Sharjah 24: The Sharjah Age-Friendly Office in the Sharjah Social Services Department (SSSD), in cooperation with the World Health Organisation, is organising a “meeting of programmes affiliated with the Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities (GNAFCC), with the aim of identifying some global models and experiences as programmes affiliated with the Network and how to provide information about their cities to the GNAFCC.
According to Asma Al-Khudari, Director of Sharjah Age Friendly Office, the meeting also allows for the exchange of information and learning between host cities: guidance plans, exchanges, field visits, meetings between cities or internal communities, as well as learning how to monitor and evaluate the progress achieved in cities and communities and how to document what works, evidence of the impact it has had, and developing guidelines, materials, tools and methods on how to initiate age-friendly activities or programmes, how to develop them, share them with various stakeholders and enable them to do so.
This meeting, dedicated to the coordinators of the Sharjah Age-Friendly Cities Programme, those concerned with the elderly, and the branch managers of the Department of Social Services, comes to consolidate the relationship between the office and the network, and to emphasise the important role that the Emirate of Sharjah plays in caring for “our elderly” since it joined the organisation in 2017.
Al-Khudari satated that communities and local governments seek to create that appropriate society according to the available capabilities, as the World Health Organisation’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, adding that the Network was established to ensure that this is achieved through its mission of providing support for the development of cities in all parts of the world to be age-friendly or friendly cities. The network also seeks to spread the spirit of change in this field by showing what can be done and how to do it to improve the lives of the elderly by applying specific standards, linking cities and communities around the world to facilitate the exchange of information and experiences, and supporting cities and communities to find innovative solutions based on on the evidence.
The meeting will run from the 6th to 7th of next March, and will be held at the Sharjah Classic Cars Museum. The meeting will include a presentation of experiences from members of the network.
On the sidelines of the meeting, an exhibition of services provided to the elderly in Sharjah will be held with the participation of several local entities that have implemented the network’s standards. The second day includes field visits for the guests and participants in the meeting to learn about the Sharjah experience and ensure the comprehensiveness of the services provided to the elderly. The delegegation will visit Old people’s and to the department’s branch in Al Hamriyah.
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