Meet The Older Adults Rocking Moscow Longevity

Our big story for the month is on Moscow Longevity, a wellness project for senior citizens that embodies active ageing. Kala Sunder meets the older adults who are part of it and shares some learnings.

It is not easy to set up a meeting with Lyudmila. At 80 plus, her days are packed. She is always elegantly turned out, from carefully dressed hair to painted toenails. She lives on her own after her husband passed away. Her apartment is perfectly tidy; the table is set for high tea. She does all the shopping, cooking and cleaning herself. With help sometimes from her daughter, but Lyudmila, in turn, helps with the three great-grandchildren. Still, home and family take up less of this retired senior engineer’s time than ‘Moscow Longevity’. She has finally made the time to tell me about it. Retirees in Russia receive several social benefits from the state that we can only envy. Apart from a state pension, they enjoy subsidies on utilities, entrance fees to museums, parks, and even movies, discounts at many stores, some free groceries, and of course, free medical care and public transport. Still, true to human nature, most of them grumble that it’s too little. 

But not Lyudmila. She is appreciative of this material support but even more grateful for the emotional support she gets at Moscow Longevity. She goes there, she says, mainly for the company. 

That would be music to the ears of Moscow’s high-profile Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin. Moscow Longevity is his brainchild. It is a wellness, educational and recreational project for senior citizens, launched in 2018. At the grand fifth anniversary celebration earlier this year, Sobyanin described it as “a project that helps to live an active life for a long time, communicate for a long time, smile at one another for a long time, live wholeheartedly for a long time, and enjoy life for a long time.” Half a million Muscovites have already enrolled, and over 40 per cent regularly participate in the activities. Women 55 and above and men 60 and above are eligible. Women between 60 and 70 are the most regular and enthusiastic participants. All activities are free.

They are conducted in public spaces like parks and community halls in every administrative unit of the city. Special buses ply between the centres since not all activities are available in every centre. The project started out with 12 groups of activities and now has 39 and counting. All of them are conducted by professionals who are paid from the city’s budget. 

The internationally recognized Active Ageing program is a component in most of the 71 centres that are up and running.  Physical fitness is a major aim of the project and includes guided exercise, various sports and games in suitably designed and equipped premises. Nordic walking has become very popular.

Mental fitness also receives considerable attention through brain gym, foreign languages, talks on healthy lifestyles, board games, smartphone and computer use and financial planning -- the list is vast. Classes in art and craft, housekeeping and gardening, personal grooming, music, dance, and acting are free, but materials must be paid for. Groups of seniors on walking tours around the city to appreciate its history and architecture are a common sight. Longevity‘s buses take them out of town on excursions.

Lyudmila likes craft and attends a doll-making class. She also likes to sing and has been rehearsing for a performance with her group. A couple I know has taken to ballroom dancing and made many new friends among amateur dancers. The husband sees it as exercise, the wife as an incentive to make gowns and accessories in the sewing group. 

When Covid 19 struck, Moscow Longevity had barely taken root. The project quickly went online. There were hiccups, of course, since not everyone was gadget-savvy enough. The activities conducted online were recorded and uploaded. That practice continues now for many of the modules; access to the recordings is free. That is a great benefit, especially for seniors who leave Moscow in the summer to live in their country homes (dachas), usually taking the grandchildren with them. 

Seniors who want to acquire a new job skill or qualification can take courses at the ‘Silver University’ affiliated with some of the leading educational institutions in the city. This is a growing trend. Many retired people like to work at least part-time.

Moscow Longevity was conceptualized in consultation with geriatrics, gerontologists, psychologists, and other professionals. It is constantly fine-tuning itself, adding new activities, and opening more and more centres so that seniors have easy access. It helps that the mayor is closely associated with it – suitable premises are quickly found and equipped. Some private sector companies, especially fitness centres, have also opened their doors to Moscow Longevity.

A recent addition to the Moscow Longevity menu is the concept of Clubs. Any trained or qualified senior citizen can apply to start a Club offering a niche activity. For instance, Tanya, who works as a translator, has set up a Conversational English Club. Her other interest is dancing, and she leads a dance group, too. They often dance to English hits. Moscow Longevity provides the space free of charge and monitors the activity of clubs to ensure quality. There are currently 3000 such clubs. 

The project is now spreading into the Moscow District. Other cities are clamouring for their own versions of Longevity. There is a recognition that healthy senior citizens are less of a drain on public health and medical care. Investing in preventive measures, therefore, pays off. And for a country with a small population, healthy seniors are a valuable workforce. And when the state helps seniors (and children), it relieves some of the pressures on the working-age population and makes them more productive.

Every time I see the Moscow Longevity banner, I recall what Pearl Buck wrote long ago: "Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilisation is the way that it cares for its helpless members". 

It speaks well of Indian society that NGOs, non-profits, voluntary organisations, and social entrepreneurs are addressing the needs of the elderly. The lesson from Moscow Longevity, however, is that to achieve wide coverage, even standards of quality, professionalism, and sustainability, there should be steady and assured support from the state. 

Cover image: Tanya's dance group.

All images courtesy of Kala Sunder

What do you think of the Moscow Longevity Project? Is there a similar initiative that you have been part of anywhere? Share with us in the comments below.