Communications Consultant Benedicte Vene talks to Sarah Packwood, Emergencies Programme Coordinator at HelpAge International who is in Goma to establish our programme for older people affected by the conflict in DRC. 

Sarah talks about the challenges in finding long-term solutions to the problems faced by older people.

Your work here in Goma is multifaceted, so as well as providing immediate relief to displaced people, are you planning any long-term solutions?

Sarah Packwood: First we want to tackle the lack of data and information on older people. This is very common across the world and one of the things we will be doing here is advocating for better collection of data.

We also intend to help older people sustain independent livelihoods - funds permitting. The new core position of HelpAge International is ‘Age Helps’. That’s because we really believe that older people make meaningful contributions to their communities and are willing to support themselves. Most of our work revolves around empowering older people so they can contribute and add value.

The first part of our work is really an investigative one. We need to spend time with the communities in the camps as well as in the villages where people are likely to return, talking to older people to understand from them what the options are - what they want to do and what they can do.

We can’t provide blanket solutions for all older people but must understand their needs according to age groups, ethnicity, gender and abilities. We need to know the spectrum of vulnerabilities and to see what opportunities there are for those who return home. We need to understand the many market niches, work opportunities and options for older people.

You’ve mentioned the lack of reliable data. That’s certainly something that’s struck me when I was visiting the camps and health centres. How can you help with this?

SP: It’s vital that we have proper data to ensure the needs of older people are understood and taken on board in policy and protection. We will focus on advocacy work with NGOs, the Minister of Health and local partners to ensure data and information on older people is collected adequately.

The Ministry of Health is currently rolling out a national health information system including the collection of data. We are working with them to ensure it is adapted to include adequate age and gender breakdown.

Although the lack of data on older people is quite common in other countries I’ve worked in, it’s particularly bad here. Where data is collected, older people are usually bundled together in one category or simply part of the ‘Adults’ category. You’re either under five or a lactating female or an adult with nothing in between. In fact, the under five category is broken down into several subgroups but this doesn't happen at the upper end of the scale.

So our key advocacy message to partner agencies and the government is to disaggregate data collection, particularly to breakdown the adult category into more meaningful sub-groups to help understand older people's needs and make them more visible.

We can create a model ourselves but to do so, we need to start gathering what statistics and reports are available already and then go into the camps, villages, community groups and clinics with formal or semi-formal questionnaires to conduct interviews and collect anecdotal evidence. We use various techniques and often a combination to inform how this data should be collected.

I’m interested in your work helping older people to support themselves. Do you have examples of similar work you have done with other communities as part of other projects?

SP: I think the most comprehensive example of this is the work HelpAge did after the tsunami in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. After some research to understand their needs, HelpAge distributed cash grants to kick start older people’s livelihoods.

The cash grants were managed by older people’s community structures, which played a big role in administering the grants and re-distributing the money appropriately to the relevant people.

Some of the older people who received the grants were incredibly industrious and used the money across several projects – for example the grants were split over three or four different livelihoods, some of which were seasonal.

I remember a particular lady who was cultivating her field during one season and was also engaged in fishing and in making rush mats and selling the surplus products from her crops in a little shop. So she had developed four different livelihood activities from the small initial grant and was able to support her daughter through college.

But it’s important to understand that not everybody is an entrepreneur so we need to work closely with older people to understand what they can and would want to do and offer a variety of solutions that are viable and practical and suited to their environment.

This initial understanding of abilities and opportunities is absolutely key to putting together successful long-term solutions. Although some agencies have wonderful livelihood support programmes they may be blanket programs, which unfortunately can’t suit everyone. There are plenty of stories of local markets flooded with basket weavers and hairdressing kiosks.

Our initial work in Goma is to understand the profile of our target group to see where and how to target our resources and that’s best done by meeting directly with older people to understand what we call the ‘household economy’. Where do they normally get their income from? What is it used for? Are there particular seasonal activities? We will also look at what their strength are and what resources are already available. And importantly, consider the long term impact of what we do.

What challenges are you facing, setting up an office and starting a project like this one?

SP: Our biggest current challenge is to get everything, our office, the paperwork and project set up and running so that we can reach older people in need and provide adequate support without delay. We have very few resources or people at hand. Normally, agencies have ‘surge funds’ available for rapid assessment and initial set up but we don't. But we’re getting there.

So far, our key challenge in setting up is the bureaucracy involved. There’s a lot of paper work needed by local authorities, the UN, other agencies and local NGO’s. Nothing seems straightforward. I feel like a detective working my way around. The relationship between all the agencies can also be quite political although that’s quite common.

The second challenge for us is to understand the tangled web of ethnicity and various rebel groups and population movement. It’s vital that we understand all this before we plan our intervention. Which type of intervention will be appropriate for which group of people?

As well as ensuring they can sustain their own livelihoods and remain independent, are there other aspects of your work with older people?

SP: As I said, we can’t plan blanket intervention particularly in an area like the Kivus which has so many different ethnic groups all with very distinct cultural background and different need.

In all aid situations, it’s important to have a holistic approach and understand the culture and beliefs as well as the immediate needs. But when dealing with older people, it’s perhaps even more relevant. So we aim to try and understand their emotional and spiritual needs and their cultural background as well as the immediate physical needs.

Here in the Congo we are dealing with a tapestry of beliefs and religion from witchcraft to Catholicism. We deal with very close-knit communities where older people play a central role. Their faith and beliefs are passed down to next generations. So in all our work, we aim to understand the communities in which we work be respectful of cultural and traditional mores.

For example in Sri Lanka, one of the projects we worked on involved supporting and helping older people make pilgrimages. We were able to give small grants to the local older people’s groups who decided they would use the money to organise trips to particular religious shrines.

It was hugely important to them. Firstly, because it gave them the confidence to organise things like this themselves and to chose how to use the grants. It gave them the confidence to contribute to community activities. Secondly, and more importantly, it helped them find peace and come to terms with what had happened. Some even said that they could die happy now that they had had an opportunity to make peace with the world.

All this is particularly important to older people. These generations are more likely to be rooted in traditions and spiritual beliefs and it’s very important to understand and take on board. Some of these beliefs are fundamental to the way their society is structured.

February 2009