Age Friendly Cities in the Andean Region: Implementing and Monitoring the Protocol of Vancouver

Background

Population aging and urbanisation are two trends that continue to increase globally but Latin American cities have not progressed in supporting older people to live a fulfilling life within society. The project will focus on sharing knowledge and experiences through the following activities:

• A virtual open day based on the exchange of experiences on urban environments for the elderly, with references from different countries in Latin America.
• A virtual training course for academics and stakeholders to understand and adopt the approach and methodology of Elder Friendly Cities in Colombia.
• Piloting participatory evaluations and strategic planning for change in two communities in Bogotá.
• The preparation of three technical policy documents.
• A seminar to present the final results of the project and progress.
• Delivery of a communication strategy and creative emerging events in public spaces that foster dialogue between older people and other community residents about the problems and challenges they face.

The general objective of the project is to sensitise the community and develop the skills and capacities of local actors around the need to create environments and services that promote and facilitate activities for active and healthy aging. The main objectives of the project are to:

• Create awareness amongst academics and stakeholders of the need to transform cities into Age-Friendly environments.
• Incorporate the main concepts of active and healthy aging into research activities and strategic planning.
• Encourage stakeholders to apply the Vancouver Protocol (WHO) around age friendly cities as a research methodology to identify challenges and obstacles faced by older people.
• Build capacity for participatory approaches to research and strategic planning when developing action plans.