Project lead: Local authorities

• Older People’s Association
• Social or health care provider
• Volunteers

How collaboration worked: Several members of our Positive Ageing Strategy Advisory Group were on the project planning team, including Grey Power, Age Concern, and community members. Other members of the Group provided amazing spot prize contributions, including the RSA’s in Napier and Taradale. We also received contributions to spot prizes from our project planning organisations (Grey Power and Age Concern), and New World Greenmeadows supermarket. Overall funding support was provided by Napier City Council.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: Our Positive Ageing Strategy Advisory Group is co-chaired by two independent older people from the community, one of whom was on our project planning team, along with two other community representatives. Volunteer older people from the community and Age Concern were instrumental with assisting on the day.

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Do you plan to evaluate your age-friendly practice? No

Feedback:
Some examples of informal feedback following the event: “It was fantastic, I have received feedback from some thanking us for a wonderful enjoyable event, loved the venue, music and entertainment. Give all the entertainers a big thanks as they were all amazing. It was also great how we all worked together as a team and a special thanks to the team leader. Well done.” (President, Grey Power Napier, Bruce Carnegie) “It was a fantastic afternoon, already had a phone call to say so – a new member not long moved down from Taupo, so she loved the opportunity to see and learn about Napier. Staff loved being part of it.” (Manager, Age Concern Napier, Morag Wilson) “Well done to you and all your team on a fantastic event. It was a pleasure to be a part of it.” (Mayor of Napier, Kirsten Wise) “I went to teach my Napier Kiwi Seniors programme this morning and the ladies were buzzing!! There was ladies on the bus trip from both our Napier and Taradale programmes which was lovely and they really appreciated being made to feel special, also they loved the food and flowers ( I believe some were given to take home). They really enjoyed the kōrero (talk) that took place on the bus. (Sport Hawke’s Bay, Eana Young)

Expansion plans:
We celebrate IDOP each year in October, so we anticipate doing another event in 2024.

Reflections:
Our project planning team has debriefed and reflected on what went well and what could be improved for next year’s event. We change the event each year, although what we have found is that anything involving food and socialising is always a success in the eyes of our older residents! We also consider holding the event in a venue that is not weather dependent. Volunteer helpers are critical in providing support, as is the input into planning and delivery from older residents themselves. Exposing other teams from Council to the event is also beneficial as it helps highlight what else Council does in enhancing the lives on older residents in our city. There are plenty of opportunities to do smaller mini-events throughout the year, with the inclusion of guest speakers, a movie offering with coffee/cake, or similar. These have been identified as actions in our Action Plan 2023-2026. We are soon to begin working with partners on planning these, along with seeking appropriate funding support.

Challenges:
We were concerned the mystery bus tour may not be of interest, but that turned out to be completely the opposite! We could’ve put on more buses for the tour if we had extra budget to pay for the buses. No other challenges. Everyone was very happy with how things went.