Spanish Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities

Committed To Becoming More Age-Friendly

Spanish Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities Spain

Print this page City population: 46600000Joined Network in 2012

Imserso is the Affiliated to the GNAFCC in Spain

Institute for Older Persons and Social Services (Imserso) is a public body under the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda, with competencies in the field of the older people and people in dependency situation.

In the framework of the Collaboration Agreement with WHO, Imserso is the body in charge in Spain of:

Promote and support GNAFCC, facilitating membership of Spanish municipalities to the Network and the implementation of the Project in cities and communities.
Create a Spanish Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities to facilitate exchange of knowledge and experiences in the creation of age-friendly environments.

Imserso offers cities and communities in Spain:

Information, advice and support to facilitate both, the process of joining the Network to the interested municipal corporations and the implementation and development of the project in all its phases.
Website ciudadesamigables.imserso.es as a knowledge and exchange tool.
Training for municipalities who want to join the Network, through seminars and meetings and also online training: Between 2016 and 2021, 11 editions of the online course “How to be a Age-friendly city or community?” have been carried out. Around 1000 people have taken this course.
Support to cities and communities in the dissemination and visibility of the project in their municipality (using www.ciudadesamigables.imserso.es, social networks –Twitter and Facebook-, Blog, Newsletter of the AFCC Spanish Network).
Facilitates contact between Spanish cities and communities, and the exchange and dissemination of experiences. Organizes face-to-face meetings between Spanish cities and communities.
Information and technical advice on universal accessibility and support products or technologies that facilitate personal autonomy and participation, carried out by Ceapat (State Reference Center for Personal Autonomy and Technical Aid, under Imserso).
Between 2014 and 2018 six informative seminars have been organized with the aim of spreading and raising awareness about the AFCC Network. The first one took place in Madrid, in the headquarters of Imserso, and the following have been carried out in other cities with the geographic criterion of reaching different regions of Spain to facilitate the participation of municipalities from different Autonomous Communities.

Guides and research for the Spanish Network carried out by Imserso:

In 2019 publication of the “Guide for recommendations for communication in the AFCC project“ has been published, with three main objectives: to inform about the project, to raise awareness about the reality of the older persons and to achieve high participation in the project.
In April 2020 publication of COVID-19 NEWSLETTER – Monograph on Age-friendly initiatives in municipalities.
In 2022 publication of the Guide of recommendations for the participation of older persons in the AFCC Network with the aim of facilitating and improving participation in age-friendliness processes.
In 2023 publication of the Evaluate age-friendliness processes. Recommendations guide for the network of age-friendly cities and communities
In 2024 publication of the Investigación cualitativa sobre diagnósticos y planes de ciudades y comunidades amigables con las personas mayores. Three documents (full report, executive summary in Spanish, executive summary in English):

In 2017 Imserso began to organize the annual meetings of Age-friendly cities and communities in Spain, addressed to municipality policy makers and technical staff, as well as to organizations of older people involved in the Project. These meetings have the following objectives:

Show experiences of different municipalities to learn from each other, solve doubts and facilitate the debate.
Generate mutual support networks between municipalities, which facilitate sharing resources and learning.
Improve the quality of the projects and actions developed within the framework of the global age-friendly movement promoted by WHO

Municipalities and older persons had the main role in the Program of these meetings relating their experiences, difficulties, positive effects, challenges, etc, during the implementation and development of the different project phases.

I Meeting of Age-friendly cities and communities in Spain. October, 26th, 2017
II Meeting of Age-friendly cities and communities in Spain. November, 27th, 2018
First ever Hispanic conference on age-friendly cities and communities: Imserso organized this Conference in Madrid together with the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization on 14-16 October 2019. Website of the Conference
III Meeting of Age-friendly Cities and Communities in Spain, May 24th, 2022
IV Meeting of Age-friendly Cities and Communities in Spain. Friendly environments to live better. April 9th 2024

In May 2024, a total of 255 Spanish municipalities are part of the GNAFCC, and the Network continues to grow in Spain.

ACTIVITY OF THE AGE-FRIENDLY CITIES AND COMMUNITIES NETWORK IN SPAIN IS AVAILABLE HERE

Age-Friendly World