NCFA starts updating National Strategy for Senior Citizens
07-26-2016
Following the release of the analytical report on the strategy and its executive plan for the years 2009-2013, the National Committee on the Follow-up on the National Strategy for Senior Citizens held its first meeting in NCFA offices to update the strategy.
The analytical report was launched in the presence of HM Queen Rania Al-Abdullah (Chairperson of NCFA's Board of Trustees) and members of the National Committee on October 6th 2016 in Dar Al-Amal Home for the Elderly.
The report prepared in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has revealed some gaps in the implementation of the strategy that was prepared in 2008 by NCFA in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Development, Jordanian Nursing Council, World Health Organization and specialists from Jordanian universities and non-governmental institutions. The gaps were centered on a number of points including the lack of financial allocations within the budgets of the relevant entities; unavailability of elderly-specialized departments in the relevant ministries (or the lack of clarity in their tasks if they existed), poor societal and political engagement of the elderly, limited availability of elderly-related databases, failure of relevant entities to classify data by age group, dearth of research and studies on aging issues and low number of institutions which have reflected aging issues into their strategies and have drawn up appropriate performance indicators linked to the National Strategy for Senior Citizens.
To bridge these gaps, the analytical report outlined a set of recommendations which included the need to increase financial allocations within the budgets of the relevant entities, the need to build the capacities of personnel working in this area from all aspects be they developmental, health-related or social, enhancement of corporate social responsibility initiatives, activation of the role of the private and voluntary sectors by providing funding for elderly activities and projects, empowerment of elderly families in the rural and Badia regions, provision of services for the elderly in these areas in cooperation with municipal councils and the enactment of a law that criminalizes assault, violence or disobedience to the elderly or imposes substitute penalties.
It is to be noted that NCFA has prepared the National Strategy with the cooperation of the government in 2008 with a view to give due importance to aging issues in Jordan's policies and plans to improve the elderly's quality of life and enable them to have a decent life, build confidence in themselves and their abilities and strengthen ties and intergenerational communication.
To follow up on the implementation of the strategy and other elderly issues, a National Committee was formed to monitor the implementation of the national strategy by virtue of the Prime Ministry decision no. 21/12/28364 on 18/10/2010 comprising representatives from governmental and non-governmental institutions concerned with the elderly.
It is to be noted that the strategy evaluation report did not confine itself to the evaluation of the strategy and its key directives but rather included an analytical description of the situation of the elderly in Jordan and an illustration of international and regional action plans related to aging and their applied methodologies. Hence, the report serves as a reference document under which national efforts are employed and invested towards the construction of an updated long-term commitment strategy to ensure the dignity and care of the elderly legislatively and procedurally which will be reflected in the national budgets, strategies, and action plans under effective frameworks and standards. To reach this end, officials and decision-makers should be aware of elderly rights and should give substance to their commitment by improving service provision for the elderly which can proceed from government budgets and elderly-responsive budgets that are based on a results-oriented budget methodology which provides institutions concerned with elderly issues with a performance-oriented framework during the preparation and implementation of their budgets. Service improvement can also be approached through the adoption of a follow-up and evaluation methodology for the performance of these institutions which should be reflected within a logical framework of the results of the strategy evaluation, using a performance indicators matrix at the level of outcomes, results and impact and other relevant indicators which were designed based on best international practices in this field in line with the guiding principles of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging
