It goes without saying that this has been a difficult year for everyone. 

The global pandemic has made the injustice, unsustainability, and fragility of our current economic system clearer than ever – and exposed the urgency of transforming our economic system.

The good news is that WEAll has made significant progress this year in our mission to catalyse economic system change towards an economy that delivers social justice on a healthy planet.

“This year has shown us that together, we have the power to achieve the seemingly impossible – change the economic system so that it works for both humans and the planet.”

Stewart

1. Catalysing Powerbases

WEAll Members

Oh no… here comes yet another Zoom photo… (You didn’t think we’d wrap up 2020 without one, did you?!)

Many of our members let us know that,

“Discovering WEAll has been a highlight of my year!”

Thank you for joining us virtually this year – all 187 of you! Learning about and supporting your important work has been the highlight of our year! 

Oh – and as Raissa Marks put it at our last member’s call:

“What I love about WEAll is listening to all the different accents from people around the world!” 

We love that too!

WEAll Citizens

2100 people from around the globe now participate on the Citizens platform! We held 12 events for Citizens this year, particularly around the topic of designing empowering stories about a new economy.

“We’re in this together, we’ll get out of it together”.

Usman

WEAll Hubs

WEAll hubs are popping up everywhere! We now have seven established place-based hubs in California, Canada, Costa Rica, Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales. And that’s not all! We’re also working with partners to establish seven new hubs in Australia, Barcelona, Ireland, North Carolina, the Netherlands, Trinidad & Tobago, and Vermont.

“WEAll Ireland is helping us to ground our activity in our common values by providing us with tools to build a collaborative and respectful future together, with the hugely-appreciated support of our partners around the world.”

Caroline Whyte, FEASTA

We recently had a joint meeting for all WEAll hubs to share their learnings and tips!

“In Scotland, the Scottish Government released their economic recovery report calling for a ‘robust, resilient Wellbeing Economy’. This shift in language is a promising first step. We’ve made lots of progress at WEAll Scotland this year, and we’re excited to continue transforming the tangible, achievable ideas of a Wellbeing Economy into concrete policies, with our partners and allies.”

Joey Gartin, WEAll Scotland

WEAll Youth

In 2020, WEAll Youth expanded its core team, now boasts 83 young members in its WEAll Youth global hub, and has started WEAll Connect as a way for youth to engage with the wider WEAll network. WEAll Youth now has hubs in Melbourne, Warwick, Scotland, Zwolle, Uganda, which have two community calls per month. Sign up for the WEAll Youth newsletter here.

“While slower than any millennial would like, it’s reassuring to see the momentum building for creating a new economic system.”

Isabel

Aligning Alliances

“A Wellbeing Economy is happening – and the more we connect our networks, initiatives, and organisations – the stronger we become.”

Claire

This year, WEAll has proactively connected with other alliances that are focused on global economic systems change, and is exploring how to collaborate further, to amplify our collective impact. 

The WEGo Partnership

• The WEGo Partnership continued to gather steam this year: Wales joined the WEGo partnership in April 2020, while Finland and Canada have begun to participate in the WEGo policy labs and seem to appreciate the space the partnership creates. 

• In February 2020, the Scottish Government, a founding member of WEGo, presented the Scottish Budget 2020-21, which prioritises investment for driving wellbeing and sustainable and inclusive growth. 

• The Wellbeing Economy agenda has been promoted in various countries, including the Netherlands and Costa Rica, through the engagement of government officials, and in numerous groups such as the Club de Madrid and Common Earth.

“What was seen as impossible in the past, appears feasible and desirable now.”

Anna

WEAll Read

Our new economics book club is still going strong. Join the WEAll Read Whatsapp Group to participate or start your own WEAll Read book club. 

2. Sharing Empowering Narratives

Storytelling

• WEAll has built a network of 21 ambassadors and 67 spokespeople, who have collectively delivered over 107 keynotes, panel discussions, podcast interviews, and more (virtually) around the world in 2020!

• This year, we started a few blog series to highlight and amplify the diverse voices within WEAll’s global community: Visions of a Wellbeing Economy, Faces of the Wellbeing Economy Movement, and Wellbeing Economy Correspondents.

• Our ‘Narratives Playbook’, which offers guidance on how to tell positive and empowering stories about an economy in service to life, will be launching early in 2021. Thank you to our members who have inputted into the process of creating it this year. Watch this space!

Reaching the Mainstream

People are increasingly interested in the idea of a Wellbeing Economy. 

• In 2020, WEAll was featured in the media around the globe, over 130 times. 
• Since last year, google searches for a ‘Wellbeing Economy’ have doubled – and google searches for the ‘Wellbeing Economy Alliance’ have tripled!
• Our followership and engagement on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and  LinkedIn) has grown significantly in 2020 – especially on LinkedIn (which is 5x what it was in 2019!)
• In 2020, the WEAll website had over 80,000 visitors (92% of which were new users) – more than double the number of visitors in 2019!

“Over the past several months, I’ve developed a much more clear understanding of the economy and economics in general. We cannot shift to an alternative economy without building this understanding in the mainstream. Economics is for everyone! I’m looking forward to supporting the work of growing economic literacy in the new year.”

Rabia

3. Consolidating the Knowledge & Policy Evidence Base

WEAll’s Knowledge & Policy working group now includes over 100 scholars, practitioners, experts, and academics. 

“I am constantly inspired by the brilliant minds and kind hearts that make up the WEAll family and am confident that with our powers combined, we can build a more just and sustainable world.” 

Amanda

Creating Accessible Content

The group stays connected through Slack and bimonthly web meetings, and has produced six briefing papers on key topics relevant to a Wellbeing Economy: 

1. Understanding Wellbeing 
2. Linwood, Scotland: A microcosm of the beginnings of a wellbeing economy 
3. Wellbeing Economics for a the COVID-19 Recovery: 10 Principles to Build Back Better 
4. Rebuilding to a US Wellbeing Economy: 5 principles to guide recovery and policy action 
5. Measuring the Wellbeing Economy: How to move Beyond GDP 
6. Wellbeing Business: 8 ways that businesses are challenging the corporate mindset to ensure social and ecological wellbeing for all 

Stay tuned for The Wellbeing Economy Policy Design Guide, which is coming out in early 2021. Many thanks to everyone involved in co-creating it with us!

When I think of how we’ve created our Policy Design Guide, I am reminded of the African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Michael

Sparking Conversation

We held 12 WEAll Talks this year, spanning from topics like Measuring Wellbeing to Designing for Justice. A big thank you to our speakers: Henri Wiman, Rutger Hoekstra, Claudia Gross, Jorge Rosales, Mariana Mirabile, Martin Oetting & Kai Schäntele, Henry Levenson-Gower, Christian Felber, Sarah Deas, Sarah McKinley, Julie McLachlan, Bob Willard,Thomas Dürmeier and Vicki-Ann Assevero! 

Looking Ahead to 2021

Fred Swaniker, co-founder of African Leadership Academy said, “We have to make this crisis the first phase of the next stage”. We agree. And we seem to be on our way.

“2020 has shown that people around the world are ready for change, that they care about each other and about strangers, and that governments are more than capable of making massive shifts. This should give us heart that the journey we are on is one worth taking and that, despite the pain and loss of 2020, the wind is in our sails.”

Katherine

Here’s to making it through a difficult year.

“Take a much needed break – but no te rindas… (Don’t give up).”

Ana

We’ll see you next year! Until then we wish everyone in the WEAll community around the world a safe and restful holiday season. 

– The WEAll Amp team