Reducing old-age exclusion – ROSEnet policy seminar on older people and European public policy beyond 2020

How are older people and ageing positioned within European and international policies? How the existing policy frameworks, such as the European Pillar of Social Rights or Sustainable Developments Goals can be effectively applied to combat and reduce old-age social exclusion? How more effectively support and empower older persons, in particular those in vulnerable situations, to fully participate in society?

Above questions were addressed by the policy seminar ‘Sustainable Ageing: Older people and European public policy beyond 2020’ held on 20 February 2018 by the networking partnership COST Action ROSEnet – Reducing Old-Age Exclusion in Europe. Involving over 120 members from 39 countries, ROSEnet aims to overcome critical knowledge gaps and fragmentation in research and policy to tackle social exclusion in old age. As a partner of the ROSEnet since 2016 AGE Platform Europe is actively involved in this partnership bringing the voice of older people.

Addressing old age social exclusion through engagement

The last seminar explored state-of-the-art research and policy developments with an objective of informing any new policy initiatives for reducing exclusion in European ageing societies. The seminar took a broader perspective to old-age social inclusion addressing the specificity of exclusion as people age. The notion of civic engagement was stressed as one of key aspects to be considered in policy on ageing – going beyond the commonly used concept of active ageing. The later focuses on activating older persons to contribute (mainly economically) to society, while the former explores various forms of older persons’ participation in society based on self-determination. Older people must be empowered and provided with opportunities to both contribute to society and benefit from its common economic, social and civic capital. There is a need for a new collective agency for older persons based on inclusiveness and in particular cooperation among different population groups and generations.

AGE involvement: a bottom-up perspective

The seminar brought a number of policy makers from both national, EU and global levels in order to inform their future interventions in the field of ageing. AGE members and experts provided testimony on the impact that current policy action and initiatives have on addressing diverse challenges on old-age social inclusion. We hope that via the ROSEnet Cost Action we will further raise awareness about the needs and aspirations that older persons, in particular those in vulnerable situations, have and wish to be addressed through policy making. AGE involvement in ROSEnet will continue until spring 2020. AGE members have been invited to join the project’s Older Adult Reference Group which between now and the end of the project will exchange with ROSEnet experts in view of building on research evidence and drawing conclusions and recommendations.

For more information on AGE involvement in ROSEnet, please contact Maciej.kucharczyk@age-platform.eu