Stephen Kidd, Director of Policy and Communications at HelpAge International, and Henning Scherf, Patron of HelpAge Deutschland, met with members of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Parliament on Friday 23 April to urge for greater recognition of older people in Germany’s international development policy.

Henning Scherf, who recently published a book on ageing and formerly chaired the One World Forum which advises Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) on development issues, began the meeting with a presentation on global ageing which highlighted the impact it will have in the 21st Century.

Global ageing: A major challenge

By 2050, 1 in 5 of the world’s population will be over 60. In developing countries, the population of older people is set to quadruple over the next 50 years. A demographic shift on this scale presents a major challenge, particularly for developing countries.

Stephen Kidd followed Henning Scherf with a presentation about the strength of current national and international policies to address global ageing, including the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA). 

Meeting MIPAA commitments

MIPAA is an international agreement signed by 159 governments which commits them to include ageing in all social and economic development policies, and to halve old-age poverty by 2015, in line with the Millennium Development Goals. Progress on delivering these commitments has so far been slow.

Both speakers stressed the importance of addressing the needs of older people in international development policies and of recognising the positive contribution that older people can make.

They urged the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development to look more closely at the implications of ageing for international development, and review existing development policies to ensure that they better support older people and international action in support of MIPAA.

Fantastic response

The meeting ended with a question and answer session with MPs.

Stephen Kidd said: “This was a very positive meeting and we had a fantastic response from MPs. There was real recognition and understanding about the importance of including older people in development policies.

"We look forward to taking these issues forward with the Committee in the near future.”