‘Enabling an island of wellbeing’

The WEAll Hub Ireland initiative began in late 2020 when two Irish charities, the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability (Feasta) and the European Health Futures Forum (EHFF), that are members of WEAll, joined with Social Justice Ireland, Cultivate: The Sustainable Ireland Cooperative, and individuals including Peter Doran of Queen’s University School of Law in Northern Ireland, in order to form the core of the Hub.

Our vision for wellbeing aligns with the words of President Michael D Higgins, in his recent address to an OECD conference on planetary emergencies.

“New ideas are, thus, now required and, even more, their communication to citizens – ideas based on equality, universal public services, equity of access, sufficiency, sustainability. New ideas are fortunately available in the form of an alternative paradigm of social economy within ecological responsibility, but they must find their way on to the public street.”

– President of the Republic of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, OECD Conference 9.10.20

Our vision also resonates with the Northern Ireland Executive’s plan, described in its most recent Programme for Government, to develop a framework for societal wellbeing, and a Priorities Plan consisting of actions for delivery.

It is our aspiration that both governments on the island of Ireland will one day join the WEGo partnership.

While aligning with and learning from similar hubs in other countries, we will use our experience from our own setting to:

• Shift popular narratives around the purpose of our economy
• Synthesise, disseminate and empower knowledge and evidence about what a
  ‘wellbeing economy’ looks like and how we can embed its principles and practices at all levels of governance and societal systems
• Galvanise an island-wide and inclusive platform through a creative intergenerational/intercultural dialogue while engaging with a global network of peers
• Draw on the island’s unique cultural, linguistic, intellectual and ecological resources to inspire ‘wellbeing economy’ narratives in support of local and global responsibility for re-embedding our lives, livelihoods and systems within the social and ecological space defined by the ‘planetary boundaries’.

We are inviting network partners to come together to discuss how this initiative will grow and to promote the concept of the wellbeing economy within Irish society, North and South.

For further information on WEAll hubs around the world see: https://wellbeingeconomy.org/hubs

If you would like to keep track of our activities, please sign up to our mailing list here.

You can contact us at ireland@WEAll.org .