Empowering Intergenerational Programming for Aging Communities

2025 is shaping out to be a year where ‘writing for fun’ is at an all-time low. I’ve been preoccupied with writing and editing a book chapter on community work with older people (a follow up from this journal piece- unfortunately paywalled but happy to share the PDF), and the second piece on the dual civic participation trajectory from my dissertation (first part here). Anyhow, this is just to say that I had the sudden thought that instead of letting the ideas on community empowerment and community building sit in my brain or OneNote as disparate streaks, I’d just ‘write for fun’ to process them here.

One area that I’ve been thinking about is intergenerational programming, specifically as an approach to (1) engage socially isolated older persons and (2) bridge the cognitive/socioemotional distance between older persons and the younger generations.

I will address the second point first. The gravity of this issue was gradually impressed on me as I dabbled in intergenerational work and literature. In Singapore, a huge proportion of our formal eldercare labour is formed from non-citizens – be they healthcare attendants in the nursing homes, therapy aides in senior activity centres, or foreign domestic workers in our homes caring for our aged parents. Research points to the pervasive ageist stereotypes that perpetuate the lack of popularity of eldercare jobs among the young. Career aspirations are shaped by financial and social factors; you’d never hear Asian parents encouraging their children to work with older people as the first image one likely has of working with this group is that of a mundane laborious role with minimal career progression. Divisive sentiments in the younger people from developed countries on how the ‘old are eating the young‘ that partially stem from unsustainable economic systems and the aging population. Interventions related to older persons tend to be medicalised and deficit-focused – for example intergenerational co-living that was on the Singapore news radar recently. While it is a great step forward in promoting intergenerational relations and addressing the issue of ageing in-place with dignity, I wonder if more intentional processes can be introduced to tap on the assets of older persons and cultivate a reciprocal relationship between the young and old.

In Singapore, engaging socially isolated older persons is a clear national priority, with Active Aging Centres (AAC) as the main driver. Silver Generation Ambassadors, AAC volunteer befrienders, and a slew of AAC programmes all serve to reach out to older people who may not have a strong social support and to build their social networks. Again, it is easier to plug a gap than to nurture growth. This is a point for self-reflection too: do I truly have a developmental perspective of older adults? An interaction with my grandmother (Popo) comes to mind. She has largely become homebound due to fear of falls and limited mobility, a common story among people her age. This has more than a physical implication. The lack of cognitive stimulation worries me too. During my short work break, I wanted to spend more time with her on engaging activities. Through one of our phone calls, I discovered that Popo knew how to make bak chang (rice dumplings)! It was a lovely reminiscing time as I got a slice of family history. From there, I persuaded her to teach me how to make bak chang and made plans. Afterwards though, I found out that Popo was really stressed because she felt that she was not up to the task due to her physical limitations 🥲 This episode got me reflecting on how gentle and thoughtful scaffolding is needed. On the other hand, the Block 52 cafe by Montford Care is an example of how having a developmental perspective can create opportunities for older persons to inhabit a new and empowered social role within their communities.

Indeed, an empowering approach to intergenerational programming takes a much longer time as there are mindsets to change, even those of the ‘professionals’ working on these programmes. For one, I am reflecting on the idea of democratic professionals (Dzur, 2019). Democracy, Dzur (2019) writes, means:

sharing power to shape a common public life with others who are not the same as us. (Preface)

Perhaps for older persons, it is giving them the needed time to shift their own negative self-perceptions about ageing and their role in society, and creating mini-opportunities to contribute that can accumulate towards a more empowered social role. For us as the younger generation, it bodes well if we can collectively reflect on our ideal image of ourselves as older persons- what do we want to be doing, and how do we want to think of our older selves? Reflecting on the above reflections (lol), empowering intergenerational programming should be a key solution to develop for future-ready super-aged societies.