This is based on a number of images that are based at least on some facts. The first is that the age distribution in developing countries is heavily weighted to the young. The second is that, in rural societies, there really is no concept of retirement. The third is that older persons are resistant to change and development means change. If you are a farmer, male or female, you work from the time you are strong enough to hold a hoe until you are no longer strong enough to hold one.
Women never retire at all, regardless of where they live.
And, lacking education and clinging to old ways, they resist innovation. I am going to talk about a programme that doesn't match those stereotypes and shows that there can be a direct, positive relationship between ageing and development. It is a small programme set in the poor Northwest corner of the Dominican Republic, up against that country's border with Haiti. It is a programme that was designed and implemented by a non-governmental organisation, the SSM Foundation of the Dominican Republic. It is one of the few development programmes in the world that has been evaluated in terms of its impact.