Resources and examples for evaluation
Resources and examples to help with planning the evaluation of your age friendly programme.
Wellbeing indicators for older New Zealanders
The Office for Seniors has developed a set of initial indicators to monitor the progress of the Better Later Life He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 to 2034 strategy. These indicators are for each of the strategy’s action areas:
- achieving financial security and economic participation
- promoting healthy ageing and improving access to services
- creating diverse housing choices and options
- enhancing opportunities for social connection
- making environments accessible.
We have also developed indicators to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on older people (aged 65+) and on older workers (aged 50+)
Useful resources
- Age-friendly Neighbourhoods Guidelines and Toolkit for Local Government [PDF, 3.95MB]: This booklet, produced by the Government of South Australia, recommends assigning performance measures when developing age friendly initiatives, allowing for easier evaluation post-implementation.
- A Research and Evaluation Framework [PDF, 1.80MB]: This document, by the UK Urban Ageing Consortium, offers guidance on developing a Framework for Evaluating an Age-friendly City (page 176) as well as evaluation resources such as a template for age friendly evaluation and a template for an age friendly action plan (in Appendices A and B respectively).
- AARP Livability Index: The AARP has developed an accessible web-based index to evaluate community liveability. Because liveability means different things to different people, the index considers a highly liveable community as one with ‘diverse features that appeal to people of all ages, incomes, and abilities’.
- Results-Based Accountability (RBA) is a commonsense framework focusing on results. Further information and relevant RBA links are shared on the Ministry of Social Development website.
- The Model for Improvement is used widely in health and other organisations to deliver gradual service improvements. It uses a Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle to identify, implement and evaluate small scale changes which build upon each other.
- Measuring the Age-Friendliness of Cities [7.33MB]: a WHO guide that identifies key indicators to measure progress towards age-friendliness. It suggests that measures should be used to track improvements in equity, accessibility and inclusiveness.
Useful examples
- Hamilton, New Zealand – Age Friendly City [PDF, 6.39MB]: Hamilton’s plan identifies how each project relates to a domain, the responsible agency, and the indicators and timeframe for completion. Further evidence that evaluation has been considered during the planning process is the note that a new Evaluation Group will be formed, replacing the Steering Group.
- New Plymouth’s Positive Ageing Strategy 2010-2020 [PDF, 1.63MB]: This document includes a specific section on its monitoring and evaluation processes, including outcome measures and a monitoring framework.
- Napier’s Positive Ageing Strategy [PDF, 19.9MB]: This strategy includes a section on monitoring and review, including population and performance measures, a strategy review timeframe, and project evaluation measures.
- Age-friendly Report Card 2018-2019 [PDF, 282KB]: The Queensland Government produced a simple two-page summary of their progress across the eight WHO domains.