Upload
others
View
0
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Volunteering as a means of social inclusion in old age:
Policy needs from the Arctic context
28 November 2018, Helsinki, Northern Dimension Future Forum on Health: Healthy Ageing
Anastasia Emelyanova, Dr. Health Sc.
• Thule Institute, University of the Arctic, University of Oulu, Finland
• World Population Program / Arctic Futures Initiative, IIASA, Austria
• Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, Austria
University of Oulu
Emelyanova A. 2015
CROSS-REGIONAL
ANALYSIS OF
POPULATION AGING
IN THE ARCTIC
Academic doctoral dissertation. Acta
Universitatis Ouluensis D Medica 1326,
Juvenes Print Tampere
http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn978952621004
9/isbn9789526210049.pdf
PhD thesis applied alternative dynamic
definitions of age. New measures of
ageing based on “prospective” age or
remaining years to live, portrait a
different picture on ageing in the Arctic.
Thesis includes 4 peer-reviewed
research articles in international
journals and one book chapter
University of Oulu
Is the Arctic ageing?
Population pyramid 2015 and 2050
Emelyanova A. 2017. Population projections of the Arctic by levels
of education. Working Paper WP-17-022. The International Institute
for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.
10.13140/RG.2.2.22909.46563
Graphs produced: Anastasia Emelyanova
10.08 mln. people in 2015
University of Oulu
Policies of Arctic countries to promote volunteering in old age
Full analysis can be found at:
Emelyanova A., Rautio A. 2015. Policies of Arctic countries to
promote volunteering in old age. In Naskali P., Seppanen M.,
Begum S. (eds.) “Ageing, Wellbeing and Climate Change in the
Arctic: An Interdisciplinary Analysis”, Routledge, pp.49-68
“There is a bulk of research evidence that
volunteering in old age is a key tool to
promote social inclusion of the elderly
population, social cohesion, and higher
quality of life”
University of Oulu
Identified policy pointers on volunteering
in old age
University of Oulu
‒ Despite a mixture of sources used by voluntary organizations in
the Arctic, governmental support of the voluntary sector remains
minor
‒ Little sustainability of the long-term funding
‒ Little commitment from older people due to financial burden of
arrangements for volunteering
‒ Funding for creating statistics at a municipal level, the need of
considering local needs and challenges
‒ Recognizing older persons as a value for voluntary and public
sectors
‒ Prizes, awards to showing appreciation
‒ Acknowledging the independence and role of the sector is weighty
for the recruitment of new volunteers
‒ Promotion of intergenerational understanding
‒ What is the economic value of volunteering (share in GDP)?
University of Oulu
‒ Recruitment to start earlier in life
‒ Prevention of instant barriers
‒ Information pools to connect the voluntary opportunities
and older people, incl. cognitive friendly materials
‒ Framing in Arctic-dominant traditions and the culture of
volunteering. Local organizations have the best access to
stakeholders that already involve not only healthy older
people, but also vulnerable groups
‒ Identifying the formal status: basic legal framework, easier
taxation, simplified reporting and administrative burden,
insurance of volunteers
University of Oulu
‒ Preparatory and training programs for volunteers leading to
formally recognized qualifications
‒ Local and easily reachable education has to be developed
‒ Possibilities for enhancing the skills are crucial when recruiting
older persons at risk of social exclusion
‒ ‘Transition-to-retirement’ programs facilitation
‒ Heterogeneity of older population and diversity of challenges
require understanding of national and local contexts for
volunteering, profile of older volunteers and programs
‒ Funding is needed to invest in research on volunteering in old
age due to the lack of (sub-)national information
‒ Of particular interest is support to surveys collecting
multifaceted data and qualitative feedback of older volunteers
‒ Tackling non-comparable national surveys, methods to adjust,
and similar survey designs where possible e.g.
Nordic/Barents/Arctic contexts
University of Oulu
CONCLUDING REMARKS It is necessary to clarify the concept and
to define whether volunteering should be
integrated into strategy on social
inclusion or any other strategies with a
national significance, or separately In doing so, volunteering in old age
needs to be prevented from being over-
dependent on sources of income,
corporations, insurance companies, the
companies who sell the products to
older population, and alikeThe governments could support but must
not cross the line of too many regulations
and political instrumentalisation to
substitute benefits of the welfare state