HelpAge International is delighted to be invited to work in partnership with The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust in developing a programme to address the issue of global ageing.
Investing in six key areas
The Trust, established to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s 60 year contribution to the Commonwealth, today announced it will invest in six areas reflecting the six decades of The Queen’s reign.
- Care with Dignity: To dignify older people with care that enables them to lead active lives to the full extent of their abilities.
- Young Diamonds: Using sport to enable young people to improve their lives and the lives of their communities.
- Urban Food: Help communities establish food gardens in confined urban spaces to enable them to feed themselves.
- Disability to Capability: To give people with disabilities, the skills and support to take control of their own lives.
- Heritage and Culture: To help people connect with and safeguard their irreplaceable cultural heritage.
- Exceptional Leaders: Recognise the duty and dedication of 60 exceptional community leaders.
A tremendous opportunity for HelpAge
HelpAge has been invited to work in partnership with the Trust across the Care with Dignity theme. Silvia Stefanoni, HelpAge’s Deputy CEO said: “We are delighted to be asked by the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust to join them in developing a programme which addresses the challenges and opportunities of global ageing.
“The most rapid growth in numbers of older people across the world is in some countries of the Commonwealth. The number of older people over 80 in need of care in less developed regions will double from 50 million to 100 million by 2030.
“Our challenge is to provide support and care in later life so that older people can have a dignified old age. We must harness the wisdom, expertise and contributions of older people to help their families and communities plan for the future.
Strengthening home-based care
“We must urgently offer more support to the many thousands of caregivers helping older people stay in their homes and communities. HelpAge works with 4,000 community-based older people’s groups to organise delivery of home-based care and health services.”
Sir John Major, Chairman of the board of Trustees said: “The six themes chosen will enable the Trust to identify projects that are, and have been, of particular significance to Her Majesty throughout her reign.
“We are delighted that we have secured such a wide range of partners to work with. As projects develop, we will be adding international partners to our consortium. With these partners, the Trust will fund innovative and compelling initiatives that will make a very real difference to people throughout the Commonwealth.”
Importance of older people’s role
Silvia Stefanoni said: “We see working with the Trust as a real opportunity to shine a spotlight on the critical importance of the role older people play in our families and communities.
“We share the Trust’s ambitions to give older people the support that dignifies them and values their contribution. For us it is an obvious partnership and allows us to honour and thank the world’s most renowned and active elder leader – Her Majesty The Queen.”