Declaring A Wellbeing Government – old

The wellbeing of the whole must be explicitly declared by governments and must be a central part of policy making. 

Countries like Ireland, New Zealand, and Wales as well as some local governments have announced that they have officially adopted Wellbeing as a focus. We applaud this step and love that they have recognized how interdependent culture, economy, nature, and wellbeing are.

Wales created a wonderful graphic to help communicate this interdependence through seven interlocking guiding principles.

Wales also includes consideration for the impact of decisions on future generations in their Wellbeing language. 

Importantly, much of this borrows from Indigenous governance – accounting for future generations and nature in decision making as well as the concept of the circle. 

Communicating these Wellbeing principles is an essential part of transforming them into social norms. The real test will come in seeing what policy changes follow and what happens when wellbeing comes up against financial interests. This is where the Wellbeing Economy movement comes in –- to hold politicians and governments accountable or to run for office.