ostatnia aktualizacja: 24-07-2010, 13:23
Our mission
Our mission is to improve the quality of life of senior citizens.
We founded the Forum to make our voices heard.
Let them hear us!
It
all began during the "Us too - Senior Citizens in EU", a conference
organized by Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland in
April 2004. It was then and there that the organizations taking part in
the conference declared their will to establish a forum representing
the interests of the elderly.
Thanks to combined efforts and many discussions - often quite turbulent - it was possible to establish a movement of senior citizens organizations united by one universal mission. That mission is to improve the quality of life of senior citizens in Poland. On our country, this social group becomes larger every year; similar tendencies are observed in other European countries as well. Yet, despite many official declarations, the needs of the elderly are constantly neglected. There was no seniors lobby - that had to be changed.
Our movement took on the name Forum 50+ Seniors of the 21st Century! We are an informal, apolitical and ideologically neutral platform for the cooperation of 17 non-government organizations from eight cities. They all have different missions, but were united by a common wish to strengthen the voice of the elderly in the Polish society and the desire to stop age discrimination (especially present in such areas as health care, job market, education). “We regard it as absolute truth that all people were created equal". These memorable words of the Founding Fathers, written into the American Constitution, might as well represent our philosophy. We share this dream and a deep conviction that nobody should be - cannot be - discriminated against for any reasons, especially because of age.
We strongly believe that equality before law is the guarantee for the democratic order. And yet, too often is age discrimination - although formally forbidden by law - breaking that guarantee. We want to take part in the creation of legal solutions and influence the shaping of social politics concerning elderly people on all levels: European, nationwide, regional and local. Another crucial goal for us is to integrate existing senior communities.
We united within the Forum to speak with one voice - that way our ideas have a greater chance to reach the public opinion. Therefore, we plan a close cooperation and exchange of knowledge to present a uniform standpoint on the problems experienced by seniors.
Joint events, projects and campaigns will aim at encouraging the integration and solidarity among generations as well as gathering and making available information concerning European Union’s strategy towards seniors and studies regarding that social group in Poland. We also see the need to reach the media and combine our forces to promote a different image of seniors and challenge the stereotype of the elderly as being redundant, useless and inferior.
Since the beginning, the work of Forum has been actively supported by the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland as well as foreign organizations Help the Aged from United Kingdom and AGE-Platform in Belgium. Since March 2005, the “I AM WOMAN" foundation based in Warsaw functions as the coordinator of Forum 50+.
“We envision a society in which seniors are active citizens, conscious of their rights and responsibilities". We wrote this sentence into a document entitled “Goals and Basic Rules for the Functioning of Forum". Visionaries often have it difficult. However, they are the ones who blaze the trail for societies. And every road begins with a first step...
List of member organizations and detailed information on Forum+ Seniors of the 21st Century! are available on our website http://www.senior.info.pl/forum
Contact:
Foundation for Women`s Issues - I AM WOMAN
Coordinator of Forum 50+ Seniors of the 21st Century!
Szpitalna Street 5/5
00-031 Warsaw, Poland
E-mail: fundacja-jakobieta@o2.pl
Tel.: 0048 (22) 828 91 28 ex. 140
Fax: 0048 22 828 91 29
Mobile: +48 694 45 16 04
