IFA Policy Research

An Update by Stephen Charters

The IFA is committed to its mission of improving understanding of ageing policies and their impacts on the lives of older people from a global perspective. To achieve this mission, we are conducting a policy research project with a global scope entitled Age Related Policies.

This project covers three important age-related policy issues: age discrimination, supporting older people through active and positive ageing strategies, and financial protection. Many governments have identified these as policy areas where action can be taken to meet needs of their older citizens. Each of these areas has an impact older people of all backgrounds in every country.

Each policy area will be covered in turn; presently, the focus is on age discrimination. Government response in many countries is very recent, and is often focused on the delicate issues age discrimination and employment, especially the legality of mandatory retirement, access to vocational training, and on maintaining a diverse workforce. The final report will be available in January 2008. 

Please visit the IFA website and find the Age Related Policies Section along the navigation menu on the left. Project rationale, an introduction to each of the policy areas and a table of global legislation in full text are available. The final report on age discrimination will be released on the IFA website with regular updates in future editions of IFA eNews.

We would like to thank Age Concern England for their generous contributions and support in this policy project.