Past Event

About the Speaker

Ms Sylvia Beales, BealesGelber Consult Limited

Sylvia Beales is Director of BealesGelber Consult, an independent inclusive social development consultancy. Sylvia is a published author with a wide range of experience and partnerships built up over her 36 years working within the NGO sector and with organisations of the United Nations. Formerly Head of Strategic Alliances at Helpage International Sylvia has a track record in high level advocacy, policy analysis, public affairs and political relations on the topics of inclusive social development, global ageing, social policy, social protection, gender, inclusion, and human rights. Sylvia was the international policy lead for HelpAge for the 2002 Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA), the 2008 revision of the African Union Social policy framework, and co-manager with the UNFPA of the global publication ‘Ageing in the 21st Century, a celebration and a challenge’, securing input from 13 UN agencies and older people from 36 countries. Sylvia led policy input to the Global Age Watch Index 2013-15.  Sylvia has in- depth expertise on Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals and intergovernmental negotiations and is the founder and active member of the Stakeholder Group on Ageing, which represents the community of ageing on SDG issues at the United Nations. Sylvia was selected to speak on ageing at the 2015 UN General Assembly, and in 2018 moderated the high level interactive panel for the 3^rd review and appraisal of MIPAA within the 56^th Commission of Social Development.  Sylvia is a distinguished ‘Fellow’ of the International Council of Social Welfare (ICSW), advisor to Widows for Peace and Democracy (WPD), member of and strategic advisor to Gray Panthers, and Strategic Partnerships Adviser to the Africa Platform for Social Protection (APSP).

Abstract

The United Nations 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals promises to leave no one behind in delivering its ‘inclusive’ and ‘transformative’ vision to end poverty for all by 2030. Given the speed and scale and population ageing, it will not be possible to achieve the SDGs without integrating ageing in all its dimensions into social and economic policies, and adjusting local, national, regional and global planning frameworks to include ageing. In a world beset with uncertainty, where few things in economic and social life are predictable, global ageing is exceptional, being both predictable and not a matter of chance. This session will explore the opportunities and limitations of Agenda 2030’s response to global ageing and consider the value of the active engagement of older people to ensure progress towards the 2030 Agenda’s transformative vision.

 

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