Transcript Gross National Happiness

Operationalizing
Gross National Happiness
GNH Commission
Royal Government of Bhutan
Eleventh Round Table Meeting
National Convention Center
September 2, 2011
What is GNH?
• GNH is a development approach that seeks to
“achieve a harmonious balance between
material well-being and the spiritual,
emotional and cultural needs of an individual
and society.”
• GNH based on the belief that since happiness
is the ultimate desire of every citizen, it must
be the purpose of development to create the
enabling conditions for happiness
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The Four Pillars of Gross National Happiness
GNH Pillars
Sustainable and
equitable socioeconomic
development
Preservation
and promotion
of culture
Poverty reduction
Transmission of
values
Universal Primary
Enrolment
Strengthen family
ties
Free health and
education
services
Promotion of
meditation
Land
redistribution
reforms
Balanced Time use
Promote
knowledge of
traditional games,
masked dances etc.
Conservation of
the environment
Constitutional
Requirement to
maintain 60% of
country under
forest cover
Carbon Neutral
Over 50% of
country declared as
protected areas
Good
governance
Fostering a vibrant
democratic culture
Improve
Performance of
three tiers of
governments
Right to freedom of
speech and opinion
Freedom from
Bhutan’s journey with GNH began more thanDiscrimination
four
Rapid rural
decades ago and more elaborate and precise metrics
Trust in media
infrastructure
Promoteunderway since 2008 with the GNH Index
development GNH has been
to measure
Fighting Corruption
Voluntarism
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What is the GNH Index?
Ecology
5
Time Use
2
Psychological
Well-being
11
Addition to the
conventional
indicators
Community
Vitality
16
Health
7
Gross
National
Happiness
Cultural
Diversity
Education
4
12
Good
Governance
7
Standard
of Living
8
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Operationalizing Gross National Happiness
• Gross National Happiness Commission created to mainstream
GNH
• GNH Index adopted with a set of indicators that captures the
common aspirations of the Bhutanese people – 72 indicators
under 9 domains in 2009
• Two Tools: GNH indicators and Policy and Project Selection Tools
developed
• To draw attention to areas that need to be addressed and thus
be used as a basis for resource allocation
• To mainstream GNH into new policies & plans by screening
the policies using the Policy and Project Selection Tools (PPST)
• To complement existing indicators (such as MDGs, GDP) for a
more holistic assessment of socio-economic development
• GNH Survey carried out every two years to assess progress and
Gross National towards
Happiness Commission
sharpen policy interventions
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GNH Indicators
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•Psychological Wellbeing
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Psychological Wellbeing Index
I. Stress
• Stress
II. Compassion
• Compassion (pe)
III. Calmness
• Calmness (pe)
IV. Generosity
• Generosity (pe)
V. Frustration
• Frustration (ne)
Selfishness (ne)
VI. •Selfishness
Jealousy (ne)
VII. •Jealousy
Frequencyofofprayers
prayers
VIII.•Frequency
Frequency
meditation
IX. •Frequency
of of
meditation
• Consideration
of karma
in daily
X. Consideration
of karma
in daily
life life
• Consideration
of Suicide
XI. Consideration
of suicide
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Psychological wellbeing - Spiritual index
I. Frequency of prayers
2. Frequency of meditation
3%
1% 8%
45%
52%
Always
Sometimes
Never
Daily
Occasionally
Not at all
90%
3. Consideration of karma
Consideration of suicide
13%
5%
38%
Daily
Occasionally
Not at all
Yes
No
49%
95%
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How are GNH Indicators used?
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Psychological Wellbeing Index
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stress
• Stress
Compassion
• Compassion (pe)
Calmness
• Calmness (pe)
Generosity
• Generosity (pe)
Frustration
• Frustration (ne)
• Selfishness (ne)
Selfishness
• Jealousy (ne)
Jealousy
• Frequency
of prayers
Frequency
of prayers
• Frequency
of meditation
Frequency
of meditation
• Consideration
of karma
in daily
Consideration
of karma
in daily
life life
• Consideration
of Suicide
Consideration
of suicide
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Case Example - GNH Index helped identify a key shortcoming in
the school education system
Conventional
Parameters
GNH Index
Psychological wellbeing
Frequency of meditation
Daily Occasionally
18
Wholesome education
90
Not at all
Policy and program response:
• Introduced meditation in schools
• Creating avenues, such as the proposed GNH Center for people to practice meditation
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Meditation in Schools
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GNH Policy Screening Tool
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OBJECTIVES of the GNH Policy Screening Tools
• Systematically assess policies and projects
through GNH “Lens”
• Select GNH enhancing policies and projects &
reject projects and policies that adversely affect
key indicators of GNH
• Orient policy makers & planners with the GNH
frame of thinking
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Description of the GNH PST
Each selection indicator has a four-point scale from 1 to 4
•
This 4- pointer scale is ranked from the most negative to the most positive score
where
1 denotes a negative score, 2 uncertain, 3 is a neutral score and 4 denotes a positive score
Stress
Will increase
levels of stress in
the population
Do not know the effects
on levels of stress in the
population
Will not have any
appreciable effects
on levels of stress
Will decrease
levels of stress
in the
population
1
2
3
4
Rationale (reasons
for choosing a
certain indicator)
Mitigating
Measures identified
(if selected 1 or 2)
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Calculation
• Total points : 26 x 4 = 104
• Neutral score : 26 x 3 = 78
• Policy or project assessed should score
above average score (neutral score) to pass
• For the policy screening test, threshold is 78
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Experiences from Field Testing – GNH Policy
Screening Tools
Approved:
National Human Resource Development Policy 2010
National Youth Policy 2010
National Health Policy 2011
National Land Policy 2011
National Forest Policy 2011
Draft:
Draft RNR Research Policy
Draft Municipal (Thromde Class A) Finance Policy, Bhutan
Draft National Irrigation Policy
Draft Bhutan Renewable Energy Policy
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GNH PST: Renewable Energy Development Policy
GNHC screening exercise result
3.93
4.00
4.00 4.00 4.00
3.13
3.00
2.87
2.67
3.00 3.00 2.93
4.00 4.00
3.86 3.86
2.93
2.79
2.40
2.50
Score
4.00
3.64
3.50
3.00
GNHC Score
4.00
2.50
2.86
2.64
2.00
2.00
1.50
1.40
1.00
0.50
0.00
Variables
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GNH PST: Renewable Energy Development Policy
MoEA screening exercise result
MoEA4.00Score
3.93
4.00
3.67 3.73 3.67
3.67
3.87
3.67
3.87
3.60
3.06
3.00
Scores
3.40
3.33
3.50
2.50
3.67
3.60
3.13
3.00
2.93
2.67
2.93
3.33
3.20
2.80
2.60
2.73
2.40
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
Variables
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Comparison of the two results
• Total score :
• GNHC : 83.40
• MoEA : 86.46
• Common variables that scored less than 3
in both cases are Equity, Corruption,
Judiciary equality, Gender equality and
stress
• 10 variables scored less than 3 (neutral
score) during GNHC screening
• 7 scored less than 3 in MoEAs screening
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GNH Indicators and
Influence
Tools
Resource allocation,
policies and programs
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Opportunities and Challenges
• Opportunities:
• GNH Indicators has made our “public policy making framework” more
holistic and thus more complete and consistent with what individuals
want from development– brings greater breadth (through 4 additional
dimensions) and depth (qualitative aspects) • Due to its comprehensiveness, it can provide a better measure of
progress and thus ensure that development means more than
economic growth or attainment of targets like MDGs.
• Challenges
• Work in progress – room to improve its use to inform decisions
• Complexities of dealing with unconventional domains
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Thank You
for more information – please visit
www.gnhc.gov.bt
www.grossnationalhappiness.com