Policy Course
Module 5: Co-creating a wellbeing economy vision

5.2 Laying the foundations for a wellbeing economy visioning journey

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Developing a clear vision

Building a wellbeing economy can feel like piecing together a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. When beginning to put together such a complex puzzle, it is important to have a clear picture or vision of what the end result should look like. Many wellbeing economy approaches therefore start with a co-creative visioning process, together with local communities and stakeholders, to define what wellbeing means, for both current as well as future generations. 

A participatory approach to developing a wellbeing economy vision is important as governments alone cannot solve complex 21st century challenges [1]. It requires collective effort involving many different stakeholders. Civil society, businesses, academia, and public sector agencies all have pivotal roles to play.

Building a new vision for what the economy should deliver requires deep and broad engagement to understand what matters for collective wellbeing, now and for future generations. In turn, engaging with communities to understand what matters for wellbeing can help facilitate trust, collaboration and civic agency. It forms the foundation for the collective action that is needed in the transformative journey ahead.

Before embarking on a participatory journey to develop a vision for what wellbeing outcomes your local, regional, or national economy needs to deliver, there are some fundamental steps to clarify and put in place. These include:

  • Building your core team

  • Understanding the current landscape 

  • Mapping your stakeholders 

  • Designing the participatory visioning process

All of these steps depend on relationships and trust building. Doing so takes time, so make sure to build in sufficient time to be able to move at the speed of trust. 

Let's have a look at each of these fundamental steps in some more detail in the next sections.

References

[1] DEAL (2023). Cities and regions let’s get started. Nine pathways for local and regional governments to engage with Doughnut Economics as a tool for transformative action, https://doughnuteconomics.org/tools/210.