Age Friendly Island Local Evaluation 2016-17

The National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) have been commissioned to conduct a four-year local evaluation of the Age Friendly Island (AFI) Programme to look at its impact on the IOW in relation to the four agreed Programme outcomes. AFI is a partnership of older people and voluntary and public sector agencies working together across the Isle of Wight (IOW) to reduce social isolation, empower older people and influence local culture so that older people are seen as assets rather than burdens. The Programme will run for five years from April 2015 to March 2020. The Programme consists of 12 separate projects that complement one another to help create an Age Friendly Island.

Two years into the five-year funded period, it is clear that real progress is being made towards the four Programme outcomes by the 12 projects that make up the Age Friendly Island Programme.

The Programme’s multi-levelled approach seems to be working well – having a range of interventions, and targeting prevention as well as intervention is a strength. In particular, the role of the AFI project, working at Island wide level to make the Island age friendly, supporting the work of other projects and enabling older people to become involved is a real asset. While there are challenges to be addressed and improvements that can be made, by taking a ‘test and learn’ approach and learning from the experiences of delivery, findings to date suggest that the Programme can make a real difference to the lives of older people on the Island over the next three years, and, importantly, beyond the funded period.