Annual Report 2019
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All older people more active, more visible, more creative, more connected, more often. Annual Report 2019 1 Age & Opportunity Annual Report 2019 Age & Opportunity Annual Report 2019 Contents At Age & Opportunity, 4 Chairperson’s Statement our aim is to inspire people aged 6 CEO’s Statement 9 Strategic Plan 2018-2020 50+ to live a dynamic and fulfilling 10 What We Do life where they are more active, 12 Our Strategic Themes more visible, more creative, more 13 Age & Opportunity Active connected, more often. 22 Age & Opportunity Arts 32 Age & Opportunity Engage 38 Corporate and Public Affairs 44 Governance and Structure 2 3 Age & Opportunity Annual Report 2019 Age & Opportunity Annual Report 2019 We know that positive ageing requires I would also like to thank our CEO and all significant policy and programme responses our employees, and our extended team Chairperson’s in multiple areas. We ensure that our work and partners across Ireland for being is aligned to key strategies, such as the instrumental in helping Age & Opportunity Statement National Positive Ageing Strategy, Sláintecare, to achieve the best possible quality of life Healthy Ireland, the National Physical Activity for people aged 50 to 100 plus. It is in all Plan and the National Sport Policy, The Arts of our interests to challenge ageism, as an Ita Mangan Council of Ireland’s Making Great Art Work, investment for our futures and those of Chairperson and Culture 2025, the National Cultural Policy younger generations and I am proud to be a Age & Opportunity Framework. We also ensure that our work is part of this important work. aligned to international best practice and we contribute on a European level through our I am delighted to present Age & Opportunity’s We have reported on our work throughout engagement with AGE Platform Europe. Ita Mangan Annual Report for 2019, documenting our 2019 under these thematic headings in each Chairperson continued work on the objectives set out in of our pioneering programmes in the core I would like to recognise the voluntary Age & Opportunity our Strategic Plan 2018 - 2020. areas of sport and physical activity, arts and commitment of my colleagues on the Board, culture and civic engagement and personal and across our Committees and our Advisory Founded over 30 years ago as a response development. Groups, and to thank them for their support to the need for promotion of more positive and commitment. Our ability to meet our attitudes to older people and ageing, we have 2019 saw us focus additional resources on strategic priorities has a direct impact on the established ourselves as leading thinkers on policy, research and evaluation and enhance day-to-day operations of Age & Opportunity. ageing in Ireland, exploring key issues such our understanding about what ageing in We believe that good governance is vital in as what is older age, how we can plan for our Ireland means for people today by increasing our sector, ensuring effective decision-making own ageing and what positive changes we opportunities for dialogue and feedback and prioritisation of resources, and we will can make in our own lives to ensure that we across all of our programmes, strengthening continue to work to uphold those standards live well for longer. our capacity to measure and demonstrate within Age & Opportunity. the impact of our work and creating more Our work over this period has been opportunities to influence policy decisions configured using four strategic themes which that affect older people and those who work are fundamental to us achieving our vision on their behalf. and mission: This year also saw a particular focus on z Creating and Promoting Diverse supporting and influencing the work of care Models of Ageing settings and home carers so that all older people can engage in meaningful activities z Influencing Public Policy and flourish at home, wherever that may be. z Supporting and Developing our Programme Partnerships We have ensured throughout the year that the voices of older people z Optimising our Organisational Capacity continue to inform everything that we do and have paid particular attention to engaging with and listening to those whose voices might be less heard. 4 5 Age & Opportunity Annual Report 2019 Age & Opportunity Annual Report 2019 We enhanced our focus across our three PPALs course. We were fortunate to CEO’s programmes on providing initiatives for older receive funding from the Community people who are socially excluded or isolated, Foundation Ireland to develop and and we celebrated significant successes in test a new initiative for adults living Statement the following areas: with Intellectual Disability inspired by our Ageing with Confidence course, z During 2019 we further developed and we will be incorporating this into and evaluated our Artist in Residence Karen Horgan our PPALs course delivery. We plan CEO in a Care Setting initiative, which to deliver Ageing with Confidence for Age & Opportunity brings together artists and the Intellectual Disability from April 2020. residents of care settings to creatively engage over a number of months. We continue to reach older individuals It gives me great pleasure to report to With our renewed focus on ensuring that the In 2019, this initiative was funded and groups through our model of working you on Age & Opportunity’s activities and voices of older people are heard in everything through the National Creativity Fund, in partnership with other agencies and achievements for 2019. we do, we recognize that older people do the HSE National Lottery and the Arts organisations. We are very grateful for the not form a homogenous group –we are all Council, creating access to the arts for ongoing support of our partners, including Throughout 2019 we continued to different and we are all ageing differently older people regardless of where they the national networks of Local Sports implement our Strategic Plan for 2018 to and there isn’t a one size fits all approach to are living, and addressing the paucity Partnerships and Arts Officers, HSE Health 2020; a key focus of it is an investment in achieving the best possible quality of life. of meaningful creative activity in many Promotion and Services for Older People rigorous research that will test, measure and care settings. communicate our initiatives. Our ethos of putting older people first Offices, libraries, active retired groups, ensures that the views, opinions and z In 2019 we were delighted to receive Family Resource Centres, Day and Residential We are achieving this by: experiences of diverse older people inform funding under the Sláintecare Care settings, Men’s Sheds, arts organisations all that we do, and our focus on quality and Integration Fund, which has enabled around Ireland, National Governing Bodies z Championing the creativity and inclusivity means that we work to ensure us to broaden our reach further to for Sport, the Irish Prison Service, Age value of older people; equality of participation for all older people, older people who are living with Friendly Ireland, Older Peoples Councils and irrespective of background culture, identity, chronic illnesses. We are delivering Age Friendly Alliances in every county. z Combatting stereotypes and setting or location. Our focus has been on our Changing Gears initiative to seven negative views of ageing; promoting the engagement of older people groups of older people in HSE CHO Our work would not be possible without z Developing inclusive and engaging in their local communities and, at times, their 9, in order to support participants to the strategic relationships that we have experiences which respond to the engagement at a national level. boost resilience and to enhance their developed throughout the country, and a key interests and needs of the diverse techniques for self-management of focus of our Strategic Plan 2018 to 2020 is older adult population; Throughout 2019, we engaged with 85,050 their health conditions. on continuing to support and develop our older people throughout the country, in programme partnerships, so that our work z Developing, testing and measuring z In 2019 we further developed our every county, from a mixture of rural and continues to make a real impact. I would the impact of pioneering partnership with Trinity College urban areas, from various socio-economic like to thank all of our partners around the programmes and approaches; Dublin’s IDS-TILDA on our Physical backgrounds, with varying levels of country for their delivery of high quality Activity Leaders course for people experience of social exclusion and loneliness outcomes for the people we serve. z Making evidence available to policy with Intellectual Disability (PPALS). makers and service providers; and isolation. This course trains older people with I would also like to thank our funders, in z Working with partners and intellectual disability to lead activities particular the HSE and the Department stakeholders to ensure that Ireland’s and games with people in their of Health, Sport Ireland, the Arts Council polices, strategies and programmes own centres. Following the success of Ireland and Creative Ireland for their are directly informed by the needs of the initiative in 2018, further continued commitment, without which our and experiences of older people. funding has been secured by Trinity work would be impossible. College IDS-TILDA to run another 6 7 Age & Opportunity Annual Report 2019 Age & Opportunity Annual Report 2019 I would like to thank the Board of Trustees Finally, thank you to all of our participants of Age & Opportunity for their unwavering of our programmes the length and breadth commitment, strategic leadership, expertise, of the country who continue to enable us Strategic Plan advice, support and guidance, and also our to push the boundaries in exploring diverse Finance, Governance, HR, Quality and Safety models for ageing.