Governments have already committed themselves to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at UN General Assembly in September 2015. Pons said that Agenda 2030 provides an opportunity for the ageing populations and all stakeholders supporting ageing populations to engage with governments around old-age-related development issues.
He elaborated: "SDG-1 is about poverty reduction. NGOs can ask governments to pay special attention to older people while setting targets for poverty alleviation. The elderly are more likely to be poverty stricken, as they have less economic resources, do not work and often isolated because of living away from family. Then again when we talk about SDG-16 (which is about promoting just, peaceful and inclusive societies), let us not forget the older people. They are more prone to violence as they are easy targets for crooks and violent people. It is very important to have statistics and data available on the older people so as to have new policies that will be more age equitable, and not favour just the young." Likewise it is of utmost importance to recognize unique needs and roles of ageing populations in context of each of these SDGs and address them in an integrated manner.
'What gets measured gets done'?
Pons said that SDGs are commitments governments have to honour and so the review process for SDGs should take stock of the progress made till now. Next SDGs review is slated to happen in July of 2017.
The EU is already trying to assist governments in reviewing and monitoring the progress in countries. Without having monitoring systems in place, the government commitments would become just another public statement. We need data, we need review, we need an inclusive process to get information from all walks of life, networking of NGOs to provide inputs and have an assessment that is acceptable to all governments, international organisations, civil society and public, so that we can define and agree on priorities for the next 5-10 years, he insisted.
Good we progressed, but challenges remain
"While different countries may be at different levels of facing different ageing issues, every country will have to face the consequences of ageing on its own terms - there is no way one can go around that. CSOs working in different countries will have to take up the issues that are relevant in their local context and come with their own solutions to their specific problems. And this is the most important 'take-home' message from this type of dialogue - It is for their own people to deal with their own issues and we simply help them by putting in a little bit of capacity building so that they can engage with their own authorities and parliaments, to better their own lives at the end of the day," said Pons.
Although people living longer is a cause for celebration, the demographic transition towards an ageing society heightens the urgency of putting in place sustainable systems that take into account entitlements to pension, healthcare, long-term care for the aged, amongst others.
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