Introduction: why wellbeing?

Sarah C. White

This chapter provides a basic introduction to wellbeing in international development. It identifies wellbeing as a field of ideas and describes the main characteristics of these and how they fit within international development. It then discusses some of the different reasons that focusing on wellbeing is attractive to policy makers and practitioners, and some of the politics of the different approaches. It then provides a brief description of the main thinking behind some key terms: subjective wellbeing, psychological wellbeing, happiness, and quality of life.

Keywords: wellbeing, international development, policy and practice, quality of life

Introduction

Happiness, wellbeing, and quality of life seem to be all the rage. From the Government of Bhutan's commitment to measure Gross National Happiness, to the United Nations' 2011 Happiness Resolution, to the New Economics Foundation's Happy Planet Index, to Gallup World Poll rankings of countries by happiness, to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) Better Life Index, to the UK's Office for National Statistics' collection of data on subjective wellbeing, to indigenous movements in Latin America mobilizing around buen vivir, or 'living well', to government programmes, organizational missions, customer surveys, and staffing policies – everywhere, it seems, there is increasing convergence in identifying the promotion of wellbeing or happiness as the ultimate objective.

But what does this really mean? Have we suddenly woken up to a global consensus on what really matters in life? Are we all, at last, pulling in the same direction? Or are the same words being used to mean very different things? And if so, how can we get better at understanding who is really saying what? And how might we want to define and work towards improving wellbeing or quality of life for ourselves?

This book is intended as a practical resource for people engaged in social or development policy or practice who are thinking about integrating wellbeing or quality of life in their work. It is written by a group of researchers and nongovernmental organization (NGO) staff who gathered together to share their experiences of working on wellbeing or quality of life at the community level, mainly, but not exclusively, in the global South. We do not aim to give you all the answers – we do not have them ourselves. Instead, we hope to provide practitioners with a concise introduction to the field of wellbeing and quality of life, suggest some key questions to think about when working in this area, and present a number of different frameworks for readers to consider, adopt, or adapt in developing their own.

• Part One provides a brief introduction to key concepts and issues.

• Part Two presents a number of assessment tools that have been developed by NGOs and researchers and describes the experience of putting them to use.

• Part Three reflects on using wellbeing in policy and advocacy.

• Part Four draws together what has been learned and considers how this fits within policy and politics more broadly. The book closes with a list of further resources.

Wellbeing and quality of life: what do they mean?

Wellbeing and quality of life describe a field of associated ideas, rather than a single concept or definition. At their root, they concern what it means for life to be good. How people see this differs from person to person, including by geography, history, and culture, between men and women, by community, personality, and time of life. It is not possible, then, to give a universal definition of what wellbeing means. In fact, it is important not to do this, but to make space for people within a particular setting to define what wellbeing or a good quality of life means for them.

As a field, wellbeing and quality of life approaches share a number of common characteristics:

• multi-dimensional: going beyond the economic to a broader understanding of what makes life good;

• positive: an orientation towards people's strengths and resources, rather than vulnerabilities and what is lacking;

• personal: concerned with the impact on people's lives, rather than the narrow achievement of project or programme objectives;

• focus on quality of life: what people get out of it rather than what they have;

• focus on experience and enjoyment: people's subjective perceptions, not just objective achievements.

While people may define wellbeing in quite different ways, there is considerable agreement about the factors that contribute to it. These include: material sufficiency; a dependable and attractive physical environment; good personal and social relationships; dignity and respect; meaningful activity; safety and security; mental and physical health; scope for agency; a positive sense of self; and spiritual nourishment.

Locating wellbeing and quality of life in international development

While the labelling is new, work on wellbeing and quality of life takes forward already well-established trends. The most obvious of these is the move to recognize poverty and development in multidimensional terms. It also builds on and advances the insights of livelihoods approaches, which see people's economic activity as a complex mix of priorities, strategies, influences, activities, and alliances that draw on a range of material and social resources. Like livelihoods approaches, a focus on wellbeing promotes an actor-oriented approach that emphasizes people's strengths rather than their...