Earlier this year, we launched a scholarship fund to enable our professional colleagues from developing countries of the Commonwealth to join us in Perth at the IAHSA/ACSA conference, 30 August – 3 September.
We received nearly 50 applications from 20 Commonwealth Countries, and thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, 15 scholarships* have been awarded to delegates from 13 developing countries across the Commonwealth – including Ghana, Guyana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Fiji and Bangladesh
“The calibre of applicants was extremely high,” says CommonAge CEO, Mr Klaus Zimmermann. “Those who have been able to accept our offer are currently making travel arrangements and we’re very much looking forward to meeting our colleagues and benefitting from their knowledge and experience.”
CommonAge chairman, Mr Andrew Larpent OBE, said: \”We are thrilled with the response we have had, both from the applicants themselves, but also from Australian aged care providers and industry supporters who have been so generous in their donations and making the scholarship program possible.
“It is a tremendous opportunity for these 18 people to participate in a truly global education and networking event that otherwise would simply not have been possible.
“All of these people are experienced professionals, many very highly qualified, within their own countries. But their opportunities for participating in professional networks outside their own communities, to learn from other countries and to share their own expertise, are extremely limited.
“Most of the big international networking opportunities like IAHSA and INIA (International Institute on Ageing) are hosted in western countries which of course come with western prices for conference registration and travel and accommodation.
“In this way, the scholarship initiative is not only enabling the participation of aged care professionals who otherwise would simply not be able to; but it is introducing all these people to the IAHSA international network and thereby supporting IAHSA to really broaden that network beyond its usual boundaries.”
Mr Larpent said the response from the Australian community had been fantastic and there was already a great deal of excitement building.
“It’ really is a case of helping to build the global ageing network of IAHSA through the generosity of Australian providers and supporters.
“A couple of the scholarship recipients will be speaking at the conference but we have asked all of the scholarship recipients to prepare and bring a poster describing how aged care takes place in each of their countries.
“We will have a CommonAge table and a little area in the exhibition area as a meeting place and we encourage all conference delegates to come by and ‘say Gidday’ and make our CommonAge scholars feel welcome,” he said.
The full list of delegates and supporters can be found on our scholarships page.
* The scholarships cover conference registration and associated conference costs, all accommodation, approximately 50 per cent of travel costs and some living expenses. It was made clear as part of the scholarship awards process that successful scholarship recipients would need to be able to meet the additional component of their flights or other transport costs associated with their attendance.