In recent decades, life expectancy has increased significantly across OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, including Israel. As longevity advances, the central challenge is no longer limited to extending life, but to improving the quality of those additional years, ensuring independence, functionality, and meaningful participation.
JDC-Eshel, located in Jerusalem, operates within this context, supporting Israel’s transition to a “100-year life” reality through a systemic, cross-sector approach.
Historically, JDC-Eshel has played a central role in developing services for older adults. In recent years, however, its role has evolved from a focus on program development to a focus on system-level impact, influencing policy, service delivery systems, and strategic direction at the national level.
At the core of this approach is a clear objective: delaying dependency and extending years of high functioning. Rather than a prolonged period of decline, the aim is to shift the life course toward longer periods of independence with a shorter duration of disability.
An Integrated Approach
To achieve this, Eshel works across multiple system levels–government ministries, health and welfare systems, local authorities, professionals and older adults–reflecting an integrated, ecosystem-based approach.
A central component of this work is the Optimal Aging Dashboard, Israel’s first national measurement framework for optimal aging. The dashboard defines key outcome domains including health, functioning, social connectedness and economic resilience, and provides a shared evidence-based framework to guide decision making, policy design, and resource allocation.
Importantly, the dashboard has been formalized through a government resolution. Ministries are now required to align their policies with this framework and measure the status of older adults every two years, enabling the monitoring of trends and assessment of progress over time.
Based on this framework, Eshel’s strategy operates along two contemporary axes:
- Prevention: targeting older adults who are vulnerable or at risk, those experiencing health challenges, social isolation or economic hardship, with the aim of preventing deterioration and reducing future dependency.
- Growth: supporting independent and capable older adults to remain active and engaged, including through employment, volunteering, and community participation.
This dual approach reflects a shift from a deficit based model to a capacity-based model, addressing risk while also leveraging the capabilities of older adults as a societal resource.
Key domains of intervention include long-term care and caregiving systems, social connectedness, and retirement preparedness—recognizing retirement as a prolonged life stage requiring sustained engagement, planning, and support. In addition, digital literacy and technology function as cross-cutting enablers across all domains.
A distinctive feature of the model is its reliance on existing large-scale delivery systems—health care, welfare, and municipal services—rather than the creation of parallel structures. This enables scalability, integration, and long-term sustainability.
Recent experience, including periods of crisis, has further highlighted that optimal aging is closely linked to societal resilience. Maintaining functionality, connection, and access to services among older populations is critical not only for individual well-being, but also for system stability.
In this context, the challenge is not only to extend life expectancy, but to systematically improve the distribution of healthy, functional, and meaningful years across the life course.
