LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE EVALUATION AND DESIGN OF THE MADRID PLAN, A CITY FRIENDLY TO OLDER PEOPLE

The new Friendship Plan for Madril Hirirako 2025-2027 has been approved. The process began a year ago with various activities and meetings, and work was carried out in collaboration with the Technical Advisory Committee (EKT). This Committee is made up of professionals from the City Council's Executive Committee and Autonomous Bodies, as well as members of the Madrid City Council's Sectoral Advisory Council, together with the Matia Institute. The methodology used was based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization and sought to develop initiatives that best meet the needs of the elderly and have the greatest impact.

We invite you to comment on the work carried out during this phase and to share any insights gained from this process.

Insights gained from this process

Lessons learned from this process

Firstly, it has been proven once again that cyclical processes in which actions are evaluated and strategies redesigned help us to stop and analyze what we are doing, gather best practices, and refocus on areas that are not generating the desired impact. To achieve this, a key element in these processes is to have clearly defined actions and objectives and appropriate indicators to help determine whether or not these objectives have been achieved. It is essential to include the voice of older people among these indicators, as they are ultimately the direct or indirect beneficiaries of the actions. In the case of the Madrid Friendliness Plan, special emphasis has been placed on gathering their perceptions of their satisfaction with the services offered to them, as well as promoting their participation in the actions, not only as beneficiaries, but also as people who participate in decision-making, whether in the formulation, design, implementation, and/or evaluation of these actions.

In this regard, a second lesson learned is the importance of promoting the participation of older people throughout the process of evaluating and designing the Plan, creating all the necessary conditions to make this possible. A Plan for older people without their participation loses its meaning. It is about creating mechanisms for communication, collaboration, and joint work to facilitate this participation in its evaluation, design, and implementation. The Madrid City Council has a Sectoral Council for Older People, which was unable to participate in the evaluation as it had not yet been set up at the time, but it has been able to contribute to the design of the new Plan. As a lesson learned, it is important to take into account the deadlines and different formal processes of the structures necessary for their participation.

A third lesson is the importance of strengthening the networking of each of the areas linked to the plan, which in the case of the Madrid City Council are all the government departments. Coordination, communication, and collaborative work generate synergies that result in actions with a greater impact on older people. We have seen this in the dialogues and reflections gathered in each of the sessions with the CTE, where progress and challenges were shared, as well as the needs identified by the Directorates-General and the Sectoral Council for Older People of the City of Madrid.

Finally, the importance of disseminating and communicating the Plan has been recognized. This activity is relevant throughout all stages, not only when the Plan is ready to be implemented. For this reason, the progress made throughout the process has been published monthly on social media by Matia Instituto in collaboration with the Madrid City Council. A second stage begins with the approval of the Plan, disseminating it to the entire population, especially older people, the Municipal Senior Citizens' Centers in each district and neighborhood, as well as all those who are directly involved in the actions, so that the Plan can be carried out and its objectives met. In addition, the communication and dissemination of the Plan has a direct impact on society, contributing to a cultural change in the way older people are viewed, a view that values the contribution of older people to society and their right to participate in all aspects of city life.

This process is another step on the path to continuous improvement. The lessons learned encourage us to continue advancing in friendliness, disseminating good practices, learning from other age-friendly cities, and promoting a culture that values all people, regardless of their age.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Madrid is one of more than 1,700 cities around the world that are part of the WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. It is also one of the cities with the highest life expectancy in Europe and the world. On average, people in Madrid live to be 86.1 years old, according to a report by the Statistical Office (Eurostat).