Femada Shamam, CEO for The Association for the Aged (TAFTA), recently represented the organisation on various local and international platforms including the Commonwealth Association for the Ageing (CommonAge) and the Global Ageing Network, profiling the needs of elders in South Africa as she also serves as Africa’s Ambassador to CommonAge.
These efforts are further strengthened through the organisation’s recent membership to the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older Persons (GAROP) which was established in 2011 to strengthen the voice advocating for the rights of older people globally with a current network of 380 members across 80 countries.
In South Africa, TAFTA is the only elder-care organisation advocating for the rights of our elders at local, national and international levels. This positions TAFTA at the forefront of a global movement towards an inclusive future for older people; ensuring that, as an organisation, province and country, we remain in touch with lobbying efforts, best practices and innovation with a strategic global focus to include, care for and provide accessible support for older people in our communities.
In her capacity as Africa’s Ambassador for CommonAge and as part of a delegation of eight, Shamam recently attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, under the theme: “Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming”. This was an important platform to lobby and advocate on an international stage for the inclusion of older people’s issues on the development agenda.
Shamam said that attending the meeting was important because citizens can only expect the relevant allocation of resources and support if the leaders of the world agree to see it as a critical issue. “As part of the delegation they asked that the Commonwealth countries, which have a bias towards youth, also consider and recognise the role of older people. They were asking for an all-age-friendly Commonwealth.
“Prior to the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, the Commonwealth Foundation Fora; People, Women, Youth and Business hosted their plenary sessions to put forward their recommendations to the heads of government who recognised and recorded a number of global issues including the global pandemic, their sorrow around the loss of life and livelihood resulting from the pandemic, ongoing global conflicts and the associated loss of lives and infrastructure; nutrition, food and energy, security, also affected by global conflicts, which also affects migration patterns and their deep concern about the ongoing climate crisis,” said Shamam.
She said the outcomes of the meeting resulted in 117 key points such as human rights and the rule of law focusing on gender equality; delivering good governance; sustainability focusing on economy; small states; trade; ocean protection; sustainable blue economies; energy and natural resources; health and focusing on strengthening health systems and rapid response capacities.
“Other resolutions included reduction on incidence of non-communicable and communicable diseases; youth participation and employment, education, transport safety, sport for development and peace. Technology and innovation and focusing on cyberspace were also discussed in the resolutions and sustainable urbanisation, smart and resilient sustainable cities and communities,” said Shamam.
She said that since the Commonwealth is represented in the majority by 60% youth under 30 years of age, there was no priority focus on the elderly, provision of their care, long-term care or addressing the marginalisation of older people who were and still remain among the vulnerable of the global pandemic as well as other global crises like conflict and the urgent threat of climate change.
“It was encouraging that The Women’s Forum did highlight the role of older people and acknowledged the value of their indigenous knowledge in the development agenda,” she said.
Shamam said that while at the meeting, she attended the various plenaries and fora to ensure that the voice of older people was heard. In addition, she also gave an interview on Rwanda News on the role older women have to play in achieving sustainable development by sharing experience and wisdom. She went on to urge that we change the narrative around the inclusion of older people in the development agenda and stated that older people should be seen as partners of this journey in their efforts to see an inclusive Commonwealth – ‘A Commonwealth for all Ages’.
“We support the call for the Convention on the Rights of Older Persons (UNCROP) to be adopted by the United Nations as this would be an international instrument which would give effect to the rights of older persons across the world. It is hoped that we spend the next two years advocating strongly for this to be adopted and when CHOGM is held in 2024 in Samoa, the Commonwealth can lead the way in having practical and implementable initiatives in upholding the rights of those communities most at risk, including older persons.”
Shamam said she believes that she would have succeeded with her mission if she leaves this world after ensuring a future world in which her child could be proud, happy and able to grow old in.
“My efforts are centred around care and support to older people but also around innovation, future care, access and inclusion of older people. I believe that the biggest hindrance to inclusivity is ‘ageism’ and encouraging people to see the value older people bring. This can be best demonstrated by lobbying and advocacy efforts to combat ageism and create a future for all ages,” Shamam concluded.
