Total: 413 good practice(s). Download
Seoul Metropolitan Government installed sensors in the homes of vulnerable senior citizens living alone that detect motion, temperature, humidity, and luminous intensity, as part of its Safety/Health Care Solution for Senior Citizens Living Alone project. The data is monitored in real time on bulletin boards of responsible institutions and via caseworkers' mobile phones. If no movement is detected for a set period, or abnormal readings appear, the assigned caseworker immediately contacts and visits the household, taking emergency measures such as calling 119. The system targets seniors who are hard to reach by phone or reluctant to accept visitors due to self-seclusion or depression. Beyond emergency response, the temperature and humidity data have also helped improve elderly residents' living conditions, such as prompting the installation of insect-proof nets using community resources. Seoul plans to expand the program, aiming to install and support 12,500 devices by 2022.
Older persons as ultimate beneficiaries.
By December 2019, the system had recorded 2,082 total cases, including 65 life-saving cases based on motion detection, 21 early detections of death that prevented lonely deaths, 31 cases involving temperature/humidity monitoring, and 1,964 safety/health checks for those at high risk of suicide due to depression or self-seclusion. The programme proved effective at detecting emergencies early, preventing worse outcomes, and saving the lives of seniors who might faint due to health disorders or wander due to dementia. It also enabled safety checks for high-risk seniors who were hard to reach by phone.
Seoul implemented this system by installing sensors, inside the homes of vulnerable elderly citizens living alone. Data was directly streamed to institutional boards and caseworkers' mobile phones. When sensors detected no movement for a set period or abnormal environmental readings, caseworkers were alerted to immediately contact or visit the resident, escalating to emergency services (119) if needed. The program launched small, then scaled progressively based on documented results, 65 life-saving interventions and zero lonely deaths in supported homes, with plans to expand to 12,500 devices by 2022, alongside using environmental data to improve housing conditions.
This is a good practice because it uses innovative, low-cost sensor technology (motion, temperature, humidity, and luminosity detectors) to enable non-intrusive, real-time monitoring of vulnerable seniors living alone, addressing a critical gap that traditional welfare check-ins could not solve, especially for those who are hard to reach by phone or reluctant to accept visitors due to isolation or depression. The system is also highly replicable and sustainable, as it relies on relatively simple, scalable technology paired with existing caseworker networks and emergency response protocols, allowing Seoul to expand the program steadily toward a target of 12,500 devices by 2022.
The Kiribati 20-Year Vision (KV20) 2016-2036 recognizes the role of elders as community leaders for ensure peace and security: "Unimwane or elders or community councils are the ultimate traditional authorities on the islands and they play a critical role in ensuring that there is peace and security in the country." The document explains that elders settle disputes, maintain social cohesion and exercise traditional authority.
Under the "Human Capital Piller", the vision recognizes the role of grandparents and members of the extended family and community as caregivers. Older persons are also recognized as custodians of culture and traditional knowledge, which should be preserved according to the strategy. Community councils are partners in impelemnting the strategy.
The Kiribati Vision 20 (KV20) 2016-2036 was developed through a whole-of-country, participatory and inclusive consultation process designed to ensure national ownership of the Vision.
Kiribati Vision 20 recognizes older persons as active contributors to development. The Vision assigns elders (Unimwane) roles in traditional governance, conflict resolution, community cohesion, caregiving, and preservation of cultural knowledge. It mainstreams older persons within national development rather than treating them solely as welfare beneficiaries.
Bangladesh adopted the National Mental Health Strategic Plan (NMHSP) 2020-2030 to strengthen mental health promotion, prevention, treatment, recovery and rehabilitation nationwide. While the strategy is designed for the population as a whole, it is significant from an ageing perspective because it recognizes that mental and neurological conditions, including dementia, represent an important and growing public health concern and acknowledges specific mental health vulnerabilities among older persons.
The NMHSP incorporates a life-course approach to mental health and explicitly recognizes that neurological disorders such as dementia form part of the overall burden of mental and neurological conditions. The plan further notes that suicide disproportionately affects elderly women in low- and middle-income countries, thereby acknowledging older persons as a population with specific mental health risks.
The plan recognizes dementia as an important neurological and mental health condition requiring attention within the health system and acknowledges the mental health vulnerabilities of older persons, including elevated suicide risks among elderly women.The plan promotes expanded access to mental health care through community-based and primary-care services, which can facilitate earlier identification and management of mental health conditions among older persons.
Citizens of Bangladesh with mental health needs
While implementation is ongoing, the National Mental Health Strategic Plan has already contributed to strengthening the policy and institutional foundations for mental health care in Bangladesh. Early achievements include government endorsement of the strategy, baseline assessments in implementation districts, training of mental health professionals through the WHO mhGAP programme, development of standard operating procedures, and the initiation of integrated mental health services at community and primary-care levels. These reforms are expected to improve access to mental health services for all age groups, including older persons living with depression, dementia and other mental health conditions
The strategy was developed through a highly consultative process. According to the strategy document and supporting documentation, the development process included:
The strategic plan itself includes annexes summarizing stakeholder consultations and focus group discussions, reflecting a participatory development approach.
This strategy represents a positive step towards recognizing mental health as an essential component of healthy ageing. Although not an ageing-specific policy, it places older persons' mental health needs within the national health agenda through recognition of dementia and older-age suicide risks and by expanding access to mental health services across the health system.
National Mental Health Strategic Plan 2020-2030
bangladesh-2022_2023.pdf
The research project was developed with financial support from the United Nations Population Fund in Kyrgyzstan and in cooperation with public foundation "Center for Research of Democratic Processes." The project was focused on compiling and disaggregating official statistics on the population aged 60 and over thematic areas including population size and demographic structure, marriages/divorces, migration, labor force participation and employment status, standard of living and social welfare, education, health, and law/rights violations (including family violence), broken down by sex and territory/region. The data was gathered from the publicly available sources such as national household surveys, administrative registers, and etc. The outcomes of the project are intended for government bodies, researchers, academics, and other stakeholders working on ageing policies and demographic analysis in Kyrgyzstan, providing a base for monitoring the situation of older persons and informing social policy.
Government bodies, researchers, academics, NGOs
It generated and consolidated data on the size and characteristics of the older population, including demographic trends, employment and unemployment, living standards, education, health status, abuse, family violence, and time use. The dataset covers older women and men and provides national evidence for policymaking, research, and population ageing analysis for the period 2017–2021.
The compilation was produced by the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, drawing on multiple existing official data sources. Population, migration, employment, and health data came from civil registration, population registers, and administrative records. Living-standards and poverty indicators were derived from the quarterly Integrated Household Budget and Labor Force Survey. Data on offenses and domestic violence were compiled from law enforcement and crisis-center administrative records. All datasets were then disaggregated by age (60+), sex, and territory/region, compiled into thematic sections (population, employment, living standards, education, health, offenses, time use), and published as a bilingual (Russian) statistical yearbook, with financial support from UNFPA Kyrgyzstan and cooperation with a local research NGO.
This constitutes a good practice because the research project adopts a holistic approach to demographic assessment, drawing on existing data sources and effectively integrating them into a single reference document for use by government bodies, academics, and NGOs in policy and project development. The data collection methodology, which spans multiple data registers, is readily replicable in other contexts provided that inter-institutional collaboration is established. Furthermore, the approach is sustainable in the long term, as it lays the groundwork for future collaborations of this kind.
With the population ageing rapidly, safeguarding the sustainability of the pension system has become a pressing priority. A key challenge arises from the presence of parallel pension schemes, which conflict with the objectives established by the 2009 Pension Reform. Addressing these parallel pensions is essential to uphold fairness, maintain long-term viability, and preserve the financial sustainability of the pension system.This report evaluates the impact of state-provided retirement benefits on equity and system sustainability and provides recommendations to enhance fairness, support fiscal stability, and promote a coherent and enduring pension system.
Policy makers, Parliamentarians
The report was shared with relevant stakeholders
Stakeholder consultations were conducted, gathering insights from all relevant parties, while comprehensive pension-related data was collected to support the development of the case study.
Basing reform decisions on evidence ensures policies are grounded in facts rather than assumptions. Data-driven analysis also enhances transparency and accountability, making policy and legal changes easier to justify. This case study provided a detailed analysis of the government funded defined benefits.
The Residential Care Service Voucher (RCSV) Scheme is a demand-side financing mechanism that subsidizes eligible older persons to purchase residential long-term care services from approved residential care homes. Rather than assigning older persons directly to a subsidized residential care place, the scheme follows a “money-follows-the-user” principle, allowing voucher holders to choose and switch among participating residential care homes according to their preferences and needs. The scheme combines public subsidies with means-tested co-payments, provides a standard package of residential and nursing care services, and allows users to top up for additional services. The objective is to increase choice, flexibility, service responsiveness and access to quality residential care
Beneficiaries are older persons who:
Since its launch as a pilot in 2017, the Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme has expanded choice and flexibility for older persons awaiting subsidized residential care by allowing them to select among participating care homes and switch providers where appropriate. In April 2023, the scheme was regularized, and in June 2024 its coverage was extended to nursing home places, demonstrating continued government commitment. By 2023-24, the Government had provided approximately HK$2.42 billion in voucher subsidies. The scheme has strengthened demand-side financing, increased participation of residential care providers, and promoted affordability through means-tested co-payments, while requiring ongoing improvements in administration and monitoring. Source.
The scheme emerged from Hong Kong's broader elderly care reform agenda, which emphasized:
The RCSV adopts a market-oriented approach in which public funding follows eligible users rather than being allocated solely through traditional institutional subsidies.
The RCSV Scheme is a good practice because it shifts long-term care financing from a provider-centred model to a person-centred, choice-based model. It empowers older persons to select providers that best meet their preferences, introduces competition and responsiveness among service providers, and links public subsidies more directly to user needs.
Executive Summary - Audit Report
Full audit report, Audit Commission
RCE works to protect the rights, dignity, and quality of life of older people in Kyrgyzstan by strengthening social protection, increasing legal and financial literacy, supporting self‑help initiatives, and advocating for fair public policies affecting the older generation. Through a self-help club model, it promotes day-care for older persons, learning for digital literacy, physical activity, life-long learning, medical check-ups and other activities for older persons.
Older persons in Kyrgyzstan
Through free legal and informational support, RCE has helped thousands of older persons access pensions, social benefits, and basic services, reducing exclusion and vulnerability. Its self‑help group model has empowered older people to organize, generate income, improve legal and digital literacy, and actively participate in community life, leading to reduced isolation and stronger social cohesion.
The Resource Center for the Elderly (RCE) was established in 1991, in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Kyrgyzstan experienced a severe economic and social crisis. RCE emerged as one of the first civil society organizations in Kyrgyzstan focused specifically on older people, initially providing humanitarian assistance and basic social support to older persons living in extreme deprivation.
It is a bottom-up organization using the self-help club model. It provided effective support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Промежуточные результаты исследования и анализ выявления проблем и потребностей пожилых людей в Кыргызстане для формулирования предложений в концепции активного долголетияHow a civil society organization in Kyrgyzstan provided a lifeline for older people during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders (注文をまちがえる料理店) is a pop‑up restaurant where servers are people living with dementia or other cognitive conditions. Guests are informed in advance that they may receive a dish different from what they ordered—and that this is entirely intentional. Instead of correcting or hiding mistakes, the restaurant reframes them as a natural part of being human.
People living with dementia and wider society as a change of perceptions benefits all.
The project led to increased confidence and feeling of acceptance among people living with dementia and promoted meaningful interaction and social engagement.
The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders was developed through an experience‑led social innovation process, originating from personal caregiving experience of the founder, a Japanese television director. It was designed as a pop‑up, participatory space that normalizes mistakes to promote dignity and social inclusion for people living with dementia.
It is an innovative way to change attitudes and perceptions.
Restaurant of Mistaken Orders Brings Smiles / The Government of Japan - JapanGov -
The Reverse Mortgage programme offered by Thailand’s Government Housing Bank (GHB) is a financial initiative designed to support income security for older persons by allowing them to convert housing assets into regular cash flow.
Under this scheme, Thai homeowners aged 60–80 can use their fully owned, debt-free property as collateral to access a loan, which the bank pays out in monthly instalments to cover daily living expenses. Unlike conventional loans, repayment is typically deferred, and beneficiaries are not required to demonstrate a minimum income, making the programme accessible to retirees.
The initiative provides flexible loan terms (6 months to 25 years) and up to 10 million baht per borrower, helping older persons maintain financial independence while continuing to live in their homes.
Older Thai home owners between 60 and 80 years of age
According to studies, the use of the reverse mortgage scheme is still low, mainly because of lack of awareness and many older persons want to leave their home as inheritance.
The initiative began in mid‑2019, as part of Thailand’s policy response to population ageing and the need for new financial tools to support older persons’ income security.
The reverse mortgage initiative by Thailand’s Government Housing Bank is a promising but still emerging good practice. It addresses income insecurity among older persons by enabling them to convert housing assets into monthly payments while ageing in place, promoting financial independence and dignity. However, its impact remains limited due to very low uptake. While the programme demonstrates strong innovation and policy relevance in an ageing society, further outreach, design improvements and supportive measures are needed to scale up use and achieve meaningful impact on older persons’ wellbeing.
@RM-Final-Report.pdf
The Constitution of Timor-Leste specifically guarantees the right to social protection by the State to all older citizens of Timor-Leste. Policies have to provide older persons with "opportunities for personal achievement" (Article 20). Further, Article 56 guarantees the right to social protection; Article 56 guarantees the right to health.
All citizens of Timor-Leste who are guaranteed constitutional rights
The old-age allowance is based on the constitutional right to social protection in the constitution of Timor-Leste.
Decree on living allowances for the elderly and persons with disabilities
It takes a rights-based approach.
