2 Day Conference Increasing Capacity for Age-Friendly Environment
An Action Agenda for European Cities and Communities
Age Friendly Ireland in Assciation with Fingal County Council and in cooperation with Towards and Age-Friendly Europe
Day One Opening
Conference Opening | Tuesday, October 25 2016
| 11.45am – 12.15pm | Registration |
| 12.15pm – 1.15pm | Pre-conference lunch |
| 1.15pm – 1.50pm | Welcome and Introduction to Conference |
|
Session 1
Session 1 | 1.50pm – 3.00pm
Innovation for Convergence
| Presentation | Aligning Agendas within a crowded operating Landscape
Dr. Stephanie O’Keeffe National Director of Wellbeing, |
| Panel Discussion | Panel Members to make a 3 minute opening statement ahead of Moderated Q & A
Emeritus Professor of Urban Policy Centre for Health & Social Care Research, Sheffield Hallam University |
| Question and Answer Session 35 minutes |
ModeratorPanel
Joan Devlin
Chief Executive Belfast Healthy Cities
Furio Honsell
Mayor, Comune do Udine
Dr Alexander Peine
Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht
Joan Martin
Chief Executive, Louth Councy Council
Innovation for Convergence
What are the links and synergies between ‘Age Friendly’, ‘Healthy’, ‘Smart’ and ‘Sustainable’ Cities? Can wider stakeholder coalitions be made and sustained to support effective focus on active and healthy ageing? How do we capitalise on these synergies and sustain the overlapping agendas simultaneously? Is there a danger that some groups may be prioritised at the expense of others.
In the pursuit of sustainable development and growth, many regions, cities, counties and municipalities are facing the challenge of how to achieve their social, economic and environmental goals in a balanced and integrated fashion. In the pursuit of improved quality of life for citizens, greener and more accessible environments, greater service effectiveness and increased economic competitiveness and employment, cities and local governments are faced with an array of policies and programmes that offer particular approaches from domain perspectives. Today many city administrations may be facing the need to deliver parallel, yet overlapping, programmes addressing age-friendly environments, healthy cities, smart cities, sustainable communities, child friendly cities, and dementia friendly communities, to name but a few. Framing this complex and interwoven agenda requires a cohesive and coherent approach to inter-generational dynamics, citizen empowerment, inclusivity and diversity. It requires a common vision and direction, an inclusive language to mobilise, activate, communicate and sustain cooperation and collaboration, and a common information base to monitor improvement within, and across programmes.
In this session, stakeholders involved in two or more of the age-friendly cities, healthy cities, smart cities and sustainable cities movements will describe their experiences in framing integrated approaches to converging multi-domain programmes in their cities, and as a panel, will jointly discuss and explore critical success criteria that underpin their achievements.
Session 2
Session 2 | 3.30pm – 4.45pm
Implementing Innovation for Age-Friendly Environments
| Presentation | Implementing with fidelity matters?
|
| Panel Discussion | Panel Members to make a 3 minute opening statement ahead of Moderated Q & A
Menno Hinkema |
| Question and Answer Session 35 minutes |
ModeratorPanel
Maurice O’Connell
Coordinator, Active Ageing in Partnership
Horst Krammer
Chief Executive Belfast Healthy Cities
Anne Sophie Parent
Secretary General of Age Platform Europe & Secretary General of the European Covenant on Demographic Change
Sergio Murillo
Department for Social Development, Government of Biscay, Basque Country
How do we embed the pioneering and innovative work of recent years in the mainstream? How do we now scale up local models of good practice into the consistent application of proven age friendly initiatives across a wider network of Age Friendly Cities, Counties and Communities? Can we support collaboration without sacrificing autonomy? What roles do ‘communications,’ ‘leadership’ and ‘culture change’ have to play?
As we develop evidence on the efficacy and impact of new or improved products, services and practices supporting active and healthy ageing, whether in, or across the social, health, environmental or technological spheres, we are increasingly faced with the challenge of wider implementation and take-up. The adoption and/or adaption of innovative solutions to different operating contexts and cultures, at scales that can support sustainability and growth, and with fidelity to under-pinning principles and values represents a vital dimension to channeling concepts, models and policy experimentation, into widely available ‘on-the-ground’ improvements that can make a difference to the lives of many. Implementation science can provide a systematic and programmatic approach to the design, replication and scaling of innovation to meet the emerging needs of our counter ageing societies. Along with the policies, practices, tools and guidelines, successful implementation requires organisational readiness, competence and capacity development, an outcome orientation, sound information base, and most of all – adaptive leadership to foster a culture and commitment to long-term change and risk engagement. This needs to span within and across organisational boundaries and encompass empowered older citizens as active partners rather than passive recipients.In this session, participants driving innovation in the areas of active and healthy ageing will explain their experiences in replicating, scaling a wider take-up of their solutions, and as a panel, will together explore some of the strategies and techniques that they see as vital in overcoming barriers to broader adoption, and achieving greater sustainability, growth and impact.
Conference Dinner
Conference Dinner | Grand Hotel Malahide
If you wish to attend the dinner, please ensure you book a place when registering for the conference as places are limited
| 7.00pm | Pre-dinner Reception |
| 7.30pm | Welcome Address
Mayor Cllr Darragh Butler |
| 7.35pm | Joint Keynote Dinner Address
|
| 8.00pm | Dinner |
Day Two
Day Two | Wednesday, October 26, 2016
| 8.45am – 9.15am | Registration |
| 9.15am |  Welcome and Introduction by Nora Owen
Chair, Fingal Age Friendly Alliance. |
Session 3
Session 3 | 3.30pm – 4.45pm
Innovation for Convergence
| Presentation | Good Data Makes for Good Decisions
Dr. Christine McGarrigle National Director of Wellbeing, |
| Panel Discussion | Panel Members to make a 3 minute opening statement ahead of Moderated Q & A
|
| Question and Answer Session 35 minutes |
ModeratorPanel
Dr Asghar Zaidi
Professor in International Social Policy, Centre for Research on Ageing/ESRC Centre for Population
- Dr Mark Morgan
Cregan Professor of Education and Psychology, St. Patrick’s College.
Former co-director of Growing Up in Ireland
TBC
Implementing Innovation for Age-Friendly Environments
How do we embed the pioneering and innovative work of recent years in the mainstream? How do we now scale up local models of good practice into the consistent application of proven age friendly initiatives across a wider network of Age Friendly Cities, Counties and Communities? Can we support collaboration without sacrificing autonomy? What roles do ‘communications,’ ‘leadership’ and ‘culture change’ have to play?
As we develop evidence on the efficacy and impact of new or improved products, services and practices supporting active and healthy ageing, whether in, or across the social, health, environmental or technological spheres, we are increasingly faced with the challenge of wider implementation and take-up. The adoption and/or adaption of innovative solutions to different operating contexts and cultures, at scales that can support sustainability and growth, and with fidelity to under-pinning principles and values represents a vital dimension to channeling concepts, models and policy experimentation, into widely available ‘on-the-ground’ improvements that can make a difference to the lives of many. Implementation science can provide a systematic and programmatic approach to the design, replication and scaling of innovation to meet the emerging needs of our counter ageing societies. Along with the policies, practices, tools and guidelines, successful implementation requires organisational readiness, competence and capacity development, an outcome orientation, sound information base, and most of all – adaptive leadership to foster a culture and commitment to long-term change and risk engagement. This needs to span within and across organisational boundaries and encompass empowered older citizens as active partners rather than passive recipients.In this session, participants driving innovation in the areas of active and healthy ageing will explain their experiences in replicating, scaling a wider take-up of their solutions, and as a panel, will together explore some of the strategies and techniques that they see as vital in overcoming barriers to broader adoption, and achieving greater sustainability, growth and impact.
Session 4
Session 4 | 11.15am – 12.30pm
Risks and Rewards: Preparing Ourselves for the Challenges that Lie Ahead
| Presentation | Synthesising the Key Themes Rodd BondDirector, Netwell Centre, Dundalk Institute of Technology |
| Panel Discussion | Panel Members to make a 3 minute opening statement ahead of Moderated Q & A Moderator
Diane Wu, MD, MPH |
| Question and Answer Session 35 minutes |
Panel
Paul Reid
Chief Executive Fingal County Council
Manfred Huber
Coordinator, Healthy Ageing, Disability and Long-Term Care, WHO Regional Office for Europe
Robert McCarthy
Programme Director, Innovation, Business Development and Operations, IBM Ireland Lab
Bob Gilbert
Chair, National Network of Older People’s Councils
We invite a number of policy makers and programme leaders to make sense of what we’ve heard across the two days, the trends that matter and the developments that will make a difference. There are understandable concerns, but we must also look ahead; Can we really work in an open space where there are no silo’s? What economic opportunities will there be in the future? Are we capable of changing tack? What will the active and healthy agenda look like in 10 and 20 years’ time?
Making our cities, towns and neighborhoods places which support active and healthy ageing across the life-course requires good cooperation across a wide range of sectors. We are being challenged to find new urban and rural strategies which are flexible enough to adapt to rapidly evolving populations, addressing not only the needs and expectations of today’s older generations, but taking a longer perspective and a life course approach. Today the challenge is to identify how to break traditional barriers and inspire collaborative and innovative efforts.Tools such as the Covenant on Demographic Change and the new Age Friendly Environments in Europe (AFEE) publications, adapted to the European context, can provide practical help for local and regional authorities in identifying priority areas of action, designing local action plans and planning evaluation and monitoring of age-friendly policies.The WHO Health 2020 European policy framework provides a platform for posing serious questions including; What are the challenges that threaten to slow the momentum and the opportunities for action? Are the agendas of ‘health’, ‘ageing’, ‘sustainable development’ and ‘smart technologies’ really aligned and if so how do we manage any required convergence while ‘keeping’ the relevant leaders at the table’? If we become too broad or holistic in our approach is there a danger of ‘watering it down’ to something that is ineffectual?
Closing
Closing Remarks 12.30pm – 12.45pm
 Brendan Kenny
Director, Age Friendly Ireland and Deputy Chief Executive, Dublin City Council |
 Margaret Geraghty
Director of Services, Housing and Community Department, Fingal County Council |
