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Imagine Jersey - dealing with the challenges of the ageing society
Method(s) Used
Name of person who posted the project:Karin Gavelin (Involve)
Location of project:United Kingdom
Date when the project started:2007
Date when the project ended/project ongoing:2008
Background to project:Like many other western countries, Jersey?s population is changing. The number of elderly people is growing fast and there are fewer younger people of working age. This means that in the long term fewer people will be paying tax and contributing to the cost of running our public services, which will be costing the Island more because of increasing demands on health and pensions. It will also become more difficult for businesses to find workers. Because of the small size of Jersey, these developments pose particular challenges for its community.In order to help Jersey's government decide how it is going to meet these challenges, Involve ran a dialogue process where citizens were asked to share their thoughts, concerns and priorities for the future of their island. Purpose of project:The aims of the consultation were to enable the public in Jersey to understand the social and economic challenges associated with the island's ageing population and to inform the States of Jersey?s decisions about how these challenges should be met in the future.Project activities:Imagine Jersey 2035 ran from November 2007 to February 2008 and consisted of a survey, a traditional written consultation and a deliberative public conference. The deliberative conference took place on a Saturday and attracted over 130 participants. One of the most interesting elements of the day was in the last session when participants played the 'trade-off game': a deliberative game constructed by Involve which forced citizens to look at the limited resources available and explore what options and trade-offs they could accept.The deliberative conference was later repeated as a youth event specifically targeted at young people. In total, over 1,300 people took part in the different elements of the consultation: this figure represents over 1.5% of the Jersey population. The process was delivered by Involve in collaboration with the States of Jersey. Project results:The process revealed strong feelings among Jersey?s citizens about the changes taking place in the island and the measures put forward by the States of Jersey to meet the challenges of the ageing society. It generated detailed information about citizens' views on a number of big policy issues and provided the States of Jersey with an understanding of what changes and trade-offs citizens were likely to be able to accept in the future.Contact details:Involve contact: Karin Gavelin, karin@involve.org.ukStates of Jersey website (for reports and contact details): http://www.gov.je/ChiefMinister/Communications+Unit/TheAgeingPopulation.htm |
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