BAGSO is the German National Association of Senior Citizens‘ Organisations. BAGSO is the German acronym for “Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft der Seniorenorganisationen”. It is an umbrella organisation, established in 1989, that acts as a lobby group for older generations, advocating their interests towards politics, economy and society, while taking the other generations and their needs into account as well.
Based in Bonn, the former capital of Germany, but working at local, regional, federal and international level.
Skills and knowledge
BAGSO’s areas of expertise include age discrimination, education and digitalisation, loneliness, participation, health and care as well as municipal solutions to ageing. BAGSO currently implements projects in the field of lifelong learning and digitalization, dementia care and healthy ageing. It is responsible for the organization of the German Senior Citizens’ Day which is held every three years.
The BAGSO Secretariat on International Policy on Ageing provides information on current developments in international policy surrounding older persons, and, as an interface, it actively brings the interests of civil society and particularly older people themselves into international processes.
Advocacy work & achievements
By working with its large variety of member organisations, especially in its four technical commissions which meet three times a year, BAGSO represents the multiple facets of ageing and older people in Germany. It voices older persons’ demands at political level, uses its expertise to develop pilot projects which showcase innovative practices and invests in knowledge exchange and education through events and publications.
It has a close working relation with the Federal Ministry of Family, Seniors, Women and Youth and participates in the most important councils and commissions on ageing in Germany.
Main challenges
One of the challenges we face to strengthen our international advocacy work is the lacking knowledge among older people’s organisations in Germany on international ageing policy and little recognition of the importance of supranational policy work.
Added value of being a member of AGE
Being member of AGE Platform provides us with the opportunity to exchange knowledge and practices with older people’s organisations from other countries and contribute to the joint advocacy work at EU and UN level.
Contact persons
Ina Voelcker: voelcker@bagso.de
Secretariat for International Policy on Ageing
