International Policy Frameworks on Ageing: Assessing Progress in Reference to the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing

Abstract

Alexandre Sidorenko – Senior Advisor, European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna, Austria. Email: sidorenko.alexandre@gmail.com Asghar Zaidi – Professor in International Social Policy, University of Southampton, UK. Email: Asghar.Zaidi@soton.ac.uk The central goal of this article is to review progress made in implementing the international policy frameworks on ageing, focusing on the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing (VIPAA) and in more detail on the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA). The article offers a critical examination of the current approaches to monitoring and assessing the implementation process, outlining promising avenues for the future. In this way, the limitations of the current procedures for following the policy priorities of the MIPAA can be highlighted. What is found is that progress in many countries is hampered by inherent subjectivity in assessing and reporting advancement, lack of continuity and consistency, and difficulties in comparing the national level progress with international development in the same areas. The current year, 2017 / 2018, is momentous as we reach the end of the third five-year implementation cycle of the MIPAA. Introspection now should not merely focus on assessing the progress made but also on how the implementation of the MIPAA could be strengthened. In the same spirit, the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals presents new opportunities; especially its pledges 'Leave no one behind' and 'Reach the furthest behind first', which imply that the older population can serve as agents of development. In moving forward, an essential requirement will have to be the establishment of an internationally acceptable set of indicators, which can be employed for assessing national progress in addressing the challenges and opportunities of ageing and monitoring the international efforts to implement international policy frameworks like the MIPAA. Along the lines of the dashboard of indicators used in the Active Ageing Index 'AAI', there should be a MIPAA monitoring toolkit with different layers of indicators, which are aligned with the three priority directions of the MIPAA.