Wellbeing Around the World
Throughout the past decade, a new vision of societal wellbeing has been taking shape internationally. The CIW Network is viewed as a global pioneer in developing a holistic, integrated approach to measuring wellbeing. Because of this position of leadership, we are often invited to partner with experts in other countries and participate in international initiatives.
The CIW Network has been working very closely with the OECD and helped plan and develop their agenda for the June 2007 World Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. The Forum, attracted 1,200 participants from 130 countries and focused on the subject of Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies. The Honourable Roy J. Romanow delivered a well-received keynote speech titled, “Promoting Progress, Making it Happen”. An op-ed based on the speech was published in the Toronto Star. A number of CIW CRAG members also attended and spoke in favour of the Istanbul Declaration (PDF) which promoted a specific action plan for moving the agenda forward.
Click here for a YouTube video based on the Forum and including a clip of Mr. Romanow.
Currently, the CIW Network is working with the OECD on the following initiatives:
- Contributing to the development of Wikiprogress, a global platform for sharing, measuring and evaluating societal, economic and environmental progress. Wikiprogress is the focal point where both experts and practitioners share experiences on indicator design, calculation and dissemination. It’s also where stakeholders interested in developing initiatives in this field can find reference documents and assistance on how to establish measuring initiatives that measure progress.
Wikiprogress will be the best place to find answers to questions like:
- Who is developing initiatives on measuring progress (wellbeing, quality of life, freedom, etc.)?
- What type of taxonomy does this initiative use?
- Which indicators are being used to measure the different dimensions of progress?
- How are countries (or regions/communities) achieving progress over time and in comparison to other similar territories?
Becoming a Correspondent for the OECD’s Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies. In this role, the CIW Network is a focal point in Canada for the Global Project. This project aims to:
- encourage communities to consider what ‘progress’ means in the 21st century;
- share best practices on the measurement of societal progress and increase the awareness of the need to do so using sound and reliable methodologies;
- stimulate international debate, based on solid statistical data and indicators, on both global issues of societal progress and comparisons of such progress;
- produce a broader, shared, public understanding of changing conditions, while highlighting areas of significant change or inadequate knowledge; and
- advocate for appropriate investment in building statistical capacity, to improve the availability of data and indicators needed to guide development programs, and report on progress.
