CALD community sets up online network
NCAN, a web-based communication network has been launched to unite CALD ageing groups online to push for greater recognition of the needs of older people.
Above: FECCA chairman, Pino Migliorino
By Linda Belardi.
The National CALD Ageing Network (NCAN) has been launched to strengthen the policy voice and collective representation of CALD individuals and organisations, as priority turns to the needs of an ageing CALD community.
The web-based communication network, coordinated by the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA), will bring together consumers, informal carers, peak bodies and service providers online.
FECCA chairman, Pino Migliorino, said the network will also act as an important tool to implement the CALD Aged Care Strategy announced by the federal government in December.
“We want NCAN to be the voice representing the needs and experiences of the older CALD community and for its members to feel empowered and able to be heard,” Mr Migliorino told the NCAN launch in Melbourne last week.
Between 2011 and 2026, Australia’s population of older people from CALD backgrounds is expected to increase by over 40 per cent and by 2026, one in four Australians aged 80 and over will be from a CALD background.
Mr Migliorino said the online network will help to create a dialogue on policy issues relevant to CALD ageing and aged care, as well as to circulate important information on grant submissions and events.
Members of NCAN will be invited to share opinion pieces, contribute articles and to comment on the development of the national CALD Aged Care Strategy.
In April, FECCA sent out the first edition of a regular newsletter to NCAN members.
Mr Migliorino said that with fundamental changes to the aged care system from July 1, facilitating access to resources and information-sharing was fundamental to the intention of the network.
“Over time as our networks grow and interconnect we envisage that NCAN will become an important capacity building mechanism,” he said.
Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria Chairperson Joe Caputo said NCAN will be an important opportunity to influence the process of reform.
The federal government’s ageing CALD strategy has been designed to inform how it will support the CALD aged care sector. Its 35 goals commit to achieving greater equity for CALD elders and relate to the government’s aged care reform package, Living Longer Living Better.
The NCAN website is also currently under development and will be launched soon
The launch of NCAN was also attended by the federal minister for ageing, Mark Butler and around 60 members of relevant organisations.
To register visit www.fecca.org.au
Such good news, as well as working in Community Aged Care, I care for my elderly mother at home. We are South american-Spanish speakers and live in Perth,WA.I would like to be part of this online network.