Between 10 and 12 August 2018, in Struga, Macedonia, the Red Cross of Macedonia and Humanity NGO organised a workshop for InkluzivaM network members, its objective being to create advocacy strategy based on the results of the research “The need for social and health services for older people” done in 2017 on a sample of 1,004 participants over the age of 65.

During the three day workshop the network members worked on creating strategic plan for advocating the development of missing services for older people. The first important step would be advocating for changes in legal framework that would enable development of new services to improve the quality of life in the older age and ensure increased capacity of services so they are available to more older people and have a higher quality. The second important aspect of advocacy is development of Day Care Centre activities, nut paying attention that these services should include beneficiaries with diagnosed dementia.

During the workshop a discussion was also held on the sustainability of the Network and its further functioning, after the “Taking Action on Social Inclusion of Older People” (TASIOP) project is finished. All the participants agreed that the Network has become visible and an important resource in advocacy for improved quality of life of older people in Macedonia. All the Network members are motivated to continue participating in the Network activities and are of the opinion that cooperating with networks in the region will continue to be important in the coming period. The workshop was also attended by TASIOP project coordinators Dr Milutin Vracevic and Natasa Todorovic of the Red Cross of Serbia who shared their experiences with coordinating network activities in Serbia. This monitoring visit is important as it showed that the Macedonian partners on TASIOP project, coordinated by the Red Cross of Serbia in five countries in the region and supported by European Union, Austrian Development Agency and Austrian Red Cross, have achieved planned goals and that further successful regional cooperation on projects focusing on ageing with dignity in the Western Balkans is possible.