NASW NEWS

International social work and aging expert Terry Hokenstad is U.S. delegate to Madrid assembly.

U.N. Assembly Advocates 'Active, Productive Aging' by Lyn Stoesen, News Staff July 2002 This meeting addressed challenges that have arisen in the two decades since the first assembly.

Terry Hokenstad, an expert on international social work and aging issues, put both his areas of expertise to work as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Second World Assembly on Aging held April 8-12 in Madrid.

Hokenstad, a professor of social work at Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences in Cleveland, Ohio, was appointed as a delegate by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. He has been an NASW member since 1960 and is co-author with University of California-Berkeley social welfare Dean James Midgley of Lessons From Abroad: Adapting International Social Welfare Innovations, a book to be published by NASW Press.

The assembly was a follow-up to the First World Assembly on Aging, held in Vienna 20 years ago, which produced an international plan on aging. The second assembly was called to address unresolved issues from the first assembly as well as to address challenges that have arisen in the past two decades, such as HIV/AIDS.

Hokenstad, along with seven other "private-sector" delegates, served as an adviser to U.S. State Department officials, who were involved in the actual negotiations during the assembly. The U.S. delegation totaled 23 members.

Hokenstad said the plan developed at the assembly addressed three major areas.

First, the assembly considered sustaining development as people age. "We focused on both the developing and the developed world," Hokenstad said, "with an emphasis on active and productive aging, which is a major theme, so that older people are able to contribute economically as well as through volunteer activities and then also participate in lifelong learning and retraining."

Hokenstad also noted that people age 60 and above often are "very healthy and contributing older people in the society, so that a lot of the action recommendations were to focus on changing attitudes toward aging and enabling older people to stay in the labor market longer if they want to."

Second, the assembly addressed advancing health and well-being into old age. "The [World Health Organization] talks about 'adding years to life, now we need to add life to years,'" Hokenstad said. "So the emphasis is on health promotion, health care access. . . . Preparation for old age starts at the beginning of the life cycle; promoting good health remains with people through their life."

The third area of concern was ensuring supportive environments for older people. "We got into home- and community-based care systems, protection against abuse and violence, adequate housing and pension programs," he said.

"The dynamics of the interaction were fascinating," said Hokenstad. "We hear so much about what people don't agree on, what nations don't agree on, it was nice to see there can be action taken where people are able to agree." The final plan was passed by consensus.

But, Hokenstad noted, "this didn't mean there weren't some disagreements that had to be negotiated during the process." He said there were "differing opinions on whether globalization should be seen as something basically bad, or a more balanced picture on globalization." Delegates also debated how much developed nations should assist developing nations.

Additionally, delegates debated the degree to which humanitarian efforts should address "internally displaced" people, in addition to refugees. "That was quite a debate," Hokenstad said. He noted that some nations objected to language addressing aid to internally displaced people because they felt it violated national sovereignty, which resulted in a compromise. "[The U.S. delegation] did submit an addendum saying we wish there had been stronger language" on this issue, Hokenstad said.

Hokenstad was also part of the technical committee that helped the U.N. secretary-general develop an initial plan for the assembly.

His work with the U.N. was a "nice fit," Hokenstad said. "This has been my area of interest for a long period of time — an interest in international social work on the one hand and gerontology and aging on the other hand. This put the two together."

Concurrent with the assembly was a forum on aging sponsored by U.N. non-governmental organizations. At the forum, the International Association of Schools of Social Work and the International Federation of Social Workers sponsored a panel on lifelong education. Hokenstad and four others spoke on the panel.

"There were representatives from five countries on that panel, and we were all social workers and social work educators," Hokenstad explained.

In addition to his work as an adviser to State Department delegates and at the forum, Hokenstad was part of a roundtable discussion on geriatric and gerontological education, stressing the need to prepare professionals for these fields.

Implementation of the final plan will be monitored by the U.N. Economic and Social Council's Commission for Social Development, Hokenstad said. The U.S. will participate in a follow-up meeting in Berlin in September.