Today is the 35th United Nations International Day of Older People with the theme ‘Building Belonging: Celebrating the power of our social connections.’ The day serves to raise awareness and mobilise action around the world on issues faced by ageing populations. As the UK’s only charitable funder focused entirely on supporting the research and social innovation needed for ageing well, this awareness day is something we at the Vivensa Foundation can get behind – today and every day.
We understand the importance of staying socially connected as we age, both for our physical and our mental health. Here are just a few of the ways in which we’re supporting researchers and social innovators to build belonging, drive community-level change and create opportunities for social connection.
Importance of housing and communities
The place in which we live – both in location and design – can be one of the biggest determinants of how well we age. Supporting the development of suitable housing and connected communities for older people has long been a part of our charitable mission. Our flagship programme for the next five years is centred on housing and communities. We will partner with the Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN) to deliver it. It will consist of these three main pillars: curating and sharing useful tools and resources; supporting cultural change through leadership development; and providing funding and social investment for communities. We’ll announce more about this very shortly.
Fostering involvement, engagement and independence
Ageing is a deeply personal journey, shaped by individual experiences, needs, and challenges. At the heart of our mission lies a commitment to involvement and engagement. We want to ensure that those most affected by ageing-related challenges play a meaningful role in shaping solutions. We have funded initiatives like TAPPI and MEAAP’s IMPACTAgewell model which place older adults at the centre of decision-making and service development. This enables them to live more independent, fulfilling lives.
Intergenerational activities can contribute to more cohesive communities and create a stronger sense of belonging. Younger and older people have so much to offer each other, and those around them. We co-funded the national Care Home Friends and Neighbours Intergenerational Linking project. This social action project connected young people aged 5-14 from schools and youth organisations with older people living in care homes across England. In total, an estimated minimum of 4,000 young people and 2,000 older people participated. It was the largest intergenerational programme and evaluation project ever to take place in England. You can read more about this fantastic programme here.
Ensuring that older people are included in ground-breaking research
The Chief Medical Officer for England’s 2023 Annual Report on Health in an Ageing Society stated that more research needs to include older people. It was found that relative to the proportion of disease, older adults are disproportionally underrepresented in research. This is not only unethical but can result in treatments that are less effective for the people who need them most. We have signed a statement of intent – along with a number of other organisations – which commits us to integrate older people into health and care research.
You can read more stories from our award-holders here.
Find out more about Vivensa Academy – our membership of researchers, clinicians and community-facing organisations – and apply to join here.
