The Pact for the Future
Fifty-six actions across development, peace and security, technology, youth and the reform of global institutions.
United Nations Headquarters, New York
Caregiving at the Summit of the Future
In September 2024, Caregivers Asha Society travelled to the United Nations in New York for the Summit of the Future — the meeting at which governments set out what the international system owes the generations still to come. We went to make sure one question was in the room: who looks after the people who look after everyone else?
When
20–23 September 2024
Where
UN Headquarters, New York
Representing CAS
Dr Arvind Mathur & Apurv Mathur
The occasion
What the Summit of the Future was
The Summit of the Future was convened by the United Nations Secretary-General and held at UN Headquarters in New York on 22–23 September 2024, preceded by two Action Days on 20–21 September that opened the conversation to civil society, young people, the private sector and local government.
It was called to answer a blunt question: the institutions built in 1945 were not designed for the problems of the 2020s, so what has to change? Member States adopted the Pact for the Future, an agreement spanning sustainable development and its financing, international peace and security, science and technology, young people and future generations, and the reform of global governance itself.
Two further agreements were annexed to it — a Global Digital Compact on the governance of digital technology and artificial intelligence, and a Declaration on Future Generations, committing states to weigh the interests of people not yet born.
Global Digital Compact
The first comprehensive global framework for digital cooperation and the governance of artificial intelligence.
Declaration on Future Generations
A commitment to weigh the interests of generations not yet born in the decisions taken today.
Why we were there
Ageing is a global question. Caregiving is still treated as a private one.
Every country represented in that building is ageing, and every one of them relies on the same unpaid workforce to absorb the consequences — daughters, sons, spouses and parents providing full-time care with no training, no relief and no place in any national plan. In India that workforce runs into the millions. It appears in almost no budget line.
A summit about what we owe future generations is precisely where that should be said. Caregivers Asha Society went to New York to carry the experience of India's family caregivers into a conversation that rarely hears from them directly, and to build the relationships that turn a concern into an agenda.
- Recognise family caregiving as work — visible in data, health policy and national planning
- Train and support the carers that every health system quietly depends on
- Build long-term care into the ageing agenda, not alongside it
- Make sure new digital and AI tools reach caregivers, rather than passing them by
- Give caregivers a seat where decisions about care are actually taken
The delegation
Who represented Caregivers Asha Society
Dr Arvind Mathur
Founder & Chairperson, Caregivers Asha Society. Founding member and past President of the Indian Academy of Geriatrics.
Apurv Mathur
Executive Member, Caregivers Asha Society.
What followed
From a week in New York to a seat at the table
The UN visit was not an endpoint. It was the start of a run of international work that has carried India's caregiving story steadily further.
September 2024
UN Summit of the Future, New York
Dr Arvind Mathur and Apurv Mathur represent Caregivers Asha Society at UN Headquarters, 20–23 September 2024.
2025–27
WHO Civil Society Commission
CAS is selected as a member of the World Health Organization's Civil Society Commission — one of a small number of organisations worldwide recognised for their contribution to health equity and community care.
See our recognition & partners →September 2026
International Stakeholder Consultation, Jodhpur
CAS convenes three days with the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office and National Law University Jodhpur — 60+ speakers and delegates from 10+ countries, working towards a legal framework for care in India.
Explore the consultation →The argument still needs carrying
Every forum we reach, we carry the same message: caregiving is not a private matter. Help us keep saying it — and keep backing the training, technology and community support that make it real at home.