The Red Cross of Serbia is starting the implementation of a project entitled „Taking Action on Social Inclusion of Older People“ supported by European Union through its IPA fund. The first major activity of the project is a kick off meeting of international partners organised in the Red Cross of Serbia headquarters between 9 and 11 March 2016.

The project is a three year enterprise with European Union backing as well as a financial and technical support provided by Austrian Agency for Development. The Red Cross of Serbia is the leading partner and coordinator of the project with partners coming from all over the region: Austrian red Cross, Albanian Association of Gerontology and Geriatrists, Osmijeh NGO, Bosnia Herzegovina, the Red Cross of Montenegro, Macedonian red Cross and Humanost, NGO from Macedonia.

The goal of the project is to improve inclusion of older people in decision making processes related to ageing and older age as well as reinforcing the positive image of older people in the project countries.

In order for this goal to be reached capacities of civil society organisations across the region need to be improved as well as the capacities of older people themselves. This will be achieved through education and workshops. Working with the media will be of great importance if perception of ageing and older people is to be improved. This is a way to contribute to reducing discrimination that is very often leading the way to social exclusion and abuse. Therefore, the project activities will include education workshops for media professionals, focusing on ageing and older age.

Further plans include raising public awareness on healthy ageing, lifelong learning and volunteering through campaigns that will be simultaneously organised in all the project countries. These campaigns will work on reinforcing the perception of older people who actively contribute to development and use their knowledge and experience to enhance social cohesion at national and local level. Creating and spreading positive image of older people helps decrease their isolation and motivates them to be more active and take their rightful position in the society.

In addition to these activities, support will be provided for volunteer activities of older people in urban and rural environments.

Public advocacy for improved quality of life of older people will be another important part of the project and this is why research studies in all five countries are planned. The data collected and processed through these exercises will also serve to create recommendations for decision makers in creating inclusive policies.