The overarching goal of Ireland’s Age Friendly Cities and Counties Programme is that every local authority area in Ireland will be a great place in which to grow old. Underpinning the AFCC Programme is the core principle that older people are a most valuable resource to their communities and to our society in general. For this reason, the voice of the older person is at the very heart of the Programme.
At city and county level, the Programme is developed and implemented by older people working side by side in partnership with service providers and other relevant stakeholders. There is no doubt that the aims of the AFCC Programme are ambitious and require a change in how we think about ageing. The Programme also asks us to imagine new ways in which service providers and other organisations can work together to deliver improvements in supports and services that not only benefit older people but the community as a whole.
The Age Friendly Cities and Counties Programme is part of a worldwide, World Health Organisation (WHO) inspired movement which embraces the challenges and opportunities that our ageing population presents by facilitating local authorities to take the lead on changing thinking about ageing, and how services are planned and delivered.
This is a most timely initiative: a programme that facilitates multi-agency cooperation in finding new, innovative low or no cost ways to make our communities better places for people to grow old in.
