The road ahead: from our standing start almost one year ago, we are steadily strengthening the foundations and gathering support. CommonAge has been formally registered in Australia as a not for profit company and its foundation board has met twice. CEO, Klaus Zimmerman has worked hard to get these formalities in place and Chairman, Andrew Larpent, who has met with the Commonwealth Secretariat in London on three occasions, is pleased to report that they are very supportive of the CommonAge initiative.
A growing network
A growing network
We now have strong contacts in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, Malta, India, Sri Lanka, Canada and Mauritius. We have begun to make early contacts in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Cameroon. We are hoping to reach out to other countries in the coming year, including the Carribean nations.
This is the first issue of our newsletter which will be distributed online to our database of contacts and in hard copy to delegates at the South African Care Forum, “Festival of Ageing” in Stellenbosch, South Africa in September where CommonAge will be hosting a reception for delegates. We need contributions – stories, insights about care in your country, news and events, ideas and challenges.
Our website is still at an early stage of development but will undergo review and upgrading before the end of 2014. We have begun to reach out through social networking media including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We encourage you to join in the conversations, start new ones and make new connections.
Looking ahead
Now we need your energy, skills and contributions to help us establish CommonAge as a substantial part of the international community of organisations advocating for older people. We’d like you to share your ideas and contacts and help us reach out to more Commonwealth countries. We hope CommonAge will have a strong presence at the ACSA/IAHSA Global Ageing Conference in Perth, Western Australia from 31 Aug to 4 Sep 2015. We need as much support as possible to attract at least one delegate from each Commonwealth Country to this event.
There are a significant number of Australian service provider organisations interested in sponsoring delegates from developing Commonwealth countries. Please get in touch if you have potential delegates who would like to attend.
