The largest and most complete digital ecosystem to support the elderly, with educational platforms for care and e-learning courses, as well as publications that deliver content of interest about the reality of this age group and a new website that brings together the main support for the elderly population in the different territories, launched the United Nations System in Chile together with the National Service for the Elderly (SENAMA).
It is the NODO Project, an initiative led by UNDP in Chile, and in whose design and implementation participate the Office of the Resident Coordinator, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), implemented jointly with SENAMA.
An increasingly relevant group
In the country - according to figures from the Population Division of ECLAC (CELADE) - there are a total of 3.3 million people over 60 years old (17% of the total population of the country) and it is expected that in the next decade they will represent almost 25% of the inhabitants. Thus, it is projected that in 2030 Chile will be the Latin American nation with the highest proportion of older people.
However, the COVID.19 pandemic has hit this group of the population hard. Among other indicators, according to UN data, 35.3% of the elderly have felt that they lack company; 50% say they feel excluded from others, and 25% do not have a support network. Suicide rates in this age segment are the highest in the country.
In this complex framework, and projecting the goals of 2021, the National Director of SENAMA, Octavio Vergara, highlighted that “this year, the project allows us to promote the creation of a community platform aimed at achieving the well-being of the elderly, promoting the social participation and the exercise of their rights, generating support networks and opening spaces for training and integration ”.
New digital tools
Referring to the digital resources developed in the framework of the emergency response and the new context of the project, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program, Claudia Mojica, indicated: “What brings us together today is the presentation of a much broader series of technological tools, of which NODO Emergencia will be part. We will get to know the first platforms of the NODO Ecosystem, which will culminate in a complete digital network to generate and strengthen protection environments for the elderly ”.
To do this, the program will bring together two new educational platforms that will be added to NODO Emergencia, presented in August 2020: one for caregivers of the elderly and another with e-learning courses dedicated to that group of the population. and their support networks. All these resources are added to the NODO Emergencia Platform, presented together with SENAMA in August 2020, and will be completely free of charge.
Innovation and knowledge production
In addition to the complete technological ecosystem, NODO Series 60+ was presented, a set of which 7 unpublished publications, which address issues related to the elderly, such as human rights, gender equality and sustainable development, also adding the valuation of unpaid work, habits and pandemic needs in urban and rural communities.
Regarding this last point, the FAO Representative in Chile, Eve Crowley, highlighted that her agency participated in the document Rural Communities and Environments in Chile. Analysis and perspectives on the elderly population : “A quarter of rural households in Chile, which are inhabited by elderly people, have recently faced food and nutrition insecurity conditions. Without a doubt, this series of texts will be a contribution to the learning of the diverse realities of this group of the population ”.
Meanwhile, Fabio Bertranou, ILO Southern Cone Director, pointed out that “the ILO team contributes to this project as a specialized organization in the world of work. The care of the elderly requires the commitment of all social actors collectively, especially those in the workplace. We trust that this project will contribute to decisively strengthen the support networks and improve the living conditions of the country's elderly people ”.
NODO also has territorial teams in 12 urban and rural implementation communes in Arica, Taltal, Coquimbo, Río Hurtado, Valparaíso, La Pintana, San José de Maipo, San Clemente, Purén, Padre Las Casas, Valdivia and Aysén. In the future, coverage is expected to be extended to the entire country.
All digital tools, platforms and publications presented at the event are free to access for the entire population, and can be found at proyectonodo.cl, and other websites of the United Nations System in Chile such as Estudiospnud.cl
Originally published on UNDP Chile
