Our 2015 strategy sets out HelpAge’s global actions and targets to 2015 and how we intend to measure our progress. The strategy explains our approach to our work, emphasising social justice, partnerships, service delivery and policy change. It also explains how we will increase our capacity to deliver and ensure that we are accountable.

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The rights, entitlements and vulnerabilities of older people are not fully understood, even though they make key contributions to society. HIV and AIDS have led to an increase in households made up of the old and the young. HelpAge International, the Overseas Development Institute, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS, carried out a study to understand better how these households cope during emergencies, so that emergency preparedness and response can properly meet their needs.

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This edition discusses how older people’s organisations can use the media to ensure that older people’s issues are properly reflected in public debate. It shows how organisations have worked successfully with the media, in particular to highlight elder abuse in India and to show the impact of the Age Demands Action campaign. It explains how new technologies are changing the way the media works and sets out practical guidelines on working with the media.

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This paper looks at older people’s experience of climate change, their awareness of it and how it makes them vulnerable. It highlights older people’s exclusion from climate change debates, identifies opportunities for influencing policy-making at the national level and makes recommendations for including older people’s perspectives in discussions and adaptation strategies.

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This brief outlines perceptions towards the pilot pension in Katete District, Zambia. It gives a summary of the impacts which have been observed on areas such as nutrition, health, education and the local economy, and also outlines the practical benefits and challenges of implementing the scheme.

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This document summarises the study conducted in February 2009 by HelpAge International and the Department of Health and Social Welfare in Zanzibar. It shows that providing a guaranteed minimum income to all older people is both necessary and possible. It recommends a universal, non-contributory pension and describes how this can be implemented.

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This study of the needs of older people in Zanzibar was completed in 2009 by HelpAge International, with its partner, the Zanzibar Department for Health and Social Welfare. It recommends that a universal pension scheme (to be called an Older People's Grant) would be the best way of reducing the poverty amongst older people in Zanzibar.

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Older citizens monitoring is a process which promotes dialogue and interaction between older people, civil society organisations and governments. It was first introduced in Ethiopia in 2004. This project aims to ensure that the concerns of older people are included in woreda (district) government planning and service delivery. It is part of the process for developing poverty reduction strategies and plans to decentralise government services.

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In 2009, we worked with 225 partners across 41 countries, supported 2,400 older people's groups and reached 1.23m older people. Our support has ranged from helping carers for orphans in Vietnam to get new social security payments, to achieving a 13% increase in the old age allowance in Bangladesh. The recent economic crisis means that the contribution older people to society must be recognised, along with their right to health care, social services and economic security.

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This paper makes it clear that older people's rights are frequently violated and shows how existing rights mechanisms are failing to protect this group. HelpAge International believes that UN member states should discuss creating a new convention on the rights of older people with the appointment of a special rapporteur to monitor it.

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