Since the start of the DOST Agency’s activity in 2019, the analysis of citizens’ appeals revealed that a tailored approach is needed for older persons as a specific risk group due to their growing number and physical and mental conditions. In the meantime, despite receiving monthly social payments, the older persons faced other difficulties and needs that the service system could not address. These were the older person groups:

- Limited self-care opportunities, living alone and requiring special care at home, or lack of proper physical condition to spend the pension;

- Psychological problems like non-confidence, disappointment, and resentment of life;

- A strong will to work (highly qualified professionals) that faced social stigmas associating ageing with ‘passiveness’, ‘ballast’, ‘weakness’, and ‘useless’, which isolated them, decreased self-respect and left their potential unused.

In response, in 2019, we initiated a process relentlessly focused on placing older persons at the centre of social services and addressing the challenges below:

- Deliver new services targeting the needs of older persons by themselves

- Assist in raising their self-confidence

- Eliminate the social stigmas

- Create programs and projects to enable older persons to participate in planning and delivering services