGs, increasing their social capital and capacities, and
improving their self-reliance. Each project gained from sharing its
experiences and knowledge at different levels: from IG members to the
staff of implementing partners and at times also municipal authorities.
- Having a joint vision is the most important ingredient for successful IG outreach work.
Where vision building had taken place, groups were able to understand
the situation of vulnerable people in their community and how they could
help alleviate their plight and change circumstances. The establishment
of IGs based on mini-projects funded by micro grants proved to be
unproductive. The process hindered the independence of such groups and
affected identity and sustainability.
- Interest-based
capacity building and knowledge transfer are important features of
engagement in meaningful personal activities and community work, from reviving old traditions to electronic networking through Facebook and engaging in local fundraising.
- Reaching
the most vulnerable and most isolated older people through community
and empowerment work has proved to be a challenging task.
IGs target more active older people, but there is still ample scope to
reach out to those who face barriers to accessing the IGs. This is a
matter that requires closer attention, further refinement of approaches,
more careful monitoring of existing experiences and more in-depth study
of good practices.
- Engagement in advocacy is a
feature of a more mature form of empowerment and an important vehicle
for influencing structural and cultural changes that affect the lives of
older people. To ensure such engagement, several
preconditions need to be met, and only mature groups with established
leadership and decision-making processes were able to move onto that
stage.
Conclusion
The
researchers consider that valuable experience was gained in all three
countries, in each of which groups of older people were established who
are committed, enthusiastic and successfully making a difference to the
lives of individuals and in their communities.
However, future projects and their implementing partners will need to critically analyse access barriers and develop new methods to reach the most vulnerable and socially isolated.
New strength- and/or asset-based methods may need to be applied to
embrace these older people, who for physical or mental reasons are not
targeted by the IGs.
Strengthened cooperation between the IGs and the public authorities
requires strategic partnerships and support from communities and local
authorities right from the planning stage and start of the project. This significantly enhances the IGs' sustainability. Likewise, regular
sharing of experience between implementing partner staff at different
levels and IG group members helps stimulate new ideas and promotes IG
maturity and sustainability. Furthermore, moving
into advocacy work requires ongoing support and mentoring from experts
skilled in advocacy, preferably ones who are locally based.
Above all, more and regular research is needed to better understand how the capacities of older people can be enhanced through community work and empowerment. A specific and more sophisticated qualitative monitoring and evaluation system needs to be developed, in order to better and regularly measure the impact of PCW on people.
[1] The SRC uses UN and WHO (2002) terminology, according to which “older people” are 60 or over.
[2] Refers to a National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society
Link to full study:
https://www.redcross.ch/de/node/5907/view?term_node_tid_depth_1=1130
