Luis Cabezas

Luis Francisco is changing the predominant views of the elderly as burdensome, weak, and overly dependent by creating a system based on older adults' strengths. Luis Francisco's idea combines the generation of fact-based data on the elderly population's needs with network and community building to change public policy and revitalize the role of older adults in social life.

For the past five years, Venezuela has ranked 1 of 156 countries in the world in the Bloomberg World Misery Index, with its economy in total collapse, two million percent inflation, and a grave humanitarian crisis which has hit the elderly hardest, as only 34% of their much-needed medicines are available and 60% of elderly go to bed each night with no food.

Luis Francisco approaches the elderly as "older adults" with their strengths. He created a whole system to solve the complexity of the problem in Venezuela by seeking a new mindset change around the cultural norm of older adults, who should be seen with dignity and respect, as someone who is active and can contribute, and not as someone discarded from their social and community role. Luis Francisco developed his idea in three main pillars: information generation, network & community building, and policy change. In order to expose the elderly situation in Venezuela to international attention, he was the first person in the history of Venezuela to bring this issue and hard data before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Luis Francisco has not only been dedicated to addressing the humanitarian emergency, but also to build on the solid know-how of partner NGOs to launch training programs carefully designed to cover older adults’ needs and also harness their unique gained experience and wisdom, which feeds back into the contents and implementation of the programs, transforming older adults from passive beneficiaries to co-creators of their wellbeing. He also involves younger generations to realize the shift of the current mindset that drives services and interactions with the elderly. Luis Francisco is creating a strengthened network throughout the country, which will continue to generate tools for assistance, care, and financial empowerment through trades in alliance with companies and other NGOs. He aims to replicate this knowledge for the support of elderly populations in humanitarian emergencies around the world.

CONVITE has also achieved an outsize impact because Luis Francisco communicates a shared vision of the elderly as productive members of an aging Venezuelan society, starting affordable pilot programs in cities and towns while training a new generation of Venezuelans to see a new view of the elderly. Luis is a pioneer in Venezuela in the implementation of intergenerational activities. Luis Francisco's idea has gained momentum, as a pioneer and recognized expert in the field, his changemaking vision has influenced policy and is creating the basis for a generation of older adults who can be part of the reconstruction of Venezuela.

The labeling of Venezuela as a “young country” has contributed to the needs of the elderly being overlooked and left off of the public agenda. However, today’s data shows that the increase of the aging population will be an important demographic phenomenon for the next 100 years. Venezuela currently has an approximate population of 3,444,000 inhabitants aged 60 years and older (roughly 9.71% of the total population). This number is expected to double between 2025 and 2040, reaching 19% of the total population. Yet the only current government policy targeting the senior population is the social security pension.

Venezuela also falls into the common trap of stigmatizing and segregating this population, perpetuating the view of the elderly as someone who no longer has anything to give. The media and authorities typically refer to people over 55 years of age as "our grandparents", deepening a stereotype that infantilizes them, affects their self-esteem and, above all, closes off opportunities for them to continue to fully develop in an active and productive way, despite having decades of experience and a long life ahead of them. According to a study by FUNDACOL, the use of the term "grandparents" is a discriminatory stereotype used to refer to the elderly. It is equally important to emphasize that the elderly are not a homogeneous group; they have particularities related to economic, social, and health conditions, as well as ways of living and perceiving old age.

In addition to this, since 2015, Venezuela has been going through a large-scale humanitarian crisis that has disrupted institutional, legal, political, social, and economic areas, negatively impacting the quality of life of the entire population by denying basic human rights such as access to food and health. This damage has a profound impact on older people at the end of their productive life, as they are usually in a situation of dependency, becoming a particularly vulnerable group of the population. In Venezuela, this takes on an additional element when many young people between the ages of 18 and 45 have left due to migration, leaving many elderly people to take care of their grandchildren.

Venezuela is ill-prepared for the accelerating increase in its aging population. This is only exacerbated by the critical situation of Venezuelan families, the widespread shortage of medicines (for instance, by January 2020 antidepressants reached a shortage of 68.9%), the closure of public health care services, low quality of basic services, high rates of violence, and the massive migration of the population – which means that an estimated 23% of senior adults could be living alone. With these compounding effects of the humanitarian crisis, 3 out of 5 elderly people in Venezuela go to bed hungry and have a limited quality of life in general.

Furthermore, the official data and statistics available on older people are few, scattered, and inconsistent, which contributes to the fact that their problems are not visible or even understood, and that the possibilities of compliance with international regulations of their rights are restricted, diminishing the opportunities of a dignified, active, and healthy aging. To make matters worse, the government has stopped publishing most important health statistics which would reveal the gravity of the humanitarian crisis, so the government can minimize crises. In some cases, this has prevented local mayors and governors from becoming aware of issues in their own regions.

In 2012, Luis Francisco realized that the elderly population in Venezuela was in an alarming situation due to the social and economic consequences of a severe political crisis. He found that older adults were suffering from worrying abandonment, making them an extremely vulnerable group. This drove him to investigate and document this reality through a social initiative he called Voices of Scarcity. Building on data collected directly from conversations with the affected group, he showed the implications of the shortage of medicines in the lives of older adults, bringing to light the complexity of the emerging phenomenon amidst the crisis. This would constitute the first step toward establishing the first pillar of his changemaking strategy: generating reliable information to give visibility to the situation and needs of the elderly population. Shortly after this initiative, Luis Francisco realized the enormous potential that data could have since the information he gathered through Voices of Scarcity influenced humanitarian aid actions reaching the older adults in Venezuela. Aware of how the lack of information leads to poor quality services or, even worse, no services to the elderly, Luis Francisco carried out the Monitoring of the Right to Health in Venezuela, through which he sought to address three areas: drug supply, preventable death records, and hospital infrastructure. In 2018 Luis Francisco created the Observatorio de Envejecimiento (Observatory on Aging), through which he collected data and information on all vulnerable populations (women, children, and older adults) under a rigorous methodology as part of his strategy to deliver relevant documentation for public policies. In this same line of work, in the last two years, his Survey of Health and Living Conditions of The Elderly has become an obligatory reference regarding the situation of older adults in Venezuela. This study has been useful in understanding older people’s needs and enhancing the approach to this group.

Luis Francisco understands that reports and statistics, as fundamental as they are for bringing attention to the issues affecting the elderly population, only constitute the predecessors of action. Establishing these data-driven initiatives allowed him to also connect with different actors working in this social field. Luis Francisco would embed the powerful effects of collective action in the second pillar of his changemaking strategy: network and community building. The articulation of this element of his strategy is twofold. Firstly, it facilitates changing the mindset of the elderly about themselves and how they face their living conditions and the mindset of others about how they view and treat the elderly population. For example, his connections enabled the support for economic improvements to help older adults gain autonomy and organizational skills. In parallel, he continued to help organize the various, disjointed base groups of older people, enabling them to create an increased impact in their lives and on others. In addition, Luis Francisco’s commitment to empowering older adults from a human rights perspective has led to a change of view on this matter that goes beyond usual street protests in Venezuela. He has encouraged the elderly to take action through meetings, campaigns, information, alliances with NGOs, and support networks that have allowed older adults to improve their economy, through food stamps, for example, among other mechanisms.
The strategic actions in this sense aim to switch the view of members of the elderly population about themselves, so that they regain their identity as productive and capable members of society with much to contribute. One more example that goes in this direction is a training and employment program to empower older adults. In 2021, Luis Francisco created the slogan "Oportunidad Mayor" or Major Opportunities for Older Adults. Around the slogan, Luis Francisco developed a pilot where 50 older adults developed skills in Psychological First Aid to assist other older adults. In total, 525 older adults who live alone or are disabled benefited from the program. The impact was evident by the radical change in the participants' self-perception, in their paid advisor role and service user roles. Currently, a new cohort is forming. At the same time, he created The Manual of Good Practices in Psychosocial Care for the Elderly” to assist more than 500 people during the pandemic.

A fundamental element in Luis Francisco’s strategy related to network and community building is to share knowledge and train other NGOs in elderly care from a human rights perspective and involve other human rights advocates in his cause. Adopting a human rights perspective can have impactful implications on changing the mindset of others when designing and implementing care services. In this sense, he created the manual Strategies to Protect Life and a training program for promoters and multipliers on Strategies to Protect Life to protect the integrity of older adults and safeguard the free exercise of human rights. His manual was printed and distributed to more than 2,500 people, and the Strategies to Protect Life Program trained more than 400 promoters and multipliers of these practices throughout Venezuela. He also established the Protocol of Primary Health Care which was applied in three states of Venezuela – Miranda, Lara, and Trujillo. The protocol provides guidelines to primary care centers such as outpatient clinics and modules located in working-class neighborhoods so that people receive quality care at the right time.

To facilitate access to needed services for the elderly and simultaneously give visibility to the work of other NGOs, he developed a platform called “Directory of Elderly Care Entities” that shows entities that provide elderly care in 19 cities in the country. The resulting information is posted and shared in a georeferencing tool where users can view and locate the entities in question.

Luis Francisco, as part of his vision of breaking and ending deep-rooted prejudices in society, is denouncing all forms of discrimination against the elderly making age discrimination visible. For example, he is currently part of the global ADA (Age Demands Actions) campaign, aimed at influencing policy and decision-making but also changing societal notions about aging and advancing the respectful treatment of older adults. True to his human rights perspective, Luis Francisco ran a social media campaign called “Older Adults with Rights” in collaboration with Ashoka Changemakers United, reaching more than 100,000 users. Additionally, he has identified a way to promote intergenerational solidarity by involving young researchers in studying the aging process. This initiative generates knowledge about the particularities of the aging process and consolidates an increased empathy based on an improved understanding of older adults’ reality. Intergenerational solidarity is also central in fostering empathy between the young and the elderly, exemplified through Luis Francisco’s initiative called the "Bicycle Care Program". The program was a quick and creative response to the pandemic’s urgent needs, particularly the gasoline shortage in Venezuela. During the program, young people delivered medicines using their bicycles, thus becoming key actors who reacted quickly to the complex crisis. Moreover, during the first weeks of quarantine in Venezuela, Luis Francisco visited nursing homes of the Municipality of Chacao in Caracas, delivering 900 diapers and 200 informative posters on how to prevent COVID-19.

These results give way to the second aspect of this part of Luis Francisco’s strategy. By harnessing his solid network in the face of an acute national crisis, he can increase the reach of urgent humanitarian aid to the elderly population, maximizing direct impact. For instance, harnessing the benefits of a solid network, he organized crowdfunding activities to provide the humanitarian assistance to the elderly population, to collect essential supplies like medicines, food, and personal hygiene items such as diapers, clinical beds, and bed pads, as well as mobility equipment such as canes, wheelchairs, or crutches, in addition to funds for procuring other supplies needed by older adults. In line with this, in 2021, Luis Francisco helped negotiate some first steps toward political depolarization as a strategy to bring together actors from different sectors to create positive humanitarian aid in health. The government and opposition parties agreed to allow a separate entity to approve and direct the importation of humanitarian aid. As part of building trust, this has given CONVITE and its network of allies the security forces' protection to bring assistance to the different localities. CONVITE is now an official importer of humanitarian aid from international agencies, who pay a fee for Luis Francisco and his organization’s work. This has allowed him to more than triple his budget and reach far more broadly and deeply into Venezuela.

Luis Francisco is taking the power of networks and community building to a higher level so that social change scale regionally and internationally. He has already attracted international attention due to his remarkable achievements in Venezuela. This consolidates the third pillar in his strategy: policy change. Regarding his impact at the national and international level on public policies, in 2018, thanks to the efforts of Luis Francisco, Venezuela was granted the first hearing at the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to address the infringement of human rights. Also, since 2018, he has been part of the Andean Aging Network, and in 2019, he became a member of the international NGO HelpAge in Venezuela. During the February 2020 session of the UN in Geneva, Luis Francisco denounced the violations of the human rights of older people and restrictions on humanitarian work.

Between 2021-2022 Luis Francisco managed to get the differentiated needs of the elderly compared to the rest of the population recognized in the Humanitarian Response Plan carried out by OCHA (Office of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations). Additionally, in 2022 Luis Francisco participated in the United Nations Human Rights Council as a spokesperson for Venezuela, after which nine countries showed interest in learning more about the complex humanitarian emergency in Venezuela. In addition to his work with HelpAge led to a recent invitation to help Moldova in March 2022, sharing his expertise and insights to implement humanitarian assistance programs for the elderly population affected by the war in Ukraine.

Luis Francisco's team is spread over 19 cities in Venezuela, made up of 19 local coordinators (five CONVITE staff members and six members from other local NGOs) and 55 regional teams in coordination with other NGOs, in addition to a large group of researchers, collaborators, advisers, and consultants. Luis Francisco has replicated his project in eleven cities in Venezuela and has a support network throughout the country, having various allies, national and international organizations in the public and private sectors, as well as think tanks, workers groups, media, and unions.

While Luis Francisco has pivoted during the last two years to be a major provider of humanitarian assistance, because of his credibility with the government and opposition parties, he is doing so in a manner that is laying the foundation for his vision that older adults can and are contributing much to the eventual reconstruction of the country.

From a very young age, Luis Francisco was appalled by the poor treatment that an older neighbor received after a lifetime of being kind to everyone in her neighborhood. He recalled that "she used to take care of us even without being blood relatives." Later, when Luis Francisco grew up, he saw how she became ill and was confined to her room and neither her relatives nor any of the people whom she had helped, helped her back. From that moment Luis Francisco felt that he had to do something to change that form of mistreatment, stigmatization, and disdain for the elderly and to vindicate their status through a change in the social construct.

Luis Francisco studied Political Science, and began working on population, family finances and housing surveys at a state level with the United Nations Development Program and the National Institute of Statistics. Being based in the State of Lara allowed him to live with very humble people who helped him get to know the reality of rural populations and made him understand how many people survive only because they take care of themselves and help each other. At this moment Luis Francisco was impressed by the situation of the elderly, who were neglected, sick and many were malnourished, and it became clear to him that he had to do something for this population.

He later completed a Diploma in Governance and Political Management at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, a Diploma in Poverty at the Universidad Javeriana de Cali in Colombia, a Master’s degree in Political Action and Citizen Participation in the Rule of Law at the Universidad Francisco Vitoria in Spain, and a specialization in Management of Social Programs at the Lisandro Alvarado University where he met Carlos Aponte Blank, who was his professor and the person who encouraged him to move to Caracas, highlighting his potential at all times and involving him in research on social politics.

A highlight in Luis Francisco's life is his work in the public administration which allowed him to develop programs and public policies in Miranda State, where he worked on topics such as social policies directed towards vulnerable groups, structural evaluation of households in poverty, and the informal economy of Los Teques. He realized that there was not enough data related to health rights, which led him to create CONVITE in 2006. In 2009, Luis Francisco started the Community Observatory for the Right to Health, working in partnership with civil and academic organizations for the defense and enforcement of the right to health of all Venezuelan citizens.

At this point, Luis Francisco recognized that local government welfare policies were not enough and that their role should be played by civil society. As Luis Francisco said, "Nobody was doing anything for this population, who were invisible without any kind of protection, besides being treated with handicap as disposable people without any contribution to give to society".

Since 2015, he has been a member and founder of the NGO Networks of Sinergia AC, an important support network for the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. He is an active member of the Andean Network of Aging, comprised of organizations of older people from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, and part of the global HelpAge network. In 2018, thanks to the efforts of Luis Francisco, Venezuela was granted the first hearing at the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to address the infringement of human rights.

During this last year, Luis Francisco participated in the Longevity Summit with the Ashoka Next Now group and has received feedback and exchange on the employability of older adults, which has been fundamental in achieving his strategy on "Oportunidad Mayor". Additionally, he has been part of the Ecuadorian Ombudsman's Office with Fellow Sonia Andrade of Ecuador, where Luis Francisco presented a paper at the event organized by the Ecuadorian Ombudsman's Office. Luis Francisco also recently joined the Making More Health partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim, in which he presented his Psychological First Aid pilot, and shared his findings on how addressing mental health issues of older adults from this group’s unique perspective serves as a strategy for changing their views on how able they are to keep being active and helpful to society.

Luis Francisco’s vision is that there is an urgent need to break and end prejudices about aging and elderly people and to position his work not only in Venezuela but also in the larger Latin American region.