Seminar : " Involving citizens/communities in measuring and fostering well-being and progress: towards new concepts and tools"

The Council of Europe, in partnership with the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy) and the OECD, has organised a Seminar on ‘Involving citizens and communities in measuring and fostering well-being and progress’ which was held in Strasbourg on 27th and 28th November.

The aim of the seminar was to develop new approaches and tools for measuring how societies are changing by using high quality, reliable statistics to assess progress in a range of areas affecting citizens’ quality of life. Citizen participation in this process and the strengthening of their capacity to understand the social and economic context in which they live is important for improving policy making, democracy and citizen well-being.

The event provided the opportunity for an exchange of good practices from various Council of Europe member states as well as non-member states such as Australia, Canada, Colombia and Japan and sought to promote international co-operation at governmental and non-governmental level.  

Participants had the opportunity to attend two round tables and six separate workshops addressing the following issues:

• Well-being and well-being for all: what differences and which indicators? 

• Determining the objective and the political aim of involving citizens in developing indicators; identifying responsibilities and clarifying the institutional aspects of the approach

• Links between traditional systems of indicators and those developed with citizens/communities: antagonisms, alternatives or complementarities?

• Working with citizens /communities to develop indicators of well-being/progress

• Assessing needs in conjunction with citizens, collecting data establishing a link with conventional statistical data

• How can the question of goods for well being be taken into account in the work to develop indicators with citizens/communities?

 The event was organized by the Social Cohesion Development Division of the Council of Europe in partnership with the Organization for Economic co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy).  Around 150 participants (including 6 CDCS members) and speakers from all over the world attended this seminar including researchers, statisticians, government representatives, local authorities and NGOs. The opening speech was addressed by the Chair of the GR-Soc, the Chair of the CDCS Committee and the OECD.   

This seminar is part of the process of drafting of a guide on the theme "“Promoting well-being for all and societal progress: how to involve citizens in defining and measuring well-being and societal progress indicators” which is a contribution of the Council of Europe to the Global Project “Measuring the progress of societies” coordinated by the OECD.