The keys to the success of an age friendly programme
The process to become age friendly is flexible – but successful age friendly programmes have some key success factors in common.
Success factors for age friendly programmes
Auckland University of Technology (AUT) evaluated the work of three New Zealand cities that used the WHO framework to make their communities more age friendly.
The evaluation found there were five key success factors.
Download the full evaluation report [PDF, 555KB]
Key success factors
- Support – ensuring there is top-down support from central and/or local government, and bottom-up support from the community
- Community engagement
- Listening to the voice of the community and including diverse groups
- Sharing information and lessons with other age friendly communities
- A committed steering group – having strong leadership in place with the right range of skills to drive the work forward and help navigate community dynamics
- Needs assessment
- Undertaking a needs assessment of age friendly activities and projects
- Understanding what is in place already and building on existing systems
- Age friendly activities – having age friendly practices and initiatives already established in the community that you can learn from and expand.