Summary
HelpAge International’s objective was to establish a structure owned and managed by old people to support needs assessment and allocation of services in South Sudanese refugee camps in Ethiopia. The first activity was the establishment of Old People Associations (OPAs). The aim was that these OPAs would guide all activities and interventions being implemented through the refugee crisis response. HelpAge reached out to older people being targeted by the programme to undertake a selection process for OPA members. Using criteria developed with HelpAge, older people identified their peers within their communities who they wanted to represent them in the OPAs. This selection process aimed to ensure the OPA members were able to represent all zones within the camps, with a subsequent effort to ensure all blocks were represented. The OPAs also supported the identification of potential project beneficiaries, using their knowledge of their communities within the camp, and the older people in need of support in their areas. The OPAs gave particular attention to older people with disabilities, with a focus on those with mobility challenges, people who were bedridden and those with chronic illness. OPAs worked with local camp authorities and other humanitarian actors to ensure appropriate selection of beneficiaries, an inclusive access to services and a complaint mechanism. The activity enabled improved service delivery but also social cohesion and awareness raising among older people and others in the camp of the importance of engaging with older people.
Planning and Implementation
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What was the challenge you were trying to address?
The overall challenge of the intervention was to establish participatory and self-help structures in a camp and crisis environment. Various aims were tackled through the OPAs, such as a better inclusion of older South Sudanese refugees in the response; ensuring that the most vulnerable and hardest to reach are not being left behind; ensuring that those least likely to be represented have a voice in the response and feel empowered; ensuring older people have ownership of the response and promote transparency and accountability of the response through older people’s engagement. The initiative also intended to increase sustainability of the response interventions.
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Who were you trying to impact?
Older people in general, Older people with vulnerabilities, Both older and younger people
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What sectors were you targeting?
Health, Information and Communication, Social protection
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Who else was involved?
Government, Civil Society Organization, Older People's Association
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How did older people participate?
Older people helped to implement the project
Lessons learned
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Please describe how collaboration worked in your initiative.
HelpAge International in Ethiopia set up and worked with six OPAs. OPAs in turn collaborated with communities to verify selection criteria of people in need of humanitarian assistance. Then, OPAs discussed the needs they identified with HelpAge, the refugee committees and the Government Administration for Refugee and Returnees Service (RRS) and asked that their findings and requests be shared with humanitarian actors and clusters.
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What was the impact of your initiative on older people, their families, and/or their communities?
As a result of being in or engaging with OPAs, older people have a sense of ownership and empowerment. They feel more visible and able to raise their issues. The complaint mechanism in the camps gives older people the opportunity to speak about their challenges. Having OPAs present within the camps has resulted in other older people, who are not members themselves, feeling their voice is heard. Older people feel more appropriately represented by OPAs than by other actors, as OPA members understand and share their issues. A significant impact has been observed for the most isolated older people who have been engaged in OPA activities, resulting in their increased social interaction and improved access to services. As a result of mappings and assessments, and ongoing monitoring, there is a clearer picture of older people’s diverse support needs, and older people who were excluded are now being reached. The home-based care interventions and intergenerational activities have been observed to be having a positive impact on older people’s wellbeing. There is a good level of response when OPAs make recommendations to service providers, clusters and other actors, for example from OXFAM and International Rescue Committee (IRC) in relation to water sanitation and hygiene, and shelter, from International Medical Corps (IMC) on gender-based violence and mental health and from MSF for health services. Older people working together to identify their needs and collectively making their demands means they are being listened and responded to more than if this were channelled through organisation.
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What issues did you face, and how did you address them?
OPA structures in camps environments could face resistance from other humanitarian actors with more traditional committees. Thinking through the purpose and ways of working of OPAs and taking ample time to set them up and train participants, establish trust and demonstrate benefits to other entities in the camp help address confusion, inefficiencies and eventually loss of motivation by participants. Once OPAs were established and the selection of members was made, training was provided to the members covering how to mobilise as a group, how to work with other associations and community groups, how to work with other partners and humanitarian actors, how to map services and assess risks, and how to present evidence and demands to other partners to ensure an age inclusive response. Accessing the most vulnerable older people in camps is difficult especially victims of trauma needing psychosocial support. Following the training the OPA members mapped their areas of the camps to locate older people, with an emphasis on finding the most isolated and hardest to reach. Based on this mapping, OPAs then used a set of selection criteria developed with HelpAge to assess which older people should be targeted with which specific interventions. OPAs verified their selection with their communities. Using this mapping and assessment, the OPAs discussed the needs they identified with HelpAge, the refugee committees and the Government Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) and asked that their findings and requests be shared with humanitarian actors and clusters.
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What lessons did you learn from implementing this initiative?
(1) Thorough feed-back loops for accountability increase trust and ownership: Based on needs’ mapping, OPAs used a set of selection criteria developed with HelpAge to assess which older people should be targeted with which specific interventions. OPAs verified their selection with their communities and discussed the needs they identified with HelpAge, the refugee committees and the Government Administration for Refugee and Returnees Service (RRS) and asked that their findings and requests be shared with humanitarian actors and clusters. (2) Camp structures set up with and for older people have side benefits: OPAs also have a role in social cohesion within the camps. OPAs set up meetings with people in their communities, focused on women and younger people, to discuss any shared challenges. This helps to raise the wider community’s awareness of the needs of older people and to develop advocacy positions. This intervention is also aimed at providing opportunities for social engagement, particularly for older people who live alone or are isolated. This is important when older people have experienced trauma and have psychosocial support (PSS) needs. These needs are also addressed by OPA members, who receive some training in PSS, during home visits.
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Do you have any other reflections you would like to share?
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