Age friendly Network

About the Network

The Network aims to strengthen the support available for organisations leading council and community plans to improve the wellbeing of older people. It provides a forum for discussion, information sharing, learning, and mutual support with other like-minded groups.

Who the Network is for

The Network intends to bring together people from organisations that are leading or actively involved in driving/coordinating the development or implementation of age friendly strategies and plans. In most cases, this will be local councils but may also include other community organisations, hapū or iwi.

Membership of the Network will be held by an organisation rather than by an individual. Member organisations will nominate up to two key contacts who will consistently attend Network meetings and discussions where possible.

From time to time, additional attendees may be invited to join Network sessions, for example, if there is a wider interest in a specific topic.

What the Network does

The Network aims to bring together people leading age friendly work around New Zealand and to learn from each other through a community of practice.We aim to hold an online meeting once per quarter involving a facilitated discussion on a specific topic, a webinar/presentation, and/or sharing case studies.

The Network is being established in 2021. We will continue to develop it over time in collaboration with its members. The Network intends to supplement broader support available to age friendly practitioners and leaders in their roles (for example – support available through Taituarā – Local Government Professionals Aotearoa)

Benefits of membership

Benefits include:

access to mutual support and encouragement from others leading age friendly work
opportunities to share ideas and collaborate with other members
opportunities to present and showcase your work and learn what has worked well in other locations
opportunities to discuss and share the latest age friendly research

As a member of the Network, you will also be helping to promote and grow support for other cities, towns and communities across New Zealand to become age friendly.

Joining the Network

Please read the Network’s Terms of Reference before applying and get in touch with us if you have any questions about whether your organisation is eligible.

As part of the application process you’ll need to provide us with some information about your organisation, your age friendly community, and age friendly work.

You can join the Network by filling out an online application form and sending it to agefriendlyfund@msd.govt.nz

The Network is one of several ways we support age friendly work, so if your group isn’t eligible to join, please get in touch and ask us how else we can help.

For any questions about the Network or the Age friendly Programme, please contact us by email at agefriendlyfund@msd.govt.nz

Network Members

Check to see if your district or city has joined the Age friendly movement. Currently there are 33 districts and cities, primarily represented by councils, that have joined the Aotearoa New Zealand Network. Members are shown below with links to what they are doing to become more age friendly.