Older adults as active members of non-governmental organisations

ENToday’s world promotes the view that a country’s development as well as the growth of democracy is contingent on an individual and on the individual’s active participation in public life and in public affairs. Taking an active citizen’s position in the matters of the public life of local communities or in the issues of its individual members, influencing public view and making it public forms the basis of any democratic and civil society. The National Strategy to Overcome Population Ageing Consequences, Lithuania’s Progress Strategy Lithuania 2030 stresses the insufficient attention in Lithuanian educational policy to the problems of education of older people, and that society is little aware of the importance of lifelong learning. Accessibility for older persons to participate in political, social, economic, and cultural activities should be maintained. The goal of the community’s civic life and volunteering development is to encourage community members to act through non-governmental organisations, to strengthen the capacity of non-governmental organisations and to develop a strong philanthropic tradition. Therefore, the democratic principle of life is more and more often defined through democratic participation, especially through active participation in nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) functions. [p. 179].