Older people have been neglected in the development agenda. Their realities, needs and capabilities are now at last being better recognised and accorded higher priority in development policy and practice.

The renewed emphasis on poverty reduction and the new focus on the inclusion and participation of those who are weaker and more marginalised, should direct more attention to older people. Older people are rising fast as a proportion both of populations as a whole and of those who are poor. They are often isolated, left out and voiceless and their capabilities need to be better understood. As with other categories of people who appear weak and less able, they can do for themselves and for others much more than most of those who are younger and stronger have supposed.

Older people need to become a more significant target of development programming if the international development target of halving the number of people living in absolute poverty by 2015 is to be achieved. Giving more attention and priority to older people will contribute not just to their wellbeing – vital and justified though that is on its own – but also to wider processes of development.

The preparation and publication of this sourcebook by HelpAge International is, then, extremely timely. To my knowledge this is the first guide of its kind concerned with older people. It shows what can be done and how to do it. It presents tested practical ways of enabling older people to analyse and present their realities. It indicates how older people can influence policy and monitor practice.

Much that has been learnt in the past decade about participatory approaches and methods is to be found here. The importance of adequate field-based training for facilitators is stressed. Appropriate behaviour and attitudes on the part of facilitators is indicated, for example not rushing, taking time, listening and showing respect. The main methods for visualisation, through maps and diagrams, are described. The danger with any manual or toolkit, of routinisation is acknowledged.

Much experience shows that good participatory processes foster and flow from creativity and diversity. The reader and user is urged therefore to be inventive, not to become trapped in ruts of repetition, to take the instructions as suggestions and pointers, not rigid rules. Seen like this, the book is a rich source of ideas for all that seek to enable older people to analyse their realities and priorities, to inform others, to influence policy, and to take more command over their lives.

To all concerned with older people, and especially fieldworkers and trainers, this sourcebook will be a valuable resource. With commendable clarity it lists what outside facilitators can do and how they can do it. Let me hope that it will be widely and wisely used and have a big impact in empowering older people and enabling them to enhance the quality of their lives.

Robert Chambers