In order to achieve co-creation, re-imagine international
cooperation and shape citizen/multi-stakeholder engagement, we need to move
beyond destructive notions of intergenerational conflict that foster and fuel
divisions within society.

Co-creation requires recognising all parties as having something
equally valid and useful to contribute. Curiously, both youth and older people
face similar challenges that undermine their ability to participate
fully in this process – a person is judged unfairly and discriminated against
on the basis of their age at both of these points in their life.

Where older people are concerned, ageism and age discrimination
is common across almost all societies. When we reach ‘a certain age’, we are no
longer perceived as having something valid to offer. This is
embedded in our economic categories: in later life, a person arbitrarily moves
from being an ‘active’ contributor to society, a producer and net contributor,
to being perceived as ‘dependent’, a recipient or just a consumer.

This is not about pitting older people against youth, but of
ensuring that any individual is treated with dignity and respect across their
life, at any age. The Forum must actively seek to create spaces in which
a lifecourse perspective is brought to bear on the challenges ahead.