The Shift

Each month, we explore one dimension of the New Longevity Paradigm through the question shaping this moment. Discover the New Longevity Paradigm

This month: Organizational

Many of today's institutions were built for shorter lives, and it shows. Schools, workplaces, hospitals, retirement systems, and neighbourhoods were designed for a world where generations moved through separate stages, rarely overlapping.  The New Longevity Paradigm envisions something different: multigenerational physical, social, and digital environments where people of all ages can live well, learn, lead, and contribute together.

 

Whatโ€™s changing is who has to be in the room. Governments alone canโ€™t redesign caregiving. Businesses alone canโ€™t extend healthspan. Communities alone canโ€™t build the ecosystems that longer lives require. As you read this month's network insights, notice where breakthroughs come from unexpected combinations โ€“ a Nobel economist and a Spanish mothersโ€™ movement, a Mozambican health institute and a US university, a Danish municipality and a fleet of bicycles. The question is no longer who owns the problem. It is who needs to work together to solve it.

 

A. Rethinking what a longer life actually means

 

  • Living longer isnโ€™t the same as living better. And the data is catching up with that distinction. A new Lancet Public Health study spanning 204 countries found that while life expectancy is rising almost everywhere, healthy life expectancy is failing to keep pace. Researchers call this the "morbidity gap: more years, but too many of them spent in poor health. Singapore has the world's highest life expectancy, yet its people still spend more than 11 years in poor health. The implication is uncomfortable: longevity without healthspan isnโ€™t the goal. Ashoka Fellow Mark Swift (United Kingdom), through Wellbeing Enterprises CIC, has spent years demonstrating that healthier lives are built not only in clinics but in communities. His work on social prescribing (connecting people to local activities, relationships and support) points to what closing the morbidity gap requires: medicine working alongside community infrastructure, not instead of it. Read more.

     

  • As careers extend into people's 50s, 60s, and beyond, menopause is emerging as a workplace issue rather than a private one. A recent Fast Company investigation reveals how symptoms that undermine confidence, concentration, and performance often go unacknowledged at work, quietly pushing women out of careers theyโ€™ve spent decades building. Ashoka Fellow Riccardda Zezza (Italy), founder of Lifeed, works from a related insight: major life transitions โ€“ parenthood, caregiving, illness, aging- arenโ€™t interruptions to careers. They are opportunities to develop resilience, leadership and new capabilities, if organizations choose to see them that way. The case for menopause support and the case for life-transition-aware workplaces are, at the root, the same case: supporting longer working lives means designing for peopleโ€™s full reality and full arc of life. Learn more.

     

  • Healthy lives and a healthy planet are not separate agendas; they are part of the same story. A new paper from Ashoka's People & Planet and New Longevity teams introduces the concept of Lifelong Environmental Agency, arguing that environmental stewardship should be cultivated across every stage of life, not confined to activists or isolated moments of action. Drawing on the work of Ashoka Fellows and practitioners worldwide, the framework reframes environmental action as a lifelong, intergenerational capacity built through relationships, belonging, and community. As societies live longer on a less stable planet, it makes a compelling case that the future of longevity will depend not only on extending healthy lives, but also on strengthening people's ability to care for the ecosystems that sustain them.

     

    B. How are institutions being redesigned for longer lives?

     

    • As populations age, governments are discovering that longer lives cannot be planned for by health systems alone. A new issue brief from The Pew Charitable Trusts finds U.S. states planning for growing demand in transportation, caregiver support, housing, and aging in place and discovering that none of these can be addressed by a single agency. Transportation topped the list of identified needs, a reminder that mobility is infrastructure for everything else: healthcare access, social connection, employment, independence. Ashoka Fellow Katherine Freund (United States), founder of ITNAmerica, has built community-based transportation models that treat older adults as drivers of their own lives.  The report validates a broader shift: preparing for longer lives is becoming a whole-of-government agenda that needs civic and community partners too.

       

    • Caregiving is one of the biggest unacknowledged threats to retirement security. Millions of family caregivers reduce hours or leave the workforce entirely to care for loved ones โ€” sacrificing their own long-term financial footing in the process. U.S. lawmakers have now introduced bipartisan legislation to help caregivers continue saving for retirement while providing unpaid care, a rare moment of cross-aisle agreement that reflects how visible the problem has become. Ashoka Fellow Ai-jen Poo (United States), founder of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Caring Across Generations, has spent decades insisting that care is work and that it should be counted, supported, and compensated accordingly. The legislative proposals now catching momentum reflect ideas she and her coalition have advanced for years. 

       

    • Family caregiving is beginning to be recognized as essential work, not just an act of love. A recent Forbes feature explores new models that enable people to earn an income while caring for loved ones at home, challenging the long-held assumption that caregiving must come at the expense of financial security. As populations age, these approaches are reframing support for caregivers as both a social and economic investment. Ashoka Fellow Marรญa del Mar Jaramillo (Colombia), founder of Fundaciรณn Soy Oportunidad, is building something similar: pathways for women caregivers to develop digital skills, access employment and entrepreneurship, and grow their economic independence without giving up their caregiving roles. The through-line: investing in caregivers isn't just a social good; it's an economic one.

     

    • Falling birth rates may depend as much on how families share care as on financial incentives. In a recent Bloomberg interview, Nobel Prize-winning economist Claudia Goldin argues that many women are delaying or choosing not to have children because they remain unconvinced that caregiving responsibilities will be shared equally. Her research suggests that countries where men take a more active role in caregiving tend to have higher birth rates, challenging governments and employers to rethink family policy. Ashoka Fellow Laura Baena (Spain), founder of Club de Malasmadres, has spent years challenging the social and workplace norms that load caregiving disproportionately onto women. The economist and the movement are reaching the same conclusion from different directions: the future of families depends on sharing care. 

     

    C. Building the Longevity ecosystem

     

     

    • India's AgeTech ecosystem is maturing from a collection of startups into a coordinated sector, and Brazil is taking notice. In a recent Times Brasil column, Gilmara Espino explores how India's longevity community is building the foundations for long-term growth through shared evidence, a common narrative, patient capital, and collaborative AI infrastructure. Maria Clara Pinheiro, former Ashoka New Longevity lead and now part of WisdomCircle, argues that India's greatest innovation is not extending life at any cost, but developing affordable solutions that can reach millions. The lesson extends beyond India and Brazil: the longevity economy is built not only through innovation, but through ecosystems. Learn more.

       

    • What does it take to build a longevity ecosystem? Last month, Ashoka Colombia offered a compelling answer. Through its Month of Social Innovation for New Longevity, it brought together government, universities, businesses, media, philanthropies, and civil society not for a single event, but through sustained collaboration across an entire month. The initiative engaged 1,292 participants, 71 ecosystem leaders, 34 partner organizations, and nine Ashoka Fellows, while producing a new publication, Living Longer, Living Better: Voices from the Innovation Ecosystem for the Future of New Longevity, capturing perspectives on care, work, intergenerational connection, healthy ageing, and social innovation. It's an example worth studying, not just celebrating. Preparing societies for longer lives isn't the work of any single sector. It's an ecosystem built with intention. 

     

    Perspective 
     
    "Music was my first desire, my first wish." โ€” Sir Anthony Hopkins

    At 88, Sir Anthony Hopkins has released his first single from an album of orchestral compositions he has been working on for more than 60 years. His story isn't just about a late debut; it's about what becomes possible when the people around you stop treating age as a ceiling. The recording label said yes. Listen here.

     

    D. Fellows in action

     

    • Ashoka Fellow Dixon Chibanda (Zimbabwe) and Friendship Bench have been selected for the Marshall Institute's 100x Impact programme, a global initiative supporting organizations with the potential to scale transformational solutions. Through catalytic funding, research, and strategic partnerships, Friendship Bench will expand its community-based model that trains older adults to provide mental health support. The selection reinforces growing recognition that expanding access to mental healthcare depends not only on clinicians, but also on trusted community relationships.

       

    • Ashoka Fellow Gabriela Agustini (Brazil) is bringing national attention to one of the emerging challenges of longer lives: digital exclusion. Through Olabi's new Transborda 60+ report and national television appearances, she highlights how facial-recognition systems, AI, and poorly designed digital services can prevent older adults from accessing banking, healthcare, and public services. Her work reframes digital inclusion not simply as a technology challenge, but as a matter of rights, participation, and autonomy.

       

    • Ashoka Fellow Sanjeev Arora (United States) continues to expand the reach of the Project ECHO model, with Mozambique's National Institute of Health, to strengthen workforce development through virtual mentorship and collaborative learning. By connecting students, health professionals, and experts across regions, the initiative demonstrates how knowledge-sharing networks can help build stronger, more resilient health systems without requiring expertise to be concentrated in one place.

       

    • Ashoka Fellow Ole Kassow (Denmark) continues to demonstrate how connection can be designed into everyday life. This month, Cycling Without Age signed a two-year partnership with Lolland Municipality to expand its network of volunteer cycle pilots and establish new local coordination hubs. More than a transport initiative, the partnership strengthens the social infrastructure that enables older adults to remain connected to their communities. It offers a simple but powerful reminder: mobility is not only about getting from one place to another, it's also about creating opportunities for belonging, participation, and joy. 

       

      Your Turn: 

      • Is intergenerational connection the missing infrastructure for thriving communities? A conversation hosted by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) and Ashoka explores why designing opportunities for generations to learn, contribute, and solve problems together may be one of the most overlooked opportunities in philanthropy today. Featuring Marc Freedman, Trent Stamp, and Arielle Galinsky, the discussion examines how intergenerational approaches can strengthen work across education, mental health, climate, democracy, and community wellbeing.  Watch the conversation.

         

      • In 2026, Ashoka New Longevity aims to support 10 new Fellows and raise $1 million to identify, elect, and scale their work. Donate

       

      • Do you know an exceptional social innovator driving systems change in longevity across healthy living, lifelong contribution, caregiving, intergenerational connection, or narrative change? Nominate an Ashoka Fellow