'How can we work together to create the future that is possible,
rather than the one that was predictable?'
Flourish Project, 2020
rather than the one that was predictable?'
Flourish Project, 2020
BUILDING BACK BETTER
Transformations towards a sustainable future involve fundamental redirections of current human-environmental
relationships (i.e. social-ecological or people-planet interactions). From local to global scales, evidence is mounting that
many of these interactions have become 'locked in' to unsustainable pathways that cannot ensure the long-term generation
of both critical ecosystem services and human wellbeing
ISSC and UNESCO 2013
relationships (i.e. social-ecological or people-planet interactions). From local to global scales, evidence is mounting that
many of these interactions have become 'locked in' to unsustainable pathways that cannot ensure the long-term generation
of both critical ecosystem services and human wellbeing
ISSC and UNESCO 2013
Across the world people are asking what creates happy, meaningful lives and whether the systems that we are created are supporting this. It has become increasingly clear to everyone that GDP is not enough to measure the wellbeing of communities and populations and that true wealth is about much more than money. Through the new Science of Early Childhood Development the other thing that has become clear is that the experiences that we have in the earliest years of our life really do lay the foundations for our wellbeing.
2020 has been our warning bell. Despite the fact that the world was getting wealthier, for a huge number of people, it was not getting any happier. In fact lots of statistics suggested that people were living increasingly pressurised, distracted, time-poor and lonely lives - and that this was profoundly impacting the health and wellbeing of families and children. The model offers a way for people to better understand what underpins their own wellbeing and that of their families. It also helps to connect up the dots between what people really need and the resources that are available to them. Most importantly of all, it shows just how vital it is to protect the future generations from experiences that may compromise their potential and significantly impact their ability to flourish.
2020 has been our warning bell. Despite the fact that the world was getting wealthier, for a huge number of people, it was not getting any happier. In fact lots of statistics suggested that people were living increasingly pressurised, distracted, time-poor and lonely lives - and that this was profoundly impacting the health and wellbeing of families and children. The model offers a way for people to better understand what underpins their own wellbeing and that of their families. It also helps to connect up the dots between what people really need and the resources that are available to them. Most importantly of all, it shows just how vital it is to protect the future generations from experiences that may compromise their potential and significantly impact their ability to flourish.
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The global picture
Stressed and unhappy children become stressed and unhappy adults. Across the world there is general expert consensus that it is somewhere between economically worthwhile and globally imperative to invest more heavily, as a proportion of both local and national spend, in the very earliest months and years of life.
The OECD compares measures of child well-being in six dimensions: material well-being, housing and environment, education, health and safety, risk behaviours and quality of school life. According to it “no OECD country performs well on all fronts”. (OECD, 2009).
Worldwide 10-20% of children and adolescents experience mental disorders. Half of all mental illnesses begin by the age of 14 and three-quarters by mid-20s. Neuropsychiatric conditions are the leading cause of disability in young people in all regions, (WHO, 2018)
An estimated 43 percent—249 million—of children under five in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at an elevated risk of poor development due to extreme poverty and stunting, (The Lancet Series, Advancing Early Childhood Development: from Science to Scale, 2016)
Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. Most of the world’s population now live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. 41 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2016. Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 were overweight or obese in 2016. (WHO, 2018)
Finland was the top ranking country in the 2018 World Happiness Report, with the top ten positions held by the same countries as in the last two years, although with some swapping of places. Four different countries have held top spot in the four most recent reports- Denmark, Switzerland, Norway and now Finland. All the top countries tend to have high values for all six of the key variables that have been found to support well-being: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity.
By the time the average child is eighteen years old, they will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 murders
(Facts and Figures About Our TV Habit. TV Turnoff Network).