strabourg2010 thirion-en

Involving citizens and communities in securing Involving citizens and communities in securing societal progress for the well-being of all societal progress for the well-being of all

Samuel Thirion, Division of R&D for Social CohesionCouncil of Europe

Strasbourg, 18 November 2010

Council of Europe

In the debate that involves today's governments and international organizations on the limits of GDP and the need for new indicators of progress, the Council of

Europe publishes:

The Methodological Guide

«INVOLVING CITIZENS AND COMMUNITIES IN SECURING SOCIETAL PROGRESS FOR THE WELL-BEING OF ALL »

By focusing on the individual and collective role of citizens the Council of Europe approaches the debate from its own perspective:

that of democracy and human rights

This guide is the product of five years of experiments and discussions with stakeholders (municipalities, local stakeholders, businesses, schools, utilities,

regional authorities, statistical institutes, universities, NGOs)in Europe and worldwide.

A major role has been played by the partnership with the cities of Mulhouse in France, Timisoara, Romania, Rovereto, Italy

Paris XIV, the Walloon Region, and fifteen IWEPSWalloon municipalities in Belgium, some companies

from Strasbourg, some African countries (Cape Verde and Gabon)and exchanges with other partners in Australia,Brazil, Canada, Colombia, United States (ASR)

Japan, Russia and Ukraine, with Pekea, the networkFAIR France, CIC USA, Sbilanciamoci Italy, etc..

General Structure

Five parts:

• Rethinking well-being with citizens and communities (overview of existing initiatives in the world and display of a first common framework)

Rethinking progress

• Rethinking reference frames (proposals to deepen the common framework)

New indicators as tools of societal progress

Rethinking methods

4 appendices (CD-ROM)

• Tools: Glossary, software, identification key,

I. Process: 35 sheets of examples in the world

II. Products of different phases of the process: indicators, evaluations, pilot projects, action plans, etc..

III. Videos

• Ask the social progress

• The need to rethink and develop (approaches, responsilities, goals, mode of building of knowledges, tools, etc.)

• How to conceive and promote the process and cycles of the social progress

Presentation

My purpose is not to do a report of the guide,impossible to do, but it's to stress essential ideas around the tree following points:

Rethinking the progress

I - Since the industrial revolution the progress of society has been designed on the

basis of a constant and very rapid growth in terms of wealth, mainly material wealth (estimated over last 60 years by GDP).

This growth was made possible by the widespread use of non-renewable resources, including fossil energies, leading, in a few centuries to the point of their exhaustion.

Limits of this model regards: Dissatisfaction with this model because, despite the increase of wealth, much of

humanity is excluded, inequality is increasing and even in the richest countries subjective indicators show a decrease of well-being, especially since 1980

The impossibility to continue with this model and the need to establish as quickly as possible an alternative model without massive use of non-renewable resources

Need to get back to basics: what is progress? What should the progress of societies tend towards? and how to make these changes?

Questionner le progrès sociétal

II - Initiatives emerge everywhere in the word to make progress citizens and communities. Some initiatives complete and renew public actions, others define social goals. All of them reach:

To increase well-being of everybody in a territory (areas, town, etc.)

To join a responsibility of public and private entities

To build a sharing knowledge.

Approaches and knowledges of these local intitiatives are complementary . The guide offers a methodoligical approach. It suggests the possibility to each player or entities in a same territory to reflect together, to show similitaries to complete each other on the same way for the future,

Asking the societal progress

• III - In the framework of the Council of Europe: The strategy of the social cohesion of the Council of : two main changes:

• The goal of the progress : the well-being of all, generation of the future including

• The social progress is a sharing responsibility: responsibility for the well-being of all, this one is chosen by citizens.

It implies that the need to rethinking foundations of our society.

The need to rethink

• Rethinking the goals of progress: from a single quantified objective, to a multidimensional objective : the well-being of all

• Rethinking intellectual and cultural references of our society: well-being of all, lifestyles, ways of reflection, guiding our choices

• Rethinking responsibility for progress: from the responsibility of the states (welfare state) to the responsibility of society (well-fare society) actors co-responsibility

• Rethinking approaches: from a centralized approach to a dual approach, ascending and descending

• Rethinking the construction of knowledge: from a knowledge produced by specialized institutions to a co-produced knowledge by civil society within society

• Rethinking the tools to measure progress: from simple quantitative indicators to the indicators measuring the path to progress

• Rethinking approaches to evaluation: From a goal-based evaluation to a multidimensional evaluation

• Rethinking the modes of partnership: including agreements in the global project

Rethinking the references

• The main challenge of the societal progress of this century is to reconcile two goals inconceivable in appearance : the well-being of all to the actual generations and the next generation (i.e. Ensure the well-fare without counting on unrenewable resources)

• It requires a revision of the content about the meaning of the well-being, but more a revision of the mode of development of this content.

• Present the content of the well- being is mainly defined by the market, by ads,reducing the meaning of the well-being as the material well-being.

Rethinking approaches

• Now the well-being for all of us as goal of society can’t be only defined by the market, neither by only an institution or specialists : the well-being is a concept. Citizens have the responsibility to built the meaning of that way of live, as a need of consultation and democracy.

• That was improved. Since five years, local experiences have taken this way. Think the well-being for all us is clearly better, it provides more place to the immaterial meaning of this well-being for the societal progress. Human link, human community, personal and social balances, sense of the live, sense of our input in our society, etc…are like treasures, to exploit and develop.

• Urgent need of process between local and global trend.

Rethinking the responsibility

• Process needed: built co responsibility for the well-being for all in different spaces of live: 1) territories (town, areas, village), 2) institutions (companies, schools, hospitals, etc.), 3) voire thématiques (wealth, education, market…)

• Creation of a Group of Local Coordination to present every entities of a space of live (first stage of that participating process)

Rethinking the goal: the well-being for all

• Define the well-being with the citizens (second stage of the process):

3 questions in different groups (once quite similar, once different)

The well-being is like :

• Multidimensional: 8 big dimensions

• Interactif

G- SENTIMENTS DE BIEN/MAL ÊTREG1- Tristesse/Joie

G2- Honte/AutoestimeG3- Frustrations/Satisfaction

F- EQUILIBRES PERSONNELSF1- Equilibre mental et spirituel

F2- Stress/Temps disponible H- PARTICIPATION-CITOYENNETEF3- Manqe d'autonomie/Liberté H1- Organisation associative

H2- ResponsabilitéE- EQUILIBRES SOCIAUX H3- Initiatives

E1- Insecurité/Sécurité H4- Faciliter relations humainesE2- Exclusion/Inclusion

E3- Inéquité/Equité

D- RELATIONS HUMAINESD1- Respect

D2- SolidaritéD3- Convivialité

D4- FamilleD5- Couple/ relations amoureuses

D6- AmitiéD7- 0

C- RELATIONS AVEC LES INSTITUTIONSC1- Appui des institutions

C2- Qualité des relations avec les institutionsC3- Concertation/démocratieC4- Bonne gestion publique

A- ACCES AUX MOYENS DE VIE B- CADRE DE VIEA1- Revenu B1- InfrastructureA2- Emploi B2- Environnement

A3- Alimentation B3- Lieux de rencontre et loisirsA4- Santé B4- Ville à taille humaine

A5- Logement B5- 0A6- Education/formation B6- 0

A7- TransportA8- Communications

A9- CultureA10- Loisirs

The 8 dimensions of the well-being for all

The guide proposes indicators of progress, for the quality:

• A value of quantity and a way to progress towards the goal and each level

• Introduction of a scale of different signification

Produce indicators to do a link between knowledge and actions

Rethinking instruments of mesure

Transversal scale for the indicators of progress

Situation satisfaisante mais sans

avoir atteint l’objectif du

progrès

5-Situation

Ideal

4Situation

good

3- Situation Medium

2Situation

Bad

1 Situation Very bad

Situation de risque de

dégradation en chaîne

et/ou d’irré-versibilité

L’objectif de progrès est atteint mais sans garantie de

sa durabilité

L’objectif de progrès est atteint

en ayant la garantie de

sa durabilité

o

Situation non

satisfaisante mais

sans risque à

court terme

Echelle applicable au progrès dans le bien être de tous mais aussi au progrès dans l’état et la pression sur les ressources et dans les indicateurs de progrès dans les actions (suivi de leur réalisation, évaluation d’impact).

Rethinking instruments of measure

Scale of transversal signification for indicators of progress

Situation satisfaisant

e mais sans avoir

atteint l’objectif

du progrès

5-Situation

Ideal

4Situation

good

3- Situation meddium

2Situation

bad

1 Situation Very bad

Situation de risque de

dégradation en chaîne

et/ou d’irré-versibilité

L’objectif de progrès est

atteint mais sans garantie

de sa durabilité

L’objectif de progrès est atteint en ayant la

garantie de sa durabilitéo

Situation non

satisfaisante mais sans risque à

court terme

Echelle applicable au progrès dans le bien être de tous mais aussi au progrès dans l’état et la pression sur les ressources et dans les indicateurs de progrès dans les actions (suivi de leur réalisation, évaluation d’impact).


Critères de mal-être/bien-être

situations piresDéfinies avec les

expresions négatives (mal-être) des critères

Scale of values Par combinaison des variables binaires

Critères binaires

5- Situation ideal4- Siuation good

3- Situation medium

2- Situationbad

1- Situation very bad

Echellons

situations meilleuresDéfiniesavec les

expressions positives (bien-être) des critères

Rédaction de chaque échelon

Validation par les citoyens

Champ de valeurs

Elaboration des intervalles de valeurs correspondant à chaque échelon: cas des indicateurs de progrès dans le bien-être.


Building and writing indicators of progress for the well-being for all

Echelle Situation trèsmauvaise

Situationmauvaise

Situationmoyenne

Situation bonne Situation idéale

Expressiongénérale

N'a pas et n'a pasles conditions pourl'obtenir

N'a pas mais a lesconditions pourl'obtenir

A les conditionspour avoir et amais sans qualité

A et a desconditions dequalité

La qualité estassurée dans lelong terme grâce àmesuresspécifiques

Exemple: santé Est malade et n'apas accès ausystème de santé

Est malade mais aaccès auxsystèmes de santé

Est en bonne santéet a accès auxsystèmes de santémais sans qualité

Bonne santé etsytèmes de santéde qualité

Idem avec qualitéassurée dans lelong terme

Critères deconditions

Non Oui Oui Oui Oui

Critèresd'obtention

Non Non Oui Oui Oui

Critères de qualité Non Non Non Oui Oui

Critères dedurabilité

Non Non Non Non Oui

Rédaction d’indicateurs qui soit adaptée à des enquêtes individuelles ou collectives et permettre des agrégations entre différents niveaux territoriaux



• External evaluation to co evaluation between different promoters, recipients (founders)

• Estimation of specially goals : their contribution to the capacity of the society to ensure the well being of all without nonrenewable resources.

• co-évaluation multicritères.

Rethinking modes for the production of know ledges

From a dissociating knowledge to a sharing knowledge:

• AFTER: building goals, way of progress, knowing situations, knowing the result of actual actions

• DEVELOP a sharing knowledge on possibilities: réflexion prospective, innovations, strategies and action plan.

Thinking about :

The co responsibility.

Points of locking and important points to reach the well-being for all

Different social questions : employment, education, consommation, production, cultural dialogues, links between generations, etc.

Rethinking modes of partnership

To allow the coresponsibility to realize this project :

•Pool the knowledge and reflexion concerning the resources: for examples: resources on citizens times – budgetaries resources (participative budgets )

•Build a common project understable by all and where each one has a place

•Develop agreements on the principle again responsibility

Common framework of progress processes

The 8 phases of the process developed involving citizens / communities

1- set up of coordination group

Common framework of progress processesThe 8 phases of the process developed involving citizens / communities

2-Defining

the objective of progress

(indicators)



2-Defining


(indicators)


3- Evaluating/ measuring


2-Defining


(indicators)



4-Planning / comparing


2-Defining


(indicators)



5- decision / commitment



2-Defining


(indicators)



6-Acting /

implementation




2-Defining


(indicators)



6-Acting /

implementation

7 – re-evaluate (ex post)




2-Defining


(indicators)



6-Acting /

implementation




PROGRESS CYCLE


2-Defining


(indicators)



8-review /capitalizing

6-Acting /

implementation



4-Planning / comparingPROGRESS

CYCLE


2-Defining


(indicators)



8-review /capitalizing

6-Acting /

implementation



4-Planning / comparingPROGRESS

CYCLE

CONSULTATION CYCLE


The guide provides a methodological framework for thinking locally while also opening opportunities: articulation between different territorial levels and rising to higher levels (regional, national, European) reinterpretation of the major themes of society allowing for include reflections on them. Need a wider policy framework: the role of the particular charter of social responsibility and shared European Action Plan for social cohesion.

Conslusions

A collaborative web site

https://spiral.cws.coe.int

Thank you for your attention

strabourg2010 thirion-en

Documents

progress citizens

progress of society

rethinking wellbeing

goals of progress

allsocietal progress

progress of societies

social progress presentation

new indicators of progress