Welcome to the Age Demands Action campaign photoblog
People of all ages, from more than 50 countries, took part in our Age Demands Action (ADA) campaign this year, a global grassroots movement that aims to improve conditions for older people.
A focal point for the campaign was 1 October, the UN International Day of Older People, when people marched in the streets and delegations of older activists met politicians and key decision makers to demand action on older people’s issues.
So as you can imagine, older people’s groups, campaigners and supporters were very busy making plans and placards ahead of this important day – and have kindly sent in their pictures to prove it.
Remember, if you would like to support older people and their campaign for better conditions you can sign the Age Demands Action petition – you can even sign your own personal placard.
It’s so exciting to see people’s pictures from around the world, to read new placards and to see what everyone got up to.
We will keep you updated on their progress and the changes their campaigning achieved.
Enjoy!
ADA – Sierra Leone
Campaigners display their demands for greater social protection and improved support for older people working in agriculture at an event in Makeni City Hall organised by Current Evangelical Ministries (CEM) Outreach in Sierra Leone. One of the messages displayed reads:
“Let us care and protect for the elderly for they made us what we are”.
ADA – Sierra Leone
Members of the Ministry for Agriculture, the Ministry for Social Welfare and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation listened to ADA campaigners at Makeni City Hall. Over 70 older people presented officials with their concerns and called to change government policy to make it more age friendly. The campaign focused around plans to draft a National Policy on Ageing for Sierra Leone, the availability of cash transfers to people over 70, the extension of the retirement age and subsidised agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and seeds for older farmers and agricultural workers.
A rally was held in Makeni, which saw 15 older people’s leaders and 63 campaigners participating in an ADA photo action where they displayed their ADA placards. An article was featured in the Standard Times and it is estimated that more than 20,000 people will have heard about the campaign.
ADA – Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic was one of nine countries in Latin America where older people took action on the International Day of Older Persons. Campaigners from the Red Por un Envejecimiento Digno (Decent Ageing Network) met much admired and well known Cardinal Archbishop Rodriguez who has lent his support to the campaign for older people’s rights. The campaign focused on making hospitals more age friendly and called for the proper implementation of the social pension.
ADA – Ecuador
PASODEHU and REMPERMAE supported a delegation of older people ahead of their meeting with President of the National Congress, Fernando Cordero. After the meeting, Mr. Cordero announced that Older People’s Associations would have access to the draft Older Person’s Law, so that they could review the draft Bill before it was put into law.
ADA – Peru
After year’s of campaigning the dream of a non-contributory pension for people over 65 is now beginning to be realised. ANAMPER, IPEMIN, Pro Vida Peru all made a final push for ‘Pensión 65′, organising hundreds on to the streets in Puno, Piura and Huancayo. At THE nacional Congress key members of Congress such as José Urquizo were met as President Ollanta Humala put Pensión 65′ befote Congress. Implementation has now begun with 25,000 older people in 13 regions being the first to receive the pension.
ADA – Paraguay
Centro de Educación, Capacitación y Tecnología Campesina
(the Centre for Education, Training and Rural Technology) supported over 120
older people as they formed delegations with 11 local municipalities in the regions
of Caazapá and Itapúa. At the heart of the campaign was a call for the
effective implementation of the social pension. In Caazapá, authorities
addressed the concern and pledged to improbé access to the pension.
ADA – Costa Rica
The Asociación Gerontológica
Costarricense (the Costa Rican Gerontological Association) mobilised over 900
older people who led a march, ‘In Defence of the Right’s of Older People’,
through the streets of San José. Older people
raised their voices against discrimination and called for a Convention on the
Rights of Older People. Next year Costa Rica will host a special
convened session of the Organization of American States (OAS) where a regional Convention on
the Right’s of Older People will be at the top of the agenda.
ADA – Jamaica
Older campaigners and representatives from 29 government agencies and NGOs gathered at the National Conference Centre in Kingston for a special ADA stakeholders event on 26 September.
ADA – Bangladesh
Campaigners brave the rain in Bangladesh to form a human chain organised by HelpAge affiliate, Bangladesh Institute of Theatre Art (BITA).
ADA – Bangladesh
Older people on an ADA march organised by the Pidim Foundation in Bangladesh.
ADA – Netherlands
Cordaid joined forces with Resto van Haarte to deliver special ADA activities in Resto van Haarte cafes across the Netherlands. Here is one Dutch campaigner with his ADA message, reading ‘more respect for older people’!
ADA – Ethiopia
An ADA sticker takes pride of place on this taxi in Addis Ababa.
ADA – Pakistan
Age Demands Action activities took place in Buner, Swat, Islamabad,Khyber Pakhton Khwa, Jalozai and many other regions of Pakistan, The campaign was supported by Merlin, Muslim Aid, Senior Citizens Foundation of Pakistan and included leafleting, a seminar, a conference on Disaster Risk Management, health and well being awareness activities and marches across the country. In three regions, campaigners met District Transport Officer to push for more age friendly public transport. Already one district has agreed to discounted fares for older people.
ADA – Slovenia
On Wednesday 5 October over 200 representatives from Older Pople’s Associations across Slovenia gathered in Izola to discuss a range of ageing issues.
ADA – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Age Demands Action leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina prepare for a meeting with the Minister for Human Rights and Refugees.
ADA – United Kingdom
Members of the HelpAge International and Age UK teams took part in a seven mile walk in Kent on Saturday, 1 October. Here they are proudly displaying their ADA messages!
ADA – Haiti
First Lady, Sophia Martelly held a reception for ADA campaigners at the Palais National in Port au Prince, Haiti.
ADA – occupied Palestinian territories
ADA Leader Abed Shehada, 74, leads a march through the streets of Hebron in the West Bank.
ADA – South Korea
Older people in South Korea took their ADA message to the central square outside Seoul Railway Station.
ADA – Ethiopia
Campaigners in Hawassa, Ethiopia march in support for private sector pensions before a meeting attended by the President.
ADA – Vietnam
Representatives from 7 government ministries attended an ADA workshop in Vietnam, which focused on the need for more ‘inter-generational self-help’ groups. The picture shows a cultural display, which took place after the meeting.
ADA – Moldova
Older people dance to traditional Moldovan folk music infront of the Opera House in Chisinau. The concert followed the launch of a campaign encouraging people to send greeting cards to older friends and relatives. The Minister for Labour, Social Protection and the Family joined campaigners for the launch.
ADA – Nepal
A march through Kathmandu was just one of many ADA events in Nepal this year. There was also street theatre, a meeting between ADA delegates and the President and a special ADA ‘radio jingle’ broadcast across the country.
ADA – Sri Lanka
On the march in Sri Lanka: Older people from across the country marched in Colombo before attending an ‘Elder’s Day Ceremony’. ADA campaigners also met the Minister for Social Affairs who pledged to raise the issue of a social pension for those 65 and older with the President.
ADA – Kenya
Over 300 older people joined an Age Demands Action march in Nairobi. Th emarch converged on the City Hall where a delegation of ADA leaders met the Minister of Justice.
ADA- Philippines
Hundreds took to the streets of Manilla at 6.30am to join the annual ADA ‘walk-for-life’ march.
ADA – Philippines
“Madame Dinky get down from your thrown and look at the conditions of poor older people” reads the sign of one Age Demands Action campaigner in the Philippines. Hundreds marched through Manilla on 1 October to demand that the poorest older people are no longer excluded from a pension they are entitled to”.
ADA – Germany
On a sunny Saturday morning, Age Demands Action campaigners are joined by former Mayor of Berlin, Henning Scherf, 73.
ADA – Germany
The banner reads ‘Celebrate grannnys’ Click here for a German news clip on the day`s events.
ADA – Germany
For the very first time, Age Demands Action took place in Germany. Campaigners of all ages were joined in front of the historic Brandenburg Gate by members of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
ADA – Haiti
Campaigners in Haiti with posters calling for greater civic protection for older people ahead of their meeting with the Commissioner of Police.
ADA – Czech Republic
Campaigners of all ages take a well earned rest after completing the annual Solidarity Run to mark the start of ADA events in the Czech Republic.
ADA campaigners – Albania
Thelleza Zacellari, 67, and Elena Janllari, 78, are campaigning in Albania where the Ministry for Social Affairs will be urged to push the Law on Ageing Bill into law.
ADA campaigner – Albania
Lulzim Mullahi, 70 from Tirana displays his message which reads: “Older people are the pride of a nation”.
ADA campaigners – Serbia
These older activists hold a sign saying: “We call for social pensions to allow older people live with dignity.” From 26 September to 11 October, messages championing the contributions older people make will adorn 40 buses in 10 cities across the country.
ADA planning meeting – Serbia
Campaigners in Serbia have been planning a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Social Policy scheduled for 30 September.
ADA planning meeting – Pakistan
27 Age Demands Action campaigners in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan met at their local District Coordinator’s Office on 12 September to discuss plans for this year’s campaign.
Young ADA activists – UK
Campaigning for a better future can start at any age, as these two young UK activists prove.
ADA activist – Slovenia
Marija Haban holds her ADA campaign message: ‘A rich society includes all generations’.
ADA planning meeting – Mozambique
ADA campaigners in Mozambique meet to plan their upcoming appointments with the country’s First Lady, Maria da Luz Guebuza and the Prime Minister, Aires Ali.
The group members are holding up their index fingers to show their support for Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights – that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
ADA activist – Jamaica
An older campaigner at a planning meeting sends her message to the Jamaican Government. Hundreds of campaigners around the world will be taking photos and sending their messages out on and around 1 October.
ADA planning meeting – Jamaica
Campaigners in Jamaica meet to discuss their forthcoming meeting with the Minister of Labour and Social Security.
Age Demands Action activist – Jamaica
Making a stand, a campaigner sends her message to her government.
Tree planting ceremony – Ethiopia
In Ethiopia 50 ADA campaigners worked alongside members of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to plant 300 seedlings at a tree-planting event. The Ministry’s Director of Social Welfare Development, Mr Assefa Baleher, welcomed campaigners to the event which precedes Age Demands Action activities each year.
ADA activist is interviewed on radio – Fiji
Mr Hassan Khan, the director of Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS), a HelpAge International affiliate, is interviewed on national radio to discuss plans for this year’s ADA campaign.
ADA planning meeting – Bangladesh
Campaigners at a meeting hosted by Resource Integration Centre, a HelpAge International affiliate, discuss the details of their appointment with the Ministry of Welfare.
