Step 1: Assess your age-friendliness

Step 2: Understand and engage your stakeholders

Step 3: Partner and connect

Step 4: Develop an action plan

Step 5: Evaluate

 
 
 
 
 
 

5 steps to being age-friendly

The age-friendly planning process can be broken down into 5 steps:

  1. Assess your age-friendliness: Identify your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to being age-friendly
  2. Understand and engage your stakeholders: Learn how to understand your community and engage with older people
  3. Partner and connect: Consider potential partners to help your age-friendly initiatives
  4. Develop an action plan: List your actions and implement your age-friendly approach
  5. Evaluate: Understand how to measure and report on your initiatives.

After you’ve implemented changes it’s time to review, report and start the cycle again.

Did you know?

If you wish to apply for consideration as an age-friendly community with the World Health Organisation (WHO), you need a 3-year action plan that covers the 8 domains with an in-built review cycle. State and local government and communities should consider using the WHO 8 domains for a comprehensive approach to age-friendliness.

The WHO has established a Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities to foster the exchange of experience and mutual learning between cities and communities worldwide. The Vancouver Protocol outlines what a city or community must do to become a member of the Network.

The 5 steps provide an easy way to move through the planning process for developing age-friendly communities.