Paper short abstract:

This article is broadly situated within the M-D debates and seeks to extend these in two ways: first, by considering older people as agents of development, and second, by adding 'Care as a key dimension in the M-D nexus. It highlights the contribution that older people make to development.

Paper long abstract:

The Migration-Development debates have considered the four dimension through which migration impacts development: remittances, return, diaspora, and the skilled. Moreover, the focus has been on the impact in developing countries of the Global South. This paper extends these arguments by arguing that Care is a dimension that not only has excellent potential to help understand the impacts of migration on development, but it does so across the Global South-North divide. Within this dimension, older people play an important role, but which has so far been overlooked by literature. Can they be considered as agents of development and if so, how? The paper seeks to address this dual question by drawing on the author's research in the Albanian context as part of MA and PhD work, and the broader knowledge from over 20 years of ongoing research engagement with Albanian migratory spaces. The article underscores the valuable contribution that older people make to development, especially through their participation in caregiving within and across national boundaries.

Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to present lived experiences and livelihood strategies of older refugees when intergenerational relations are disrupted due to forced displacement. It explores the generation of unbalanced inter-dependencies in the lives of aged refugees and provides recommendations for action.

Paper long abstract:

Globally UNHCR (2020) indicates the highest levels of forced displacement in human history, positioning Uganda as the fourth largest country hosting refugees worldwide, and with the largest refugee population in sub-Saharan Africa. This research uses a qualitative ethnographic approach and remote methodologies within one refugee settlement in Western Uganda to explore the daily lived experiences and livelihood strategies of older refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

This paper draws on in-depth interviews with aged refugees in a unique context where intergenerational relations and livelihoods are disrupted due to ethnic conflicts in the DRC. The paper unveils different social networks of support and livelihoods strategies that older people and their families implement as refugees in Uganda. The generation of inter-dependencies between aged refugees and humanitarian assistance organisations strongly emerge to cope with their physiological needs in fragile contexts. Similarly, an analysis on the relations between older refugees and family members to cope with emotional and economic burdens is discussed using intergenerationality and intersectionality approaches. Unbalanced inter-dependencies coupled with scarce self-reliance strategies challenge the lives of older refugees, particularly, when humanitarian aid decreases during external shocks, i.e. COVID 19 pandemic.

In conclusion, the paper identifies that a mix of strengthening social networks of support and the creation of self-development opportunities positively impacts on the well-being of aged refugees.

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- UNHCR (2020). Mid Year Trends. Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/statistics/unhcrstats/5fc504d44/mid-year-trends-2020.html?query=UNHCR%20Global%20Trends%202020

Paper short abstract:

The relationship between ageing and environmental change has been given little consideration in existing research and policy. This paper will explore the potential of participatory oral history to address this gap and to support new ways of imagining sustainable delta futures between generations.

Paper long abstract:

Vietnam, like many ASEAN nations, has a rapidly ageing population and high rates of rural to urban migration of women and men of working age. It faces significant threats to its natural environments from resource extraction, over-intensification of agriculture, and climate change, with the delta regions of the Mekong in the South recognised as being particularly vulnerable and also experiencing higher rates of ageing than other regions. Despite these significant demographic and environmental trends, the relationship between ageing and mitigation and adaption to environmental degradation and climate change has been given little consideration in existing research and policy. While it is argued that older people are at increased risk during extreme weather events, there is little discourse relating to the capacities and potential of older women and men to support their communities to respond and adapt to environmental change.

This paper will consider this gap in knowledge and reflect on the ways we have started to try and address it as part of the Living Deltas Hub. We will consider the roles of oral history and visual methods in developing a collaborative and intergenerational approach to documenting and reflecting upon communities’ experiences of, and action in response to, environmental change. The research takes a ‘beyond livelihoods’ approach, recognising systemic challenges and opportunities, as well as exploring cultural and emotional relationships with natural resources. It explores the potential for younger and older generations to co-create inclusive and sustainable imagined futures, drawing on their distinct and shared knowledges and aspirations.

Paper short abstract:

To challenge the privileging of girl-centred approaches and exclusion of female elders within current gender, health and development policy and practice, this paper shares the success of the 'grandmother-inclusive' Girls Holistic Development programme run by Grandmother Project in Senegal.

Paper long abstract:

Since the mid-2000s, the ‘Girl Effect’ discourse has reigned supreme in the gender, health, and development field, with adolescent girls framed by major organisations (UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO) as the ultimate potential change-makers in their communities. Hence, programmes aimed at ending practices such as FGM/C and forced or child marriage often aim to ‘empower’ girls through training to challenge their parents and community elders, often through collaboration with local NGOs, to resist such practices. Yet, evidence shows that narrowly girl-centred approaches have limited success in changing social norms. Furthermore, development actors rarely ask what happens to relationships between girls and women of different ages when they are pitted against each other, and few acknowledge the long-term detrimental effects of intergenerational conflict on community cohesion and self-reliance. This paper briefly presents academic literature attesting to the exclusion of female elders in gender and development, and examples of the Girl Effect discourse in policies of organisations working to eradicate child marriage, specifically. Most of the paper will be dedicated, however, to presenting an alternative to such approaches: the Girls Holistic Development programme run since 2009 by Grandmother Project/Change Through Culture in Senegal. GMP uses a ‘community-based and grandmother-inclusive’ approach, including the training of Grandmother Leaders to end forced and early marriage, as well as teenage pregnancy, school drop-out, and FGM/C. Theoretical foundations of this programme are presented, including Freirean education models and the Communication for Social Change approach developed at Johns Hopkins University, as well as empirical data attesting to its success.