This year’s International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction (October 13th) focuses on older people, to raise awareness of their valued contribution to disaster management as well as greater action to address their specific needs in emergencies.
As our world gets older – by 2030, our planet will be hosting more people over 60 years than children under 18 years for the first time in history – the old saying “wisdom comes with age” increasingly manifests its truism.
Despite the many welcomed and valued advances in technology and science, we are seeing how the experience and wisdom that only comes with age is becoming crucial to sensibly benefit from these modern goods.
It is scary to wonder what a lost generation would turn out to be, with no true older role models to inspire and inform your values and aspirations, no trajectory and pride in past achievements to reference under your family tree, and no wise words from our elders to tame fear, frustration and revolt.
Inter-generational approach
Plan’s Disaster Risk Reduction work has been promoting an inter-generational approach to resilience building in the countries we work in – which are increasingly at risk of floods, drought, landslides, conflict, epidemics and other shocks and stresses.
In Couffo, Benin, to tackle drought and food security risks affecting children’s nutrition and well-being, Plan has been working with a group of grandmothers to support and advise young mothers to help prevent malnutrition in children under five.
Victorine Mousouko, 50, is a prime example of the role of older people in resilience building: “My children listen to me and follow my advice, particularly about bringing up their own children. They are happy to leave them with me all the time.”
Victorine lives in Hanionhoué village, in the south-western district of Couffo. Hanionhoué is among many villages in Benin that have very high rates of malnutrition, particularly among children under five – with things getting worse due to recurring drought and environmental degradation.
Victorine together with other grandmothers’ advice to young mothers for preventing and treating malnutrition includes using locally available foods and traditional recipes to prepare affordable and nutritious meals – including porridge made with Moringa leaves and corn flour.
Moringa oleifera trees grow in abundance in the southern parts of Benin. It is a fast growing tree adapted to arid conditions. It produces leaves during the dry season and even during periods of drought. Moringa leaves are rich in nutrients carrying four times as much calcium as milk, four times as much vitamin A as carrots, and three times more iron than spinach and as much protein as chicken eggs.
Paul Sabi Boum, specialist and co-ordinator of the Community Nutrition Project in Benin, says: “In Africa, it is often the grandmother that passes on the traditions, knowledge and values to children".
"She is a respected member of the household and the community and is uniquely placed to influence others because of her experience and her availability.
"She serves as a bridge between the past and the present. Small children are often left with their grandmothers when parents leave home to work.”
Older people’s needs in emergencies
But grandmothers and grandfathers are also a high vulnerable risk in emergencies. As such Plan’s emergency response work is ensuring governments, humanitarian agencies and communities we work with are addressing the individual needs of older persons to better prepare for and respond when disasters strike.
Older people’s challenges – including mobility, hearing, sight, and dependence on regular medication – need to be addressed in community and national governments' emergency response plans.
In particular, these challenges need to be reflected in the planning and implementation of early warning systems, evacuation strategies, the provision of social protection mechanisms and in DRR public awareness campaigns.
Plan’s recent emergency support to communities affected by the floods in Bangladesh this August, prioritized the distribution of relief items to the elderly, together with people with a disability and pregnant and lactating women.
This DRR day we call on all decision-makers to take action towards making resilience a truly inter-generational issue. Let’s step up for #ResilienceisforLife
Please help us improve PreventionWeb by taking this brief survey. Your input will allow us to better serve the needs of the DRR community.
Please note: Content is displayed as last posted by a PreventionWeb community member or editor. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of UNDRR, PreventionWeb, or its sponsors. See our terms of use
Is this page useful?
Yes NoThank you. If you have 2 minutes, we would benefit from additional feedback (link opens in a new window).