HelpAge launches new campaign aimed at young people in Europe

The right to be heard is timeless. Make it ageless.

HelpAge, a collection of international organisations that fights for better rights and care for older people across the world, has launched a new online campaign aimed at young people in Europe.

Make it Ageless is designed to raise awareness among younger people in Europe of the plight of older people in developing countries and encourage them to petition the EU asking that older people are actively included in EU developing country policy and programmes.

“Older people in developing countries are a vital part of society. They are often primary care givers and have an incredibly important role to play in the development of theses countries” says Barbara Dockalova, Campaigns Co-ordinator HelpAge International. “We wanted younger people in Europe to care about the plight of older people many thousands of miles away from them. And we wanted to do so in a way that didn’t patronize or victimize older people, but empowered them”.

The Make it Ageless campaign leverages the timeless yet also timely appeal of people power and protest. Rather than portray older people in developing countries as passive victims reliant on the help of others, the campaign shows them as active, dynamic people who just need to have their voices heard.

Nick Christoforou, MD at Neo says “On the face of it, a young person in Europe has little in common with an older person in a developing country. But with this campaign, we wanted to draw on the similarities – a sense of injustice that people in power are not listening to them. We have deliberately chosen a provocative, protest style look and feel to do this. It’s the opposite of what you might expect a campaign from an older persons charity to look like”

The campaign launched today at www.makeitageless.org