Activities

1 Website

ILCSA's website was updated at the start of 2009 and ILC partners are invited to view the website (www.ilcsa.uct.ac.za), which provides comprehensive descriptions of ILCSA thrusts and programmes, as well as activities listed below.

2 Programmes

1. ILCSA continued activity in its four core programmes in the period under review, and progress in each programme is noted, and two research projects commenced during the period are outlined briefly below.

1) Supporting and Fostering the Functioning and Involvement of Contributive Elders (SUFFICE).
Preparations are at an advanced stage for a second phase of the project and financial support for an expanded investigation is to be solicited. The Project is being conducted collaboratively with Dr. Barry Gurland at Columbia University and Dr. Harrison Bloom at ILC-USA.

2) Combatting elder abuse and fostering human rights.
Dr. Ferreira engaged with human rights agencies nationally and abroad in the formulation of policy responses to elder violence and abuse. She engaged moreover with key persons within the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) to forge strong representation and expand activities in the Africa region. She presented a paper on “Protecting older persons against violence, abuse and discrimination” in a seminar on “Family Support Networks and Population Ageing,” in Doha, Qatar in June 2009.

3) Strengthening and expanding geriatrics clinical services and education.
Drs. Kalula and Ferreira, together with ILCSA associates Drs. Aboderin and Cassim, and Jaco Hoffman, developed follow-up projects to the Abuja Dialogue on advancing health services for older persons in sub-Saharan Africa, convened by the African Research on Ageing Network (AFRAN), in Nigeria in July 2008. Two projects have been designed and are at an advanced stage of preparation, for implementation pending successful solicitation of funding.

4) Supporting and empowering older carers to persons affected by HIV/AIDS.
ILCSA continued to work with NGO partners in the field. An extensive full-page interview with Dr Ferreira and the partners, entitled “Our nation’s silent saviours. Grandmothers are filling gaping holes in the social fabric left by jobless adults and those dying of AIDS,” elaborating on ILCSA’s programme, was published in the news daily Cape Times on March 31, 2009.

2. Two research projects started during the period are:
1) An investigation of the feasibility of a government supported funeral insurance scheme for social pensioners, who by implication are poor and uninsured, and vulnerable to exploitation in a society in which funerals are traditionally elaborate and costly. The project is being conducted in partnership with a national NGO, South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID).

2) An investigation, from a human rights approach, on the practice of, need for, and alternatives to the use of physical restraints in hospitalised older patients in the Western Cape, with an aim to inform policy and guide practice, and enhance the quality of geriatric care.

3 Output

ILCSA staff members published work fairly prolifically during the period, and new titles are listed on the website. Notable among the titles is a forthcoming chapter co-authored by associate Isabella Aboderin and Ferreira on ageing in the Africa Region, in The International Handbook on Aging. Current research and developments (Palmore, Whittington & Kunkel, Eds) (Greenwood Press, 2009).

4 Events

Notable ILCSA events during the period were:

1. The introduction of an Associates programme, and the appointment of Drs. Isabella Aboderin (Nigeria and Oxford), Harrison Bloom (ILC-USA) and Bilkish Cassim (South Africa), and Jaco Hoffman (South Africa and Oxford) as associates. All associates engaged actively with ILCSA during the period.

2. Dr. Enid Schatz, of the University of Missouri, USA and an Honorary Researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, who is engaged in research on ageing, gender, health and AIDS at a WHO In-Depth site in South Africa, gave a seminar in the IAA/ILCSA Seminar Series 2008 on “Co-existing discourses: How older women in South Africa make sense of the HIV/AIDS epidemic”; in July.

3. Dr. Ferreira participated in a meeting of the Advisory Board of the International Institute of Ageing (UN-Malta) (INIA), in Valletta, Malta; in December. Drs. Bob Butler and Sharad Gokhale serve on the board but were unable to attend the meeting.

4. The ILC Alliance’s Global Aging Report. Threats to Longevity. A Call to Action was distributed to stakeholders and released to the South African media,resulting in a number of radio and newspaper interviews, and encouraging publicity.

5 Future plans

ILCSA’s action agenda (2009–2010) includes:

1. Continued development of initiatives to improve geriatric care and training, including a focused survey of risks and management of falls towards policy intervention; knowledge audits of PHC older clients and chronic disease management (with AFRAN); and assessment of the quality of health care in hospital settings.
   
   
2. Development and expansion of Africa appropriate education and training programmes in Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine (in co-operation with AFRAN).
   
   
3. Presentation of a joint paper by ILCSA associate Isabella Aboderin and Ferreira, entitled “Ageing in sub-Saharan Africa: Major challenges for capacity building and training,” in a symposium convened by the International Institute of Ageing (UN-Malta) in the IAGG Congress (Paris, July).
   
   
4. Presentation of a joint paper by ILC partners Kalula, Ger Tielen and Ferreira, entitled “Healthy ageing and disease prevention: The case of South Africa and the Netherlands,” in a symposium convened by the ILC Global Alliance in the IAGG Congress.
   
   
5. Convention of a symposium (with AFRAN) on “Ageing related health challenges in the poor developing world: Responses from sub-Saharan Africa,” in the 5th World Ageing and Generations Congress, in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on September 3-5, 2009.
   
   
6. Even stronger participation in national and sub-regional policy development, implementation and evaluation (with AFRAN).
   
   
7. Engagement in a range of initiatives and activities to empower and capacitate older persons, in partnerships with NGOs, including the South African Older Persons Forum, and through advocacy, programme and policy design and implementation, and fostering the replication of best practices.
   
   
8. Continuing organisational development of ILCSA, and core and new ILCSA programmes and activities. Even stronger positioning of ILCSA as an organisation, and the promotion of ILC principles, values and goals nationally and sub-regionally.
   
   
9. Continuing efforts to solicit medium to long-term financial support for ILCSA.

 6 Evaluation

Now entering its fifth year of operation, ILCSA is satisfied with the progress made in building the organisation and achieving a respected national and regional profile and relevance, as well as multiple engagements with national and sub-regional organisations and international and inter-governmental agencies. It takes pride moreover in contributing to realising the goals of the Global Alliance, and fostering the principles, values and objectives in the SSA sub-region.

Ferreira and Kalula participate in numerous local, national and international conferences, fora, etc., and avail opportunities to share outcomes of ILCSA activities with scholars, professionals, practitioners and policy makers. In addition, they participate in media interviews, which help to popularise ILCSA’s work, strengthen its positioning, and embed its aims and goals in the national conscience. ILCSA is recognised, respected and consulted as a centre of excellence, and is succeeding especially in changing a national mindset, from a welfarist approach that provides “care for the aged,” to one that recognises longevity, and older persons and their contributions as a valuable resource, and optimises their roles and participation in a changing society.

However, ILCSA continues to face certain organisational challenges: A first challenge is to secure a stable funding base, more so given recessionary constraints at this time. Reliant otherwise on the IAA for resources to support its operation and programmes, ILCSA’s funds were boosted encouragingly during the period through a research commission with budget to help meet overhead and running expenses.  

A second challenge is continuing organisational constraints within the University that “deprioritise” ageing as a productivity area, yet for which area organisational approval is required to engage in external fundraising. A third constraint is Dr. Ferreira’s marginalisation within the organisation, for reasons of her retired status based on mandatory retirement age – which constitutes ageism and limits her ability to contribute to building ILCSA. However, experience shows there are no easy solutions to these challenges, and ILCSA must simply forge ahead to overcome ageist discrimination, and the low priority accorded ageing as a sub-discipline and longevity as an achievement and value, as well as obstacles within the constrained financial environment.