The Equalities Board (EB) seeks to research, understand and document how GM’s many different communities experience ageing.

The EB team is focused on arriving at an understanding of how all our diverse life experiences and our different identities dovetail, and how all of these elements inform the concept of the kinds of communities in which we want to live as we get older.

Some EB members are older people who have themselves experienced inequalities - whether it be through disability, gender, ethnic background or sexuality – or as a result of other life experiences. Other members are professional representatives drawn from a wide range of equalities organisations across Greater Manchester.

Membership of the EB is open to anyone over 50 and any organisation in Greater Manchester with first hand experience of discrimination.

The EB is facilitated by the LGBT Foundation.

Recent work: commissioned research

In 2017 September, Ambition for Ageing funded the EB to commission research from five community groups who wanted to find out more about the needs of isolated people in their communities, and how to support them better.

The projects ran from November 2017 to February 2018.  See links below to the full and accessible versions of each report:

The life experiences and challenges of Polish 50+ migrants: Europia

Europia carried out research investigating the challenges in daily life affecting older Polish migrants who moved to Manchester after 2004.

Europia accessible research report

Europia final research report

Out of Sight: Henshaws

Henshaws Community Services wanted to find out whether training community organisations in Visual Impairment Awareness would improve the help that older people with sight loss can get from non-specialist organisations.

Henshaws accessible research report

Henshaws final research report

Ageing Deaf Access: Manchester Deaf Centre

Manchester Deaf Centre wanted to show through their research how isolated British Sign Language speakers are.

Manchester Deaf Centre accessible report summary

Manchester Deaf Centre final research report

Join Us, Join In: Manchester People First

Manchester People First wanted to find out what makes it difficult for people with learning difficulties to participate in meetings. They ran a workshop for the EB and produced guides to making meetings and information more accessible.

Manchester People First accessible report summary

Ideas for better meetings guide

Making Information easier for everyone guide

Manchester People First final research report

‘Sat Cung’ 失聰 – Hearing Loss: Wai Yin

Wai Yin did some research to find out how much awareness older Chinese people have of hearing loss, and support available when you lose your hearing.

Wai Yin accessible research report

Wai Yin final research report

The Greater Manchester Older People’s Network (GMOPN) provides an opportunity for older people to have a voice in the design, delivery and evaluation of Ambition for Ageing. Membership is drawn from older people involved in Ambition for Ageing in their local communities, plus more widely any other older people interested in influencing the work of the programme.

The network will continue to provide a voice for older people across the city region moving forwards after the AfA programme ends in March 2020.

The GMOPN is hosted by Manchester Community Central (MACC).

Recent work:

Me and My Home: Our Housing Manifesto

Our Housing Manifesto has come out of GMOPN’s own experience and a workshop which we ran with them in conjunction with Care and Repair England, a small national charity that supports older people’s groups to improve housing and related services for an ageing population. The workshop participants were all older people from across Greater Manchester keen to see their aspirations incorporated into housing and integration strategies across Greater Manchester.

Click here to read Me and My Home: Our Housing Manifesto

Click here to download the Housing infographic

Age-Friendly Transport in Greater Manchester - Are we getting there? Greater Manchester Older People's Network Report

This report is based on the findings of a conference hosted by Ambition for Ageing in January 2018. It makes ten recommendations in support of the development of a more age-friendly transport system in Greater Manchester. GMOPN continues to work with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and other providers to help translate some of these recommendations into action. This work is also forming part of AfA’s policy review work.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is leading on the evaluation of the Ambition for Ageing programme.

Outcomes led, the overall approach seeks to understand whether and to what extent:

• Place-based interventions are effective at reducing the circumstances in which social isolation can occ

• Repeated small interventions can lead to measurable and positive change

• A community led, participatory approach is sustainable

• Asset based approaches are effective at increasing social participation

• Whether successful programmes can be replicated and/or scaled up.

Recent work:

We work closely with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Research (GMCA) and Strategy team to develop and implement monitoring and evaluation plans, undertake primary research with programme participants and deliverers, and regularly share and present findings emerging from LDL quarterly returns. We then feed both quantitative and qualitative results back into the programme in order to continuously be able to understand and manage performance, and to identify any areas for improvement as fast as possible.

Research and evaluation outputs for 2018 have included:

Interim local evaluation report  (click here to view)

GMCA’s latest interim local evaluation report was published in July 2018.  It consists of a comparison across years, analysing changes in investment activity, demographic characteristics of those engaged, and variations in baseline measures of age-friendliness and social isolation in 2016 and 2017. Overall, the report indicates much more programme activity in 2017 than 2016, with an increase of 103% in the number of projects and an increase of 174% in monetary investment. There was an increase in investments in all Local Authority areas, and an increase in the number of older people involved in the planning and design of projects, as well as participating, volunteering, and attending events.

Building age-friendly neighbourhoods in Greater Manchester (available soon)

This report uses qualitative research and learning gathered from the programme to provide insight into what older people across GM think makes a neighbourhood age-friendly. In the context of the themes identified from the research, the report discusses work being done by AfA in these areas – sharing stories of age-friendly activities taking place across GM and exploring successes and challenges encountered by the programme.

Part of the University of Manchester, the Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA) is leading on Ambition for Ageing’s research programme.

MICRA works both with older people engaged by Ambition for Ageing to understand the impact of the programme, and alongside our partners to ensure they are aware of relevant research and thinking on the nature of ageing and social isolation.

Additionally, MICRA leads on wider research into how older people can shape service delivery and the issue of equality within older peoples’ provision. In this way they bridge the gap between academic research, policy and practice.

Recent work:

Working closely with MICRA, Ambition for Ageing organises regular seminars addressing a range of topical ageing issues throughout the year.

Highlights of 2017 and 2018 include:

Eyes, ears and mind: sensory impairment and mental wellbeing

Listening to older lesbians: what marginalised voices can teach us about ageing

Urban regeneration

Cultural values

The Autumn 2018 schedule is currently being finalised and more details will be announced shortly.