Objectives
Demographic
ageing is a key challenge European policy-makers will face in the coming
decades. An ageing society will strain European labour markets, pension
systems and health care systems. Yet, demographic ageing also is a unique
opportunity for Europe: increasingly, older Europeans represent a rich
reservoir of skills and experience. Current reforms in these sectors have
coped with demographic ageing by focusing on the supply-side of the equation.
Recently, European policy-makers have demanded a more holistic and pro-active
policy approach that reduces the demand for social and health care services in
old age. These policies, so-called active ageing reforms, ensure that European
citizens can actively participate in the economy and society in older age. The
ActivAge project, then, identifies maps and analyses the socio-institutional,
economic, and political realities facing the implementation of active ageing
policies.
The
overall aim of the ActivAge project is to identify and analyse the
socio-institutional, economic, political realities facing the implementation
of active ageing policies in Europe.
-
-
-
Description
of the Project
The
first phase of the ActivAge project outlines national active ageing policies in Europe. The here is to
systematically chart existing active ageing policy initiatives and their
socio-institutional settings in 10 European countries. The ActivAge consortium
will identify policy goals, policy instruments, and institutional mechanisms
of current active ageing policy agendas. This phase will also entail mapping
the socio-institutional and political contexts in which national active ageing
policies are embedded. The expected outcome is a comprehensive overview of
active ageing strategies in Europe as well as a map of the socio-institutional
and political landscape in which active ageing policies operate.
The
second phase project analyses the barriers to and opportunities for
implementing active ageing policy agendas in Europe. The ActivAge consortium
will prepare case studies assessing recent and ongoing reforms in European
labour markets, pension systems and health care sectors in the light of the
active ageing policy agenda. Wherever possible, ActivAge will evaluate the
implementation of existing active ageing policies. In parallel, the ActivAge
project will also monitor selected active ageing initiatives in civil society.
For the second phase, the ActivAge consortium expects to produce a series of
case studies outlineing the institutional, political and socio-economic
contingencies facing active ageing policies in Europe.
The
third phase explores means of overcoming the barriers to
implementing active ageing strategies and seizing the opportunities offered by
European institutional landscapes. By using foresight methods, Activage will
identify ways of improving policy learning as well as ways of embedding active
ageing policy objectives in ongoing reform efforts. The expected outcome is a
set of recommendations, based on expert opinion, on how to overcome the
barriers and seize the opportunities facing policy makers at national and
European levels.