What we do

Age & Opportunity promotes participation to change the way people think about ageing. We do that in three intersecting ways:

• Active Participation - We work to create programmes that people can participate in.
• Influencing & Enabling Development - We work to influence the structures which can ensure that older people are included when planning services and projects.
• Accredited Education & Training - We work to build skills among older people and those who work with them to ensure that meaningful participation can happen.

Active Participation

A fundamental part of promoting participation is creating programmes that people both can and want to participate in. Our two largest programmes, Go for Life and the Bealtaine festival, both promote direct active participation. They provide a support structure within which local groups and organisers can take an active role in instigating their own activities under the programme banner. Phase 2 of Ageing with Confidence, the workshops helping people to explore their own ageing in a positive way to maintain health and well-being is about direct, active participation also.

Influencing & Enabling Development

If participation is to become part of older people's lives, it must become part of how all mainstream programmes are developed. To achieve this aim, we continue to influence those who create policy and programmes, those who fund and develop existing and new programmes. Two programmes that are achieving this are the AgeWise workshops, which raise awareness of ageism among policy-makers and service providers whose work affects the lives of older people, and Get Vocal, which aims to strengthen the voice of older people in their communities. We also recognise that there needs to be an evidence base that can be brought to bear when decisions need to be made and we are gathering that evidence. It is also important to share our expertise in the work that we do at national and regional level.

Accredited Education & Training

Building skills and knowledge in the area of how ageing affects programmes and policy is part of the long-term requirements for insuring meaningful participation by all of us as we get older. Creative Exchanges, our Arts in Care programme, trains staff working in care settings to deliver arts activities in care settings on a regular basis. The Ageing and Equality Studies programme, run in association with UCD, encourages people working in fields such as health, local government and social care to examine how fostering equality can have an effect on the work that they do and how services in general are delivered. Phase 1 of our Ageing with Confidence programme, where facilitators are trained to deliver ageing awareness workshops, also forms part of our accredited training role.

How we do it

Programmes

At Age & Opportunity, we run a number of programmes that provide a focus for the different ways in which we promote participation and tackle barriers that prevent it. Our programmes include:

• Bealtaine – the national festival celebrating creativity in older age
• Creative Exchanges – using the arts to transform the experience of residents and staff in care centres for older people
• Go for Life – promoting greater participation by older people in sport and physical activity
• AgeWise – raising awareness of ageism among policy-makers and service providers whose work affects the lives of older people
• Ageing with Confidence – helping people to explore their own ageing in a positive way to maintain health and well-being
• Get Vocal – strengthening the voice of older people in Irish society

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Funding Partners

As a not-for-profit organisation, Age & Opportunity receives core funding from the Health Service Executive (HSE). Each programme is then supported by a particular funding and support mechanism. Major ongoing funders for particular programmes include:

• For Bealtaine, the Art Council
• For Go for Life, the Irish Sports Council
• For Get Vocal, Atlantic Philanthropies

Working Partners

As an enabling organisation, most of Age & Opportunity's projects are designed to work in partnership with other organisations. Our partners include: Local Sports Partnerships and the Health Promotion Units of the Health Service Executive, the VECs, Partnership Companies, Arts Organisations, Cultural Institutions, Voluntary Organisations, Educational Institutions, Residential and Day Care Services, Active Retirement Associations. We continue to look for constructive partnerships with a range of organisations who share common goals with us.

We aim for high standards in all our work. We consult with the participants in our programmes, continually monitor the delivery of our programmes and commission independent evaluations wherever practical.