In the SMILE (2020) program supported by Voice Indonesia, four (4) elders communities have succeeded in standing up, carrying out collective activities, and seeking advocacy for the elderly without ID cards. One of the major achievements of the SMILE program is the success of cis women and transwomen elders defenders in expressing their ideas and thoughts in the elderly storybook “Keep Stepping”. The ideas and thoughts of the elderly in the book “Continue to Step” have received a positive response from various groups, both from the young community in Indonesia and even from local authorities (Gunungkidul Regency Government). Of course, this can be a reinforcement for future collaborations.

The valuable experience in the SMILE program, namely the aspects of togetherness and acceptance, emerged very strongly in the work of the elderly community. From our documentation, we learn that mutually reinforcing cooperation between the transwomen and cis women elders is a sign that togetherness in campaigning and fighting for the rights of the elderly is very achievable and can be developed in the future.

The protection of the rights of the elderly through the role of the elderly defenders and the elderly community in the SMILE program can certainly underlie efforts to expand and improve the protection of the rights of the elderly. In order to be able to reach more, even to the elderly who are not members of the elderly community. For this reason, Erat Indonesia proposed a scale up program, which aims to provide a safer, easier, and more affordable space and increase the accessibility of the vulnerable elderly to direct assistance, advocacy, social support, and care support for the transwomen and cis women elders who live alone (solitary).

The Senior SupportCenter (SSC) will focus on transwomen older adults who are vulnerable, by its means, the majority of transwomen older adults have lived through discrimination, social stigma, and the effects of prejudice both past and present,
including a history of being labeled as criminals, sinners, and mentally ill. As the first step, we plan to build a safe space for the elderly with high vulnerability and low support from society and the government. The Senior Support Center (SSC) will be run by involving experts to support strengthening in the legal/advocacy and gerontology as well as the geriatric aspects. However, the main key actors of the Senior Support Center (SSC) are the elderly defenders who are based in the community of transwomen and cis women older adults.

The leadership and especially the role of the elderly defender in the Senior Support Center (SSC) is based on the understanding that the problems of the elderly cannot be approached only with a formal and thematic approach. However, it is very dependent on building trust-based on equality of experience, acceptance of the value of life and other cultural aspects. So the role of the elderly defender becomes very irreplaceable. The Senior Support Center (SSC) program will be implemented for 24 months. Furthermore, the main activities in this Senior Support Center program are 1) Training and Workshop; 2) Structuring and systematizing support work, providing assistance and advocacy for the elderly in SSC; 3) Knowledge Building as a collaborative work fortheelderly and supporting the elderly; 4) Strengthening collaboration between institutions and across generations.

We hope that the Senior Support Center (SSC) program can produce positive benefits for the protection of the rights of the elderly, which is marked by the active Hot-line for the transwomen and women older adult which can be easily and safely accessed by them. The presence of a quick-response team in collecting data, reaching out and providing support to vulnerable elderly people, which goeshandinhand with the management of Hot-line information is well available.

We hope that the Senior Support Center (SSC) program will strengthen support and collaboration between experts in strengthening and protecting the elderly, transwomen women, and women. This includes encouraging discussion and collaboration in an effort to realize the presence of the Elderly Transwomen Shelter in Yogyakarta. The development of guidelines for assisting vulnerable elderly people will also be one of the outputs of the Senior Support Center (SSC) program, which is expected to provide guidance for mentoring that is participatory, healthy, humane and upholds the dignity of the elderly.

The changes we expect from this program are strengthening advocacy movements, increasing the intensity and quality of movements to protect the rights of the elderly, as well as increasing support and facilitation/assistance for the transwomen and women older adult and also other high vulnerable elders. The direct benefit of this project isthe presence of a structure that is specifically able to provide feedback and support that is easily accessible to the elderly, especially transwomen and women older adults.

The elderly in Indonesia often face neglect, the elimination of roles, and even structural violence. To help empower the elderly, ERAT Indonesia has been implementing the project SMILE, strengthening community support for the elderly.  

ERAT Indonesia was built with the aim of working with the elderly and the wider community to realize the rights of the elderly to live a decent, healthy, dignified and happy life in Indonesia. It is an institution for protecting and advocating for the rights of the elderly. It seeks to build synergy between young people and the elderly in an effort to strengthen the capacity and quality of life of the elderly in general, and at the same time provide equal space for the elderly in their diversity (region, culture, territory and gender). 

ERAT Indonesia worked with Women Mahardhika as the host organization to implement the SMILE project. The program built awarenss of the rights of the elderly as the driving force and used the understanding of the problems and issues faced by the elderly to mobilize action. The SMILE community was supported by the young volunteers movement through creative media campaigns and went on to provide social support for the elderly. SMILE strategically established elderly forums, conducted direct and social media campaigns, created space for expression and documentation of the elders’ life stories to strengthen awareness and meaning of the rights of the elderly.   

The main focus of the SMILE activities was on reaching out to the elderly who suffered from a high level of structural and social vulnerability especially those classified as solitary elderly. The highest level of vulnerability in Indonesia is recorded among elederly women (> 75%), and the elderly trans persons (Waria).   

SMILE program outputs include the establishment and empowerment of the elderly community and a campaign on the rights of the elderly by the elderly community and young community in a sustainable manner. It also included the production and dissemination of books and videos of the stories of the elderly. This program is also expected to produce an initial draft recommendation for the protection of the elderly rights at the regional level. 

 “The existence of the SMILE program supported by Voice to date has succeeded in strengthening the process of change from increasing the empowerment of vulnerable groups themselves, in this case the elderly, including the elderly transwomen. For Erat, this program is a milestone for sustainable empowerment and strengthening of the rights of the elderly, to be able to amplify the existence and role of the SMILE elderly community in the next process, or to build it elsewhere” – as stated in the final report 

EMPOWERMENT OF ELDERLY DEFENDERS: The project not only succeeded in building and mobilizing the elderly community and enabling the mobilization of the elderly, SMILE community also succeeded in enabling them to express their capabilities, learning motivation and adaptive nature when facing challenges in fighting for the rights of the elderly in the midst of a pandemic. Other achievements of the project included advocating for ID cards for the solitary elderly, and the compilation of elderly story books that represent the spirit, movements and thoughts of the elderly.   

A participatory approach was key in encouraging and supporting the movement of elderly women and trans-women, starting from the development of cross-community discussions, local collective development, joint planning, collective decision making, realizing joint (community) activities, intense interaction and discussion with the elderly collective as well as integrating the cognitive empowerment approach. The project encouraged the strengthening of understanding and self-assessment by reinterpreting the challenges and difficulties that arise as a result of old age (physical situation), as well as redefining the inequality of perceptions about women or trans-women as a result of the patriarchal socio-cultural context. Cognitive strengthening was achieved by open learning activities (old school and advocacy training). The elaboration of these two approaches was very successful in strengthening trust, self-confidence, meaning as well as encouraging expression, and putting them into collective movements for the benefit of the community.  

Significant Change: One of the significant changes resulting from the project was the realization of the “Elderly defending the Elderly”. The elderly mobilizer is able to build an understanding of the common situation, and build solidarity in the community to support the elderly whose rights have been neglected. At the collective level, this change is manifested in the presence of an inclusive elderly space, which is a way for cooperation and knowledge transfer between the elderly community, and mainly strengthens efforts to defend the rights of the elderly (advocacy knowledge transfer by trans women elderly to elderly women). The success of the elderly mobilizer and the community succeeded in encouraging changes at the personal level of the solitary elderly (trans-women & women), marked by the strengthening of positive perceptions of themselves, so that the solitary elderly are willing and happy to be involved in community activities, and even dare to participate in expressing themselves. 

In terms of improving people’s living condition, through this project, the series of knowledge that was built up in community discussions, trainings, schools for the elderly and in the end the story books for the elderly are traces of knowledge and awareness that are very important to be documented and be made known in the community. The project succeeded in bringing knowledge about life, from the minds and thoughts of the neglected (solitary) elderly people to the public sphere. In the long term, this project can provide short readings for the elderly, about the lives of the neglected elderly. Another important thing about the project was that active elderly defenders encouraged public awareness, also among the elderly themselves, that the elderly are capable and can empower themselves and stand as defenders of fellow elderly. 

Lessons: Through the SMILE project, there was a realization that the elderly, despite many limitations due to physical, economic and social situations, still have the spirit to make changes, as well as the strength to establish a joint solidarity movement. The big lesson is that the effort to string the voices of the elderly into knowledge and strength turned out to be very dependent on the participation and involvement of the elderly in every step of the program. Therefore, openness and acceptance of differences are important in building trust from the elderly as well as their community. 

There is however still a need for breakthroughs and policy changes from the authorities on how to place and assess the elderly, and especially regarding rights that are not only viewed from productivity perspective. For this reason, a good advocacy method is needed to facilitate a change in the perspective of the authorities towards the elderly, to later provide a wider and fairer space for the elderly to fight for their rights.