Preparing for a 100-Year Life: Rethinking Aging, Work, and Purpose

Neil Rerup (00:01.415)
Welcome everybody. today we have the pleasure of talking with Gregor Snaden. Gregor, I hope I pronounced your last name properly. Gregor is the Secretary General from the International Federation on Aging. Now it always sounds better coming from the person I’m talking to. So Gregor, welcome. And why don’t you tell everybody who you are and a little bit about yourself and your organization?

Gregor Sneddon (00:27.896)
Thanks, Neil. Glad to be here. Thanks for having me. Yes, you you said my name pretty good. Gregor Snedden. I’m the Secretary General of the International Federation on Aging. We’re a global organization driving

Intersectoral collaboration on healthy aging and longevity. Been around since around 1972. We work closely with general consultative status with the United Nations and formal relations with the World Health Organization. We try we do see aging, aging populations as a triumph, as something to celebrate.

But our societies and our systems are not ready. With the pace of global aging, we just simply do not have the economic and health infrastructure and social infrastructure to welcome these arriving guests that are already at the door. And so our work is really about advocacy for policy change, system change on on for aging populations.

From a human rights lens and a life course perspective.

Neil Rerup (01:43.877)
Interesting. You used the term guests. Why did you use that term? It’s the first time I’ve heard the term guests towards people in the second half of life.

Gregor Sneddon (01:55.555)
Well, I I just like to think of it you know, we’re not prospecting here. Like is there you know, gold off the coast or oil off the coast of Newfoundland? we’re we’re this is a certainty. The future age population aging is a certainty. You know, the number of people sixty-five and older, it in the latest statistic from the World Economic Forum twenty twenty-six report will double by twenty forty.

People over the age of 85 by 2050 will be tripling. And most of these will be in low and middle income countries. And so this is an arriving future. How can we let that future change the present? If we know this future is arriving and we know what we what we want for older people, lives of dignity and choice, participation, health.

and functional ability, the the the capacity to choose what one values, how is that going to change the present? So it’s like you’ve well had a have a dinner party, you’ve invited all the guests, they’re all arriving in a few minutes, but have you prepared the food? Have you cleaned the house? Have you swept the the steps to welcome your your friends and family who are arriving?

Neil Rerup (03:18.461)
So you guys are focused globally as opposed to nationally with Canada or you know, regionally with

Why global?

Gregor Sneddon (03:29.762)
Well, our work is at the it is at the country level, but it’s it’s advocating for it’s it’s it’s policy change. So it’s working with all our multina multilateral partners, ever that could be the International Labor Organi Labor Organization, the the OECD or or the World Health Organization, the the UN to influence and drive change with member states, with governments.

and so regional and global. So we do that through a number of mechanisms. The United Nations General Assembly, for example, or the high level political forum, or at the World Health Assembly of the WHO. we we work with our colleagues other civil society and private sector academia to

transform evidence into action. So we we work hard to influence and drive change at a at a at a global and regional level, which affects governments. So that the the the government governments will adopt policies where that opens the gateway and the capacity and the structure, the pol pol the the the policy infrastructure

to allow for those changes, whether it’s investment or changes in health systems or economic systems. So that’s what we do. So and then we try to translate that down to the local and we also our global membership, our country level or regional organizations and other local organizations or aggregators that also help and support and provide us with the data and the voice of older people.

To influence and make those changes at the global level. So some examples could be we’re working closely supporting the Convention on the Rights of Older Persons. So we were part of the open-ended working group for 14 years in New York, which was finally passed to begin drafting a legally binding instrument for the protection of the rights of older persons.

Gregor Sneddon (05:43.791)
So then it goes back to Geneva to the Human Rights Council at the UN. So now we we support and engage on the drafting of that convention. we might advocate for something at the WHO, for example. We still have this st statement or policy statement that death before 70 is is unnatural morbidity, but anything after 70.

is is natural morbidity. So well what does that really say from a policy structure? Are some people, are we going to invest in people that are naturally going to die anyway when we we live in a in a world where 50% of the popul of newborns in Europe today have a 50% chance of living to a hundred years old. We somebody at the the IMF report in 2025 noted that a 70 year old has the cognitive capacity of a 52 year old just 20 years ago.

So we’re living much longer and our population is aging. So can we make that change of changing that language at the WHO and with member states, for example? Or we might we might be advocating for adult uptake of of immunization. We know that it is the biggest lever on older adult health in later life. It has a 19 times return on investment.

to the dollar annually. So how can we help have proper education and avoid bad science and and increase and build trust on building adult immunization? Or yes, so first those are some examples.

Neil Rerup (07:29.669)
Interesting. Interesting. So are you are you seeing governments actually starting to focus on older individuals or are they do they still have the blinders?

Gregor Sneddon (07:44.129)
Well, you know, it’s a bit it is a long journey. there are many countries who, for example, on the on creating the the convention on the rights of older people may argue that, well, we would rather put our investment into strengthening current human rights structures as opposed to adding a new element, a a new convention, for example.

You know, population aging is one of those things where it’s also very political because you know, at the global level, you’re also dealing in many cases with four year election cycles. and oftentimes the investment or the movement of of of making structural change for aging populations is a long term investment. And politically that that can be a more difficult carrot.

to wave to so we that’s that’s another issue. We are constantly advocating for example the the sustainable development goals there is some but not enough barely an any actually mention of older people the we I sit on the NGO committee for finance for development and there is a a large movement now as a

Something called the Sevilla commitment that was the the UN made and member states agreed to. That was last year that talks about restructuring our global economic system, an economic system that was built on the 1940s on a restructuring after World War II. It’s about investment in in in structure. It doesn’t build resilient societies, it doesn’t anticipate.

you know, island nations that in low and middle income countries that could have a a catastrophic climate disaster and wipe out an economy over a weekend. It doesn’t build resilient economies and we’ve it we are we are hamstrung by sovereign debt. Some countries paying 60 cents or more on the dollar of every of of their GDP just to service interest on debt. and the the way that

Gregor Sneddon (10:09.634)
countries are evaluated by their their risk level, it it it it discourages investment. So countries that are trying to change and grow, they it’s they’re in a very difficult place. So when you come to talk about aging, it tends to go down the totem pool when you have many countries that are just trying to survive, to defend their borders, have potable water and some access to protein for their populations. And

some infrastructure, many social issues, including a what would be considered aging, get pushed down the totem pole. Even though the the facts are all there, that the the cost burden, the the the the loss of revenue, the clear opportunity economically of of of of investing in an aging society is there.

It’s it’s a slow but continuous battle. We’re we’re we’re fighting a marathon.

Or running a map.

Neil Rerup (11:11.847)
So you’re in Ottawa. Do you have reach into other continents or how how’s IFA organized?

Gregor Sneddon (11:22.068)
Yes, well actually our office is in Toronto and our staff, we have staff in Chiang Mai, we have in in different parts of Canada. so we operate generally our our team works fairly virtually. We we are our our Toronto office is active but we tend to work virtually because we’re working in multiple time zones and we really do stay in the global and regional lane to

you know, really convene that space on on glo on population aging. And we also, you know, it’s important to note too that that aging is not the the property of the old. Aging is there’s only one alternative to aging, Neil. if you’re not aging, there’s only one opportunity. yes. it’s a life course approach. So preparing for aging

Neil Rerup (12:10.225)
Is better than the alternative, as I had somebody say it to me once.

Gregor Sneddon (12:17.858)
Is something that you’re doing your your whole life. especially now when we think about, you know, you may have an extra an additional 20, 30, 40 years. The old narrative of being a child you know, child and educated and then working and then tacking on, you know, 10 years to en enjoy those 10 golden years is is no more. you may have 10, 20, 30, 40 years of of lifespan. how do we make that lifespan also have a positive

Health span, meaning that you’re not spending half of those years or more in very poor health. And then we also talk about wealth span. How are you engaging and how are you maintaining your capacity to participate in an economy and not be in a in a vulnerable space because you haven’t properly prepared? And also addressing our systems. Again, this would come from the policy perspective.

is we have global issues of informal economies, care giving unpaid caregiving economy, which really affects gender. Women end up carrying the brunt of of those informal economies and end up not having the social security of their male counterparts and end up in very difficult position in in older life. In fact in Europe, the only growing demographic of poverty is older women.

So, how do we how do we also address pension systems that in some cases would punish you for working once you start re receiving your pension? Or how can we we we we need older people to continue to stay working? that can grow GDP significantly. There’s a really great report just out by the World Economic Forum, their 2026 report that

That shares a lot of this data, I’m happy to share. But but we don’t can we create flexible work environments for older people? Or you know, one of the main reasons that that prevent an older person from returning to work is a health shock. So, what are the pathways we can have to allow somebody to come back to work if they’ve if they’ve had a setback health-wise or adaptable work environments, reskilling, retooling.

Gregor Sneddon (14:38.902)
For older populations, especially as our younger working populations decline.

Neil Rerup (14:43.325)
Are you seeing a lot of I’ll use the term ageism because of the expectation is, you know, when you get into your sixties, you just can’t keep up or do the work anywhere, which I to me being sixty-one is ludicrous. But there is that thought process out there.

Gregor Sneddon (15:04.74)
well absolutely. OECD countries could lose nearly five hundred billion dollars through underemployment of adults age fifty-five plus by twenty forty. That’s from the the that’s from the report I just mentioned. that’s huge issue, and that’s that’s inherent ageism.

We also housing is another big one that w that completely affects older people being able to work. you know, preventative care. We still we still we still have an economy that is that it’s our our global health system incentivizes downstream treatment. it not prevention. So w we’re not

We’re it’s not designed for an aging population. Once again, our health system was also built after a post-war rebuild where you had seven working people per single retired person. now that’s almost two people for every retired person. so so our our health and our economic system are based on affecting infection or or treating infectious disease, or we incentivize hospital stays and

and expensive treatment. Even for a country like Canada that that has our our healthcare system, the system is not built for prevention, an ecosystem of well-being. It’s it’s meant it’s meant for sickness treatment. So ageism, ageism is what informs all of these policy decisions. And and you know we all have an ageist narrative to some degree. It it’s inherent. I mean just go to a go buy a

go buy a birthday card for somebody or look at the makeup industry, look at you know, the choices we make.

Neil Rerup (16:59.633)
Ha ha.

Gregor Sneddon (17:08.502)
So yes, ageism is a is a big one that I think is is is part of a deep meta narrative that is not an easy one to solve. And some of the greatest culprits are older people themselves.

Neil Rerup (17:23.579)
Yeah, we internalized ageism. I’m just getting too old for this type thing.

Gregor Sneddon (17:29.088)
Yeah, I’m too old for that. Yeah, I’m having a seniors moment. all of those kinds of questions, you know. I can’t do technology, you know, things like that.

Neil Rerup (17:38.119)
Well okay, don’t say that, ’cause that’s my background. so a lot of this feels

Gregor Sneddon (17:42.04)
Yeah.

Neil Rerup (17:48.126)
Tactical. And the reason why I say that is and I’m not saying what you’re doing, I’m talking about the way governments think. I th this occurred to me when I was interviewing Dan Levitt, who’s the senior advocate for the BC government. I understand Dan used to be working with your organization in some way.

Gregor Sneddon (18:03.372)
Yep, I know damn well.

Gregor Sneddon (18:10.078)
He was a board director for for some time. Yeah. And when he took the role with the B C Seniors Advocate he had to s he had to step down or so.

Neil Rerup (18:20.101)
Right. one of the pillars that TTN has is identity and emotional reinvention. And a number of my guests have talked about how without friends, that lifespan doesn’t extend. without without a purpose, the quality of life doesn’t go on. Yeah, what we’re talking about isn’t so much about extending that life and extend improving the quality of life.

as much as it is the tactical components. So it’s like you were just talking about how our healthcare system is set up to focus on dealing with the illness once it hit happens, as opposed to preventative.

Is that this is my my question to you is are we doing the same sort of thing but in general rather than doing the preventative aspects and focusing on the preventative aspects?

Gregor Sneddon (19:26.22)
Yeah, well I mean there there’s a few things there, f Neil. I mean, preventative health has been difficult to I mean it’s it’s because the whole economic system is built to incentivize treatment, its policy structure i it it it’s needs to have a massive adjustment and change to really be able to reward and welcome preventative health.

Oftentimes some preventative health, like for example, there’s a there was an instrument, and it escaped my mind right now, but it was an instrument you could use at home to measure your blood pressure that showed like 12, 13 times investment value in you know lower lower hospital beds, lower ambulance time. You this was in the US.

But the upfront cost of equipping people with these tools is just nobody wants to take the lead because the whoever invests in the upfront tools are not necessarily the ones who are going to benefit from the reward. It could be the hospitals that are benefiting or private sector or a provincial government or a municipal government or or a federal government. So we haven’t got those those discussions in alignment yet. The same that would be the same for, for example,

immunisation, vaccine investment, adult uptake, because the reward is dispersed across the different layers of government and private sector and so on. So so it it’s you know, who’s gonna take the upfront cost, but the reward goes downstream. So those are kinds of some issues about policy change at a for preventative health, for example. you you touched on I think you touched on

Neil Rerup (21:00.317)
Yeah.

Gregor Sneddon (21:21.486)
identity and emotional being I mean there’s a couple of things on on that I would say. you know the WHO we we talk about functional ability and functional ability we want to maintain functional ability for as long as possible. And you could have comorbidities, you could have several different health issues, but if you can maintain you can maintain functional ability even within those.

Functional ability is the ability to choose, to do the things that you value, to choose to do the things that you value. And in a way that talks to self-determination and the and free will, the capacity to choose. It talks about relationships being relational and it’s very person-centered.

Gregor Sneddon (22:18.742)
You know, one of the amazing things that I one of them an amazing thing to hear if you’ve ever heard it is an ultrasound. If you ever heard an ultrasound, there that’s this swishing kind of sound, you know, and out of nothing this life emerges, you know. And that life is completely in complete relationship. It’s like pure relationship.

Neil Rerup (22:31.985)
Yeah. Yeah.

Gregor Sneddon (22:46.53)
To its environment, to its mother. I mean, it exists in relationship. And for some reason, in that swishing little life, there is a will. There’s a, there’s a, there’s something. We maybe it’s like a purpose or a or a or a or an identity that is for some reason stepping forward. It it’s it’s for no for no apparent reason. It just it it is. You we can talk about.

magnetic fields and the electric impulse and so on. But for some reason there is a life, there is a a life there. It’s in relationship and it has a a purpose or like a a will. Well it turns out that that’s exactly the same at the throughout our that’s what our identity is our whole life and then most certainly at the end of life is purpose and relationship.

So we grow up through all the different seasons and chapters of of life and relationship and identity or purpose takes on different qualities as as a child, as a teenager, your working life. Think about your purpose and your your set of relationships. And as you you know, as you get older, those things the some of those begin to decline. You you you stop working. So what’s my

Person, raison d’être now. What am I supposed to do? What what gives me my purpose? What what are the things I value and like to do? I don’t know anymore. And then also you can lose some of those key relationships. You know, sometimes we talk about identity as a as a constellation of relationships that keep telling us who we are. Give us being, give us purpose. And when we lose those significant relationships, we don’t just mourn the loss of somebody.

Neil Rerup (24:29.498)
No.

Gregor Sneddon (24:38.712)
We’re also reconstructing who we are in the world. Because we don’t have that mirror, that that context affirming and giving us our meaning and purpose. So on those l seasons of t those those those penultimate seasons at the end of life, who knows where what what comes next? relationship and identity are just as critical as they were in the womb. And when they were through every stage of your life.

But but many of the scaffolding of those two things are maybe falling away. So how do we r retain and and build quality, good relationships? And how do we keep finding purpose and meaning in our life? those two things are absolutely clear, and the data shows that across the board. The impact of social isolation and loneliness is

Neil Rerup (25:15.879)
Yeah.

Gregor Sneddon (25:38.004)
is is has a bigger effect than smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. and so many interventions that give people purpose, identity, and relationship and self-determination. They’re the ones that are most powerful and have the biggest impact.

Neil Rerup (25:55.944)
So taking that entire thought process and then looking at what governments are actually focusing on housing, healthcare. I think there were some other things that you had mentioned. Let’s just take housing as an example. Is are those focuses that you were just talking about with regards to relationships, are they influencing the policies around housing, where the housing is meant to

support the continuation of relationships, of creating new relationships? Or are they just we need to lower costs for older people so that they have a roof over their head?

Gregor Sneddon (26:43.394)
Well, you know, you have to speak the language of the person that you’re talking to. So, you know, when you you you speak to people who are only concerned about the money, you’ve got to talk about the money. You you know, you’ve got to talk about the ROI, the return on investment. Soon as you start veering into social impact or health, the eyes blaze over, this is somebody else’s department. So

We have to speak to the various to t to make change, to to move things through move things at the snail’s pace speed of global advocacy work at the at the global and country level. you have to speak accordingly. But yes, it is because we because that’s what we know to be true. So we are armed with that evidence and knowledge.

Neil Rerup (27:22.663)
Mm-hmm.

Gregor Sneddon (27:40.217)
There’s several movements, like the Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities of the WHO, that is all about integrating personal and relational centered design into our work. The WHO also ICOP, the integrated care of older persons, is very person and relational centered. So there is there is a strong movement about around person and relational centered care and systems.

And we we articulate that and use that narrative as required, but the the the evidence is there. You know, I have a good I have a good friend of mine, Dr. Rain Strubel, in Cape Town, South Africa, and Rain, big Afrikaans man, did his PhD work on the effects of apartheid on dementia.

In the informal settlements among the poor people in South Africa. And he went to a community, he was very concerned that how he would be accepted and so on. And lo and behold, he was welcomed with open arms. And one of the things when he started trying to do his data collection analysis is that he couldn’t find anyone with dementia. He couldn’t find, he thought it would be this catastrophe because they really

They have their health system is is obviously not great, but he couldn’t find anyone with dementia. He was astonished. And what he discovered was that in those informal settlements that they’re they’re they’re packed together like like like that that every single person belongs and has a purpose. So anti soans, nobody eats alone, nobody runs out of food.

anti-so-and-so watches the kids after school or helps fold the laundry. And they they’re n nobody is named by a disease or an illness. They’re they’re they’re name and they belong first. And they and they have a role to play in the in in these tight-knit communities. And of course, there is the dementia as there is anywhere else.

Neil Rerup (29:42.653)
Mm-hmm.

Gregor Sneddon (30:08.034)
But it’s it’s not we don’t it’s not experienced in the same way with with with isolation and treatment. It’s just part of the of the life course and and the the the the the effects of its community integration because of that identity and and purpose are are profound. So his organization, Gerintech, now is really working hard at at policy development and also training on person and relational centered care.

throughout South Africa. great guy. You might like to have him on your show sometime.

Neil Rerup (30:41.705)
if you could introduce me, I’d appreciate it. It’s interesting. While you were talking about that, I was thinking about a previous guest of mine, Raymond Jetson. Raymond is the author of Aging While Black. He’s one of the things I noticed with all my guests was first off, they were predominantly female, and they were all Caucasian. so I wanted to get a different perspective. So I

Gregor Sneddon (30:44.653)
Mm-hmm.

Neil Rerup (31:09.615)
had Raymond on to talk. And one of the things he said that I’ll keep in the back of my mind is you can’t separate aging from the other issues that go on in society. For example, the racism, for example, the sexism, that sort of thing, the the classisms. ageism, the more that there are other issues, the more that impacts how you age.

Because if you don’t have those issues, you can go to a certain height. Those other issues start limiting how how well you can go, how long you can go, how the quality of life that you have. And it’s it’s an additive effect as we go along. So when you started talking about the apartheid and the fact that because people are packed together there, the dementia aspects

weren’t nearly as prevalent. I find interesting. Maybe that’s simply because of the community tightness, ignoring the other aspects.

Gregor Sneddon (32:19.81)
Yeah, and I don’t wanna be you know, romanticizing poverty. I mean it it it’s they they there they it you know it it isn’t there is extreme poverty in those societies, but it was more just in relation to the the the aging and and and experience of dementia that because of the close the the close knit identity, belonging and purpose that that that

Neil Rerup (32:25.319)
No.

Gregor Sneddon (32:50.476)
that makes that experience so very, very different. What what I think you’re talking about, Neil, too, is you know, intersectionality. So health outcomes are are or life and health outcomes, for example, are are demonstratively dictated by by your economic status, how you grew up, your your

other comorbidities that you may have, the kind of diet that you eat, depending on from where you’re from. You may have a particular healthy or unhealthy diet. your your your social connections and relations, the kind of work that you did, the lifestyle that you led. Are you active or are you do you do you are you you smoke and drink or do you you know all of those things have have have a total impact on how you age. That’s why we take a l a life

coarse approach to to to aging just doesn’t suddenly happen when you’re sixty five. It’s it’s happening from the moment you’re born and all of those factors are going to influence you. S in in many ways, especially your early life and the economic

Neil Rerup (33:58.13)
Yeah.

Gregor Sneddon (34:01.78)
area that you that you were born into.

Neil Rerup (34:04.199)
Yeah. I’ve come to the belief that we need to stop having these boxes for times in our life because they’re not we

Neil Rerup (34:18.543)
It they limit what solutions that we can look at. So for example, we go to school, then we work, then we retire. But what we do in going to school and work will impact that that’s second half of life aspects as well. So the entire concept of having these boxes to me should go away.

Because they influence right through to the end of life.

So

Gregor Sneddon (34:54.582)
Yeah, there’s a there’s a you know, my background really is in is in theology. And so the great Saint Augustine, for example, would say that that, you know, time, linear time is a is a human construct, but the universe or or you God sees sees all of time all at once like a like a like a painting. So you the fullness of you is already exists, but you experience it.

starting from here. And that identity, yielding to that identity that is already existing, is our life journey, yielding to that personhood that that that we are, which is interesting.

Neil Rerup (35:41.915)
You had mentioned with regards to you were talking a lot from a a GDP and a

growth of an economy with regards to having people continue work or basically it’s another group of people that are not necessarily providing to the growth of and and I’m I’m doing a bad job paraphrasing so my apologies with regards to the organization the countries but I remember when or one of my early interviews a comment

On the video itself was saying if somebody wants to t force me or take away my retirement, I’ll be up in arms. That goes back to that structure of people work till 65 and then they stop. Are you seeing, not necessarily from governments, but from people, from society as a whole, a resistance to change of these concepts?

Gregor Sneddon (36:48.953)
Well, I I I think so, but there is also even far more so the reality that many people cannot afford to retire and yet they have to. That’s that would be the far greater worry. there are many people that just simply have to work till they die. They they just have no no choice. so th there’s no I mean we’re we’re very you know, we are extremely

extremely fortunate in many cases here in the West that we have the luxury of pension systems and in and we can retire at 60 65 if we so choose. And nobody I I don’t think anyone is trying to force anybody to work. But you know our our our we could grow global GDP per capita

per person according to the OECD by by twenty percent over ten years for people to work an additional say ten years instead of retiring you know to work till seventy say in a in a flexible environment with with lowering fertility rates our workforce is depleting and we at at the same time and I hate to use these static the the the these this word, but the the the the the the number of older people that require you know pensions or or

Neil Rerup (37:52.093)
Mm-hmm.

Neil Rerup (38:13.234)
Yeah.

Gregor Sneddon (38:13.623)
social service is is growing while our workforce is shrinking. So but that drag on on that burden of drag, which is you I think is something like around globally five percent GDP, could almost, almost be offset by creating a more flexible working environment and allowing people to work longer. You know, there’s a statistic that an an an entrepreneur over the age of 50 has there’s

Something like a 70% success rate on startups versus an almost like a an 18% startup rate for those under 30, you know, for example. So there’s there’s great wisdom and value in including an intergenerational workforce and creating the opportunity for those who wish to be able to adapt and in a in a age-friendly work environment.

And there’s all kinds of programs and policies globally, especially like in Japan, for example, where they w they they reward, they incentivize employers to keep their their keep an an older workforce alongside their younger

Neil Rerup (39:30.717)
I interviewed early in my podcast Dr. Catherine Rickwood, who’s a researcher down in Australia. And one of the things and she was looking at older people and the workforce, and she was seeing an increase, albeit slowly, of job sharing. So people may not want to be working 40 hours a week.

Maybe they want a 30 or 20, or they would gradually want to remove themselves. And by job sharing with somebody younger, you get that training capability for somebody younger. And at the same time, you still have pretty much the same number of hours. The cost to the employer is still the same. Do you see an increase from the job sharing side of things?

Gregor Sneddon (40:25.263)
Mm, I I I haven’t really learned too much about that particular way of including older people in the workforce. but there are multiple ways, but but it does speak to flexible work hours and adaptive ways to include older people who may not want to work full time or may not be able to do the same physical amount of work if it’s a if it’s a more physical b j job.

Neil Rerup (40:40.178)
Yeah.

Neil Rerup (40:54.62)
Right.

Gregor Sneddon (40:55.127)
Transitioning skill development. there’s a lot of movement about ensuring that we build skill training and skill development earlier in the in the young force. So employers are often, they’ll skill up and train younger younger employees, but they don’t want to invest in training for an older employee. So and also older employees, if they there is some data that would suggest that.

If they haven’t done any skill development in their career, you know, they stayed in one job. If they haven’t done any skill training or job tra changing even up until a certain age, like I think it’s like 35 or 40, it’s very difficult and unlikely that they they will engage. So it’s important to again from a life course perspective lens, develop people need to think of themselves and their employers need to think of them.

as constantly growing and evolving so that skill development just becomes normal. It’s what you do. You’re always upgrading your use of technology. You’re always learning new skills. You’re you’re you’re always looking to a potential shift in career and preparing for that. So that so that it just becomes normal. I mean people nowadays will have four or five different roles and responsibilities through a career as opposed to the old I’m the you know company man for my entire career. It it

So that that’s that’s another aspect to consider.

Neil Rerup (42:25.511)
So what’s IFA focused on right now? Like from a strategy point of view, we typically take a focus area once a quarter, once an annual focus, and then as we go along, we don’t necessarily go broad scope. What do you what’s IFA focused on right now?

Gregor Sneddon (42:44.407)
Well, we work to serve as as you know, kind of a a backbone convener, multi-sector convener on aging, globally. Some of our our key impact areas are person and relations centered health and continuum of care. So that’s everything from long term care, home based care,

you know, investment in in care, what that value is, vision health, or hearing health, or sensory health, adult immunization, non-communicable diseases, integrated care of older persons. we we work very closely with with the WHO and their impact areas. So

that work is is is important to us ongoing and really the impact of of creating longevity ready societies. So not longevity of trying to work so hard to make us live as long as possible, but creating the societies to for aging populations. Longevity ready societies is is key. Another one for us is the longevity ready

environments and communities or sometimes age-friendly environments. So that’s very interesting. City planning like you were talking about earlier. How do we how do we make sure and inform policy that we’re not just creating a utilitarian you know bunch of buildings, but it’s it’s designed with with a a friendly design, not just older people but but people with disabilities, intergenerational. Is there healthcare

available? is there employment opportunities? Is there social engagement? Is there nature? Is there how do we impact that for a future society? You know, I remember visiting St. John’s Newfoundland a couple of years ago and you know, every single house in that town, love that town, has stairs because it’s kind of built on the side of a hill. So, you know, you’d meet an older person who used to love to go to the opera, the theater or

Neil Rerup (44:51.217)
Yeah.

Gregor Sneddon (44:55.989)
Or go see their family for Thanksgiving and they just can’t because they just cannot get up and downstairs, for example. So

Neil Rerup (45:01.573)
It’s it’s like the here in Vancouver every intersection now has a wheelchair ramp.

Gregor Sneddon (45:08.855)
Yeah, yes, exactly. So the age friendly movement, and and Canada was real pioneers on that. you know, Suzanne Garon, one of the on our board of directors, who’s at University of Sherbrooke, one of the pioneers along with other Canadians, of of creating that age friendly movement. so that’s that’s that’s amazing. And even simple technologies and age friendly too in areas where maybe they don’t have the infrastructure to to in invest in that.

And then thirdly, another area for us is on in investment in longevity. You know, how do we bring together private sector, government, philanthropy? What’s the return on investment? What’s working? What are the best levers? How do we how do we help governments and others incentivize and invest in in longevity and aging? So those I think would be sort of our three.

key areas at the moment, but we do other work, technology and AI. we really you know interested in the intersection of climate change and and aging and resilient societies for example so and of course human rights everything for us is from a human rights lens and and an ageism lens and a life course lens.

Neil Rerup (46:33.447)
Well, we’re getting towards the end of the interview. and I always ask this one last question of every guest I have. If you’re gonna give one piece of advice to whoever is listening, regardless of what the audience is, what would that one piece of advice be?

Gregor Sneddon (46:51.363)
Hm, one piece of advice. Well

It would be to

Attend inwardly to your own remote.

Biases, don’t believe everything you think, and to love one another.

Gregor Sneddon (47:16.057)
Take the risk. Take the risk to the neighbor you don’t know, to the older person in your community or the person that’s different from you and find common ground and let’s make a a a better world. That’s the only way to do it.

Neil Rerup (47:16.167)
That’s yeah.

Neil Rerup (47:30.181)
Yeah, that goes back to setting up those relationships. Gregor, I really appreciate it. for everybody that’s listening, in the description for this video, I’ll put links to the various different groups that Gregor has identified. For example, iCO iCOP was one of the things that he mentioned, as well as to the IFA by nature.

so feel free and feel free to reach out to the International Federation of Aging or Gregor if he’s available, to get get some information. Anyway, Gregor, thank you very much.

Gregor Sneddon (48:10.435)
Thank you, Neil and friends. Take care. Reach out anytime.

Neil Rerup (48:13.831)
Thank you.