Endings and Beginnings What a tumultuous year 2024 has been! As it draws to an end and we take stock of what it means to us personally, to our families, our communities and our countries, a notion comes to
mind – resilience. We wish PIONeers through the world and their loved ones health, peace, harmony, and prosperity in the year ahead.
Moira Allan
Co-Founder & International Coordinator
Pass It On
Network
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GLOBAL 50/50 ONLINE CONVERSATION
What’s Up In January 2025?
In our January PIONeer 50/50 online Conversation we'll pause, and reflect on 2024, share insights and look into 2025. We are looking forward to learning and discussing this and other points of interest that emerged from your voice. |
If you missed our previous
50/50 Conversations, check them out on
our
PION YouTube Channel! - Spirituality and Ageing: An Exploration
- India’s Vision for Ageing – blending innovation and tradition with Femada Shaman
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Every month Moira Allan, our co-founder and international coordinator, hosts an Open House for anyone who wants to find out more about our network. We offer a choice of two sessions to accommodate PION’s global outreach. |
Americas, Europe, Africa
Tuesday, 14 January
1pm EDT / 6pm GMT
7pm CET / 8pm SAST | Asia, Australasia
Wednesday, 15 January
7am CEST / 6am GMT
2pm SGT / 5pm AET |
Advocating for the Rights of Older People - Human Rights Day 2024 Margaret Young resolved to put older people human rights on center stage this Human Rights Day 2024, worked with a small multigenerational team (Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, Faith Young and Kira Gawenus, Canada) to amplify the voices of advocates on older people’s human rights. Margaret said: “Older people are often seen in greyscale in our technicolor world.
Power is in the people, you and me. Advocates worldwide are bringing the technicolor back by promoting the rights of older people and championing a new United Nations Convention for these rights. Listen to advocates in the Age With Rights and Dignity Series. Support the movement. Sign the global petition!” Sign the global petition!” Learn more
here. |
Pass It On Network salutes Jack Kupferman’s leadership of the New York NGO Committee on Ageing, and encourages all PIONeers everywhere to follow his example and speak up and speak out. View video here. From South Africa, Malebo understands the importance of speaking out: “When I was presenting inputs on the Older Persons Amendment bill, I pointed out the fact that South Africa has not yet ratified the African Union protocol. Even if the legislature that was conducting the public hearings was a provincial one, I urged them
to ensure the ratification of the protocol”. Vijay tirelessly speaks out through DIS MOI in Mauritius and on Rodrigues, where Human Rights Day was enthusiastically supported. |
PIONeer Paulette Metang from Cameroon Elected to GAROP’s steering committee
Congratulations to the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP)’s Immediate Past Chair, Margaret Young, GAROP’s PION representative, for a continued two year team in ex officio role, and to four new Steering Group members – two from Africa including one, a PIONeer from our Regional Network, Paulette METANG. The
four new members are Bethany Brown, AARP, USA; Elijah Mwega, KARIKA, Kenya; Natasa Todorovic, Red Cross, Serbia, and Paulette Metang, ACAMAGE, Cameroon. Ina Voelcker, BAGSO (German National Association of Senior Citizens‘ Organisations), re-elected to the Steering Group in 2023 for a two year term, steps into Co-Chair role with Rose Gahire, NSINDAGIZA
Organisation, Rwanda (elected to the Steering Group in 2023 for a two year term). We note with thanks the valuable contributions to the GAROP Steering Group of our PIONeer, Vijay Naradioo, over the past four years. |
Lynda Smith, South Africa, wins innovation award for 50 Plus Skills Congratulations to Lynda Smith, 50 Plus Skills, was awarded a R200,000 prize by the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, part of
the Cape Town University Business School, in December after 17 weeks of hard work, elimination rounds! The target market of the Accelerator was the under 35 youth. Lynda was delighted that the organizers decided to award one of the prizes to our target market. Nine African counties are involved and the timeframe for the investment is I0 years. Well done, Lynda, for you personally, for 50 Plus Skills and for all Plus 50 people making the most of their next season. A huge step forward
gaining recognition for this vital demographic! Sheena Edwards Switching Seniors On in Western Australia PIONeer Sheena Edwards, founder and manager of Switched on Seniors in Western Australia, carried off the 2024 award for Digital Inclusion - Connected State Award at the 33rd INCITE Awards for the remarkable impact she achieves empowering hundreds of older Western Australians by bridging the digital divide and fostering inclusion
through technology. In this interview discover how Switched on Seniors is transforming lives, promoting digital literacy, and creating a more connected future for seniors. “We don’t offer online courses for the very simple reasons that the people who need and want to learn are not online,” she explained. “What we favor is the social aspects of our method that has pro ed successful in three vibrant clubs.”
Switched on Seniors has helped 6 other groups to get started.” Sheena is now on a mission to get groups like ours started all over the state in libraries and senior centers as well as in Aged Care settings. She’s also trying to find some way to get some research going on our model. “So you see,” she concludes, “there is still plenty of work to do so”. View Insightful Conversations, episode 3 here. Signs that Things are Moving |
Today’s older population is fast becoming a driver for innovation, that’s what Joseph F. Coughlin, of MIT’s Age Lab, has discovered. Read
the full report he did with Luke Yoquinto. |
PIONeers Femada Shaman, of TAFTA, South Africa; Vijay Naraidoo, DIS MOI, Mauritius; Paulette Metang, Acamage, Cameroon; and Moira Allan, Pass It On Network, were among those who paid tribute to the impact the 10-year partnership between INIA and the Dave Omokaro Foundation is having in Africa.
https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1m/k1m7h36rs6 |
Life Is Short: 103-Year-Old Shares 5 Lessons For The Next 50 Years Of Your Life | Gladys McGarey. View video here. |
PIONeer Pearls of Wisdom to Pass On Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. – Lao Tzu |
Passing on Books/Reports/Research pinpointed by PIONeers This roadmap establishes a framework for how Commonwealth member countries (54 of them) can promote healthy ageing across the life-course for all citizens, and address the current
and future challenges arising from ageing populations. It offers recommendations that aim to align policies and foster collaboration between government bodies, businesses and civil society, and provides an overview of tried-and-tested solutions that can be adapted to the unique needs of each country “Because I am a woman, an old woman, I have no voice” A report on gendered ageism and disempowerment of older women in three African countries. Read
research findings here. |
Struggling through grieving? Hello Moira - I never told you the name of the book I was referred to by a grief counselor, and found very valuable and interesting for me personally as I struggle with my grief process: The Grieving Brain by Mary-Francis O'Connor PIONeer Click-ons Pass On Age Platform Europe followed the European Union’s Commissioners’ Hearings 2024, focusing on five portfolios relevant to advocacy work for a Europe for all ages, to better understand their positions on age equality. Unlike in her previous term,
re-elected President Ursula von der Leyen has not appointed a standalone Commissioner for Equality in her new College of Commissioners. This represents a significant step back from achieving a ‘Union of Equality,’ building on the legacy of President Ursula von der Leyen’s engagement over the past five years for people of all ages. Glean insights from the hearings of 5 Commissioners, who began their mandates on 1 December 2024, to identify which portfolios are best aligned with leading on age equality issues. Read more. |
10-14 February 2025 - New York
Commission for Social Development https://social.desa.un.org/csocd/63rd-session 14-23 February 2025
Online Legacy Film Festival on Aging
https://legacyfilmfestivalonaging.org 21-24 April 2025 - Orlando, Florida
American Society on Ageing
Early Bird registration is now open for On Aging 2025! 24-27 April 2025 – Riga, Latvia
EURAG Council meeting 10-12 September 2025
IFA’s 17th Conference Cape Town, South Africa, is the IFA’s choice for its 17th Conference on with a pre-conference event on
9 September. A variety of themes from Connecting Ageing and the Economy, Building Capacity in Low/Middle Income Communities to Improving Practice through Digital Technologies, and Human Rights (Ageism / Abuse).
Submit abstracts 13-15 October 2025 -
Anaheim, CA International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) Conference Proposal deadline: Friday, 31 January 2025. (11:59 pm Pacific Time). The conference is for professionals, not older consumers. https://icaaconference.icaa.cc/call_for_presentation.php |
20-21 October 2025 - Cannes, France 18th
edition of the SilverEco & Ageing Well International Festival
Applications open participation, awards, and speaker opportunities. Learn more. |
Advocating for the Rights of Older People
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