Asker municipality was founded in 2020, after a merger of three former municipalities. One of the first priorities for the new municipality was to implement the national reform “A full life – all your life”, written by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services.

By engaging politicians, administration, organisations and citizens, we have created a strategical plan called “Live a full life – in age-friendly Asker”. The plan consists of 18 individual strategies, in which Asker seeks to meet two main goals:
• creating a more age-friendly community
• enable sustainable health services

Here are some examples of these strategies:
• Asker municipality will contribute to creating varied meeting places
• Asker municipality will increase the variation in the housing supply and develop new forms of housing, in cooperation with developers and others

Today, we appreciate being an active member of the Norwegian national network for age-friendly municipalities. We contribute with participation in gatherings and with examples from Asker.

The strategic plan also covers the national reform from 2023-2028, named “Live safely at home”, where age-friendly society plays an important role.

What have we achieved?
We are working to adapt housing in Asker in the direction of being more age-friendly. We have developed “citizens’ houses” (municipal community centers) as open meeting places, where both residents, organizations, etc. can meet and be active. In 2024, we announced funding to create extra welfare activities for the elderly, and many organisations received funding to initiate activities. We have an ongoing project that we are eager to implement, which aims to contribute to longer work life for senior employees.

Here are two examples of achievements so far:

Coordinators for family caregivers
From 2023, Asker municipality has founded two new positions as “Coordinators for family caregivers” in the administration. The coordinators are available for caregivers who seek contact and provide relevant information. They offer individual guidance and support. The coordinators arrange meetings for specific groups of caregivers, that provide learning and mastery. In addition, they set up courses for health employees in order to increase knowledge that benefits both caregivers and their families.

New social meeting place
From 2024, we have created a new social meeting concept in local areas throughout the municipality.
“Live Your Life”- meetings are free, informal gatherings for adults, featuring current and health-promoting topics on the agenda. Through increased knowledge and health-promoting activities, we aim to help residents lead active and independent lives for as long as possible.
The content is provided by both the municipality, volunteers and local organizations, and offer lectures, discussions, activities, coffee and waffles. It serves as a platform to share information, and for organizations to showcase their important work, share knowledge, and engage with residents. Topics are based on participant feedback and have included managing hearing loss and tinnitus, utilizing technology for personal benefit, fall prevention, five steps to improve quality of life, and local activity tips. Meetings are held at the “citizens’ houses” and also serve as a platform for volunteerism.

What do we want to improve?
We want to expand and improve Asker as an age-friendly community, for example with more appropriate housing conditions, activities, social meeting places and accessible information that enables older adults to live active and safe lives in their own homes. Transportation is also an issue that we wish to address.