The international training programme on Policy Formulation, Planning, Implementation and Monitoring of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing was held at Hotel Plevna in Sliema, Malta from the 14 – 25 November 2016. It was officially opened by Dr. Marvin Formosa. INIA managed to grant 8 partial scholarships while 5 participants were self-funded and 1 hailed from Malta. In total, 14 participants followed the programme. These hailed from the following 11 countries: Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, Mauritius, Nepal, Russia, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan.

This multi-disciplinary ten-day training programme on Social Policy which discussed the implications of population ageing, comprised a mix of both foreign and local tutors, workshops, two site visits to ‘Casa Antonia Nursing & Residential Home’, a private residential home, ‘Mtarfa Home’, a residential community Home and to ‘St. Vincent De Paul Residence’, a Nursing Residential Complex – both run by the State. The programme was further complemented by country reports, provided by each represented participant which dealt with the current policies in place, and the services being carried out by the respective country’s Governments and Civil Societies to meet the recommendations made by the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing.  Lecturing on the programme were local tutors from the University of Malta and three International tutors, namely Dr. Tomas Kucera, Professor Asghar Zaidi and Dr. Alexandre Sidorenko. The closing ceremony was held at the offices of the International Institute on Ageing in Valletta, where a multi-cultural feast of traditional costumes and food was held.