KDCCE leads Kibra Community in Marking International Day of Older Persons

Kibera Day Care Centre for the Elderly (KDCCE) in conjunction with HelpAge International and AFD on Tuesday marked the United Nations International Day of Older Persons (UNIDOP) 2022 at Joseph Kang’ethe Hall located in Woodley Ward in Nairobi County.

The purpose of marking the day was to provide an opportunity for communities around the world to promote a better understanding of issues around older persons and recognize the contributions of older person in the society.

KDCCE CEO Agnes Kariuki said that as part of their advocacy efforts, they take note of UNIDOP as a strategic day to raise awareness on the rights and entitlements of older persons and their contributions within the community.

‘As a strategy to empower older persons with advocacy skills and knowledge on their rights and entitlements, KDCCE has successfully initiated formation of 30 Older Persons’ Associations (OPAs) each having a membership of at least 30 older persons. In addition, within these groups, there are specific older persons known as older citizen monitors (OCMs) who have been taken through extensive training to monitor services related to older persons within our community and actively advocate for the rights and entitlements of older persons within Kibra and Lang’ata Sub Counties in line with existent older persons national services,’ Ms Kariuki said.

This year’s theme was ‘The Resillience and Contributions of Older Women’. KDCCE took time to highlight the resilience of older women in the face of environmental, social, economic and lifelong inequalities, raised awareness on the rights and entitlements of older women as well as advocate for inclusion of older women in positions of leadership and influence within the community and nationally.

KDCEE has been at the forefront advocating for the rights and entitlements of older persons and focusses on an older persons by ensuring that they take lead in activities. This, not only promotes sustainability but also builds the diverse capacity of the older persons to fully thrive in communities.

In attendance was Woodley/Kenyatta Golf Course Ward MCA Davidson DNG Ngibuini who pledged to work closely with KDCCE to ensure the plight of older persons in the community is addressed.