Step 5.1 – What to evaluate
Work with others involved in the programme to evaluate what went well, what didn’t, and what you’ve learnt as a result.
WHO evaluation indicators
The WHO has produced a 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.
It also suggests that (as with all resources in this toolkit) resources should be adapted to suit local conditions in order to build an indicator set that is the most meaningful and relevant in the context.
Measuring the Age-Friendliness of Cities [PSD, 7.33MB]
Questions to ask
Questions commonly asked as part of an evaluation are:
- What did we do?
- How well did we do it?
- Is anyone better off as a result?
- What lessons have we learnt?
For example, the AUT evaluation of New Zealand’s three pilot age friendly communities showed that:
- communities are generally interested and committed to the age friendly movement
- engagement of Māori, Pacific and migrant communities needed improvement
- ageist attitudes exist in the community and in the media, which can be a barrier to getting support to develop and implement age friendly plans
- there can be tensions between older people and council priorities
- physical environments, transport, and access to services and information are commonly considered important
- each community is different and a tailored approach is needed.