IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVE AGEING POLICY IN THE MORAVIAN-SILESIAN REGION

Affecting the demographic structure, population ageing is a social challenge. Active ageing aims at making use of the potential of senior citizens. The submitted research focuses on the way municipalities and city districts in the Moravian-Silesian Region implement the policy of active, healthy and dignified ageing. The research strategy was qualitative, the data were obtained by semi-structured interviews with representatives of municipalities and city districts. The research sample was chosen by means of simple sampling based on the following criteria: the informant was a representative of the municipality/urban district within the Moravian-Silesian Region who gave his/her consent to participate in the research. The research resulted in a long list of activities for senior citizens. The municipalities support the activities mostly in a financial manner. They take part in organizing social and educational events, too. Territorial units endeavour to make good living conditions for citizens, ensure transport to/from the doctorˈs office for them, etc. The active ageing policy in larger administrative units and urban districts in the Moravian-Silesian Region is encoded in strategic documents. However, smaller units do not dispose of such documents although they do implement this policy. All activities aim at prolonging


Introduction
According to the ČSÚ (2020), the share of persons over 65 in the population was 19.7 % (the population from 65 to 79 reached 14.2 % and the population over 80 reached 5.6 %) in the European Union (28 countries) in 2018. Given this, multiple measures have been taken to support active ageing policies at the international level (for example, UN Principles for Older Persons, 1991 The Czech Republic has also gone through demographic changes. In 2018, the share of persons from 65 to 79 was 15.2 % while the population over 80 years reached 4.0 %. The former category was above the European average, while the latter category is below the average (ČSÚ, 2019).
Ageing and old age tend to be viewed negatively, whichto a large extenthas been caused by the mass media that generally present old people as unfit and passive, as recipients of services and benefits, as defenceless victims of frauds and crimes (Čevela et al., 2012;Quadagno, 2017;Swinnen & Stotesbury, 2012). The myths and prejudices have been surveyed by many experts (Haškovcová, 2010;Sýkorová 2007). Our views of senior citizens are often obsolete and ignoring the fact that modern seniors represent a heterogeneous group of almost two million persons and that the heterogeneity will grow even stronger (Strategy on Preparation for Ageing 2019-2025, n.d., p. 2). Assessing people by their chronological age is challenged by two intellectual factors: (1) Viewing old age as anticipation of disability, considering only two options: whether an individual can work or not.
(2) Giddens' notion of ageless society. For example, Haškovcová (2010) or Čeledová et al. (2016) use this concept. It says that the extent and intensity of social events cannot be judged by one's age but rather his/her health status (disability) (Bočková & Vojtíšek, 2017, p. 50). Combination of activity and old age as well as an 1 The graph covers 28 member states from 2013 to 2020. The elderly arethanks to a developed healthcare system, growing income, education, living conditions and other factorsoften in a good health state. They are active and interested in work even in retirement. They encounter barriers in the form of inappropriate conditions or structural obstacles that may stop them from making use of their potential (Čevela et al., 2012). Understanding both their potential as well as physical limits helps the policymakers develop successful social policy of active ageing. The care, stemming from humanistic ideas, should support the elderly in their working and social environment as long as possible (Tomeš, 2018). While physical and mental factors of a person tend to change gradually, social factors change almost immediately. For society, a person becomes an anonymous pensioner whose previous professional career is no longer valued and who gradually loses importance.
That is why social factors should not be neglected (Bočková & Vojtíšek, 2017). Concerning the abovementioned, the article aims at presenting the ways the municipalities in the Moravian-Silesian Region (hereinafter also "MSR") implement the active ageing policythe ways (besides social services) they strive for active, healthy and dignified ageing of their citizens.

Problem Statement
Czech and European population has been and will be ageing. According to the document Projekce obyvatelstva České republiky 2018-2100, it will undergo dramatic changes not in the size but in the age structure. In the course of the next decade, the group over 65 will transform most. It is estimated to account for 29.5 % of the population in 2100 (ČSÚ, 2018). Population ageing in the Czech Republic is discussed at national as well as local level. Rada vlády pro seniory a stárnutí populace (Government Council for Older Persons and Population Ageing, hereinafter referred to as the "Council") was established in 2006 as an advisory body of the government as a follow-up to the implementation of National Programme of Preparation for Ageing for the Period 2003Period -2007Period (2002 in order to treat the issue of older people and ageing in the Czech Republic at the highest level of state administration and to treat active ageing policy activities (MPSV, 2015). Other strategic documents on active ageing policy in the Czech Republic were National Programme of Preparation for Ageing for the Period 2008Period -2012Period (2008 and is also necessary to include important actors at regional and local level (local communities, the non-profit sector, clubs and research organizations).
Regional administration and self-government are the chief actors of implementation of policy on active ageing and old age. At regional level, the project Implementace politiky stárnutí na krajskou úroveň has been implemented recently. It focuses on systemic and methodological support for the development of activities and implements the preparation for ageing at national, regional and local level (MPSV, 2019). Its specific goal is, inter alia, development of activities aimed at preparing for old age.
Given that, the submitted study focuses on the implementation of the principles of active positive ageing

Research Questions
The research question, based on the research problem and goal, is: How do municipalities and city districts in the MSR declare the implementation of the policy of active, healthy and dignified ageing in their territory?

Purpose of the Study
The study aimed at searching and describing how chosen municipalities and city districts implement the policy of active, healthy and dignified ageing with regard to the new document Strategy on Preparation for Ageing 2019-2025 which is based on the project Implementace politiky stárnutí na krajskou úroveň. Areas related to social services for older people, anchored in Národní strategie rozvoje sociálních služeb na období 2016-2025 (Pospíšil, 2015), were excluded. Destigmatization of old age and ageing as well as support for the implementation of active, healthy and dignified ageing in the MSR were partial application goals of our research.

Research Methods
With regard to the fact that we focused on individual perception and interpretations, we found the constructivist paradigm (Lincoln et al., 2014) the most expedient. To meet the stipulated goals, we applied the qualitative method of the Grounded theory to analyze the data (Padgett, 2017). We read the acquired transcripts several times and analysed them, using open coding techniques and notes on emerging interpretations and conceptualizations (Howard & Berg, 2016). Thus, we analysed the material, following the Generic inductive qualitative approach (Hood, 2014), or the General coding paradigm (Maxwell, 2005). The Grounded theory copies Charmaz approach that is based on the interpretative paradigm and constructivist principles (Hubík, 2006). The data were analyzed via ATLAS.ti8, which reveals the complex hidden structure of the data and their mutual meanings. The data were collected by way of semi-structured interviews that were recorded and transcribed verbatim (Moorse, 2009). The research sample was made by way of simple deliberate sampling based on a stipulated criterion, that is an authorized representative of the municipality/city district in the Moravian-Silesian Region. The semi-structured interviews were conducted by students of the follow-up Master's studies of Social Work, Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava. They contacted municipalities in the MSR to ask them for participation. As soon as 32 interviews (10 % of municipalities in the MSR) were collected, the obtained data were analyzed. The interviews took place in safe conditions so that the informants could be open. Due to the state of emergency, declared by the Czech government, some interviews were conducted online in order to protect the health of both the researcher and the informant.
The informants were informed about the research aim and the possibility to interrupt or discontinue their participation any time. They were assured that all data were anonymized. The following table presents the sociodemographic characteristics of the informants involved. As one of the informants did not give his consent to the use of his data, the table includes information on 31 informants only. Mining the information was the first part of the interviews; the second part was the core of the interview, the very research topic.

Findings
After open coding, we went on with axial coding, searching for relations between individual categories. Axial coding is a complex inductive-deductive process. We matched individual categories in a broader context of applied social phenomena. We compared close and distant phenomena. Finally, we interconnected the categories to make a set of relationships according to the paradigmatic model (shown in Table 3). In the paradigmatic model, the process of active ageing policy implementation represents causal conditions. This category is important because it includes a range of social activities that support active, healthy and dignified ageing. The below-stated passages from the interviews support this finding.
Cooperation of individual actors is the most significant factor of the active ageing policy implementation.
It results in the existence of various social, sporting and cultural events for seniors. "There are several https://doi.org/10.15405/epiceepsy.20111.14 Corresponding Author: Šárka Dořičáková Selection and peer-review under

Conclusion
Our survey has shown that municipalities in the Moravian-Silesian Region implement the active, healthy and dignified ageing policy to meet the pressing needs of their people. They focus on social activities of many types, e.g., cooperation between relevant actors (mainly local authorities, interest groups, senior clubs, citizens and the elderly themselves) who have financial as well as organizational relationships, making an effective system that significantly improves the quality of life of the elderly. The activities give rise to intergenerational gatherings that the informants consider a crucial component of social life of the elderly. The informants talked about the risk of social isolation of senior citizens.
Municipalities prevent it by encouraging them to participate in active ageingthey involve them in planning and organizing activities. Finances are problematic. Smaller territorial units are usually neither involved in community planning nor do they make strategic documents for the target group of seniors. On the other hand, larger territorial units are involved in these processes and have therefore access to the regional budget. According to the informants, higher grants, subsidies, other funds and their facilitation might improve the situation. The actors would have more opportunities to support active, healthy and dignified ageing. The informants also mentioned better municipal facilities (accessibility, sports facilities), including barrier-free housing for the elderly. Through the policy of active, healthy and dignified ageing, the state aims at supporting activity in older people living in their natural community and at preventing their exclusion or institutionalization in residential social services. At the same time, it reflects their needs because researchers (e.g., Vávrová, 2015) show that residential social services are, according to their users, only the very last option. It is one of the most difficult life decisions that should be avoided as long as a person is autonomous and self-sufficient.