As we prepare for the Istanbul Innovation Days 2025, we are publishing a series of videos featuring thought leaders who have shaped our understanding of institutions. In this conversation, Geoff Mulgan, co-founder of the Institutional Architecture Lab (TIAL), speaks with Ai-jen Poo, president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
Together, they explore how care, work, and power intersect—and how the future of public institutions could better reflect the needs and aspirations of the people they serve.
Drawing from the experience of organizing care and domestic workers during times of disruption, she notes that crises often spark growth, renewal, and community.
During COVID-19, for example, workers found resilience through connection – with others facing similar challenges.
For Poo, this moment is one of building trust, rebuilding institutions, and imagining what can be created together – institutions that are for, by, and of the people.
Despite seeing many institutions defunded, she sees this time as one of possibility: a chance to assess what we can build for a more responsive future.
During the pandemic, the U.S. government classified nearly half of the lowest-paid workers as ‘essential’. Poo highlights a deeper, ongoing crisis: an epidemic of low-wage work where millions can’t make ends meet. Institutions of the future, she argues, must ensure that people can live safely, care for loved ones, and contribute with dignity.
This means building a care infrastructure so that families aren’t left on their own to afford childcare or long-term care.
A secure foundation of care, safety, and opportunity should be a shared societal responsibility.
When talking about a state that would best support domestic and care workers, Poo highlights the word accountability.
She describes the reality for domestic workers – the majority are mothers, working long and unpredictable hours, often without paid sick leave or health insurance.
“Who is accountable to her?” she asks.
Ai-jen calls for institutions that are responsive to people’s needs and dreams, and accountable as society and technology evolve. Especially for those most isolated and with the least access to power, public institutions must be places of support and representation.
Poo emphasizes that organizing isolated workers requires creativity and flexibility.
The National Domestic Workers Alliance has 74 local chapters rooted in communities, acting as trusted hubs for information, resources, and support.
At the same time, they’ve expanded their digital reach, communicating with hundreds of thousands of caregivers and domestic workers via chatbots, SMS, and WhatsApp.
For Poo, technology, when deployed with the right values and goals, can be assistive – helping people come together, even across distance.
As populations age rapidly in many countries, from China to Italy, Poo notes that societies haven’t prepared for the coming care challenge.
Part of the issue is cultural – a reluctance to talk about aging and disability, and a belief in independence that obscures the reality of care.
But she reframes this: aging is living, and caregiving is part of being human.
By acknowledging this, we can design a future where people are freed to contribute and live well for longer.
Poo recently brought home care workers to Silicon Valley to discuss how AI could enhance both care and care work.
Her message to innovators: get close to those who are least visible. Walk in their shoes. Design with them in mind. When we design for the most vulnerable, we create universal solutions.
