Podcast: politicians and the wellbeing economy

Caroline
Whyte
Seán Ó Conláin

In our Bridging the Gaps podcast series, the hosts, Seán O’Conláin and Caroline Whyte, explore a range of topics with guests from a wide variety of backgrounds. As with our previous series in 20222021 and 2020, and our 2019 podcast series Beyond the Obvious, it is co-organised by Feasta and the European Health Futures Forum (EHFF). Please feel free to comment below.

Special thanks to Laoise Kelly who gave us permission to use her harp music. The piece is ‘Waltzing Daisy’ from her album ‘Just Harp’. You can find our more about Laoise’s music here.

Thanks also to Leontien Friel Darrell (@LFDDesigns) for designing our podcast logo.

Podcasts are listed below from the newest to the oldest.

Podcast 3: Politicians and the Wellbeing Economy

March 31 2023

David Somekh of the EHFF and Caroline Whyte interviewed Laura Rayner, who is a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels. Laura is currently working on the Wellbeing Economy Policy Lab, which is a crosscutting work programme to analyse how the EU can develop and implement policies leading to a more equitable, socially inclusive and regenerative economy. The Lab’s objectives are to help build a political consensus for a wellbeing economy, and to formulate wellbeing-oriented policy recommendations through multi-disciplinary dialogues and analyses.

Featured image on the home page: photo by Jan Haerer on Unsplash

Podcast 2: Community Wealth Building and the next economic system

February 28 2023

Caroline Whyte spoke with Sarah McKinley, who is the director of community wealth building programs for The Democracy Collaborative, working out of her home office in Brussels, Belgium. The Democracy Collaborative, like Feasta and the EHFF, is a member of the global Wellbeing Economy Alliance.

Sarah’s background is in community development and she has worked with community development organizations at different levels, including with the Greater Southwest Development Corporation, a Chicago-based community development corporation, and the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations in Washington DC. 

Sarah explains what Community Wealth Building is, its relationship to social enterprise, how she came to be working in the field, and how Community Wealth Building can help us to visualise and plan towards a more regenerative economic system. 

Featured image on the home page: photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Podcast 1: Wellbeing Frameworks – challenges and progress

January 31 2023

Many people would agree that we need to change the way in which we measure progress and move past the current narrow focus on GDP growth. Ireland, along with many other countries, has been developing a wellbeing framework that contains a dashboard of indicators which are intended to give a snapshot of how Ireland is doing in many different areas, including health, education, employment and the environment. But can these wellbeing frameworks really help to bring about a transformation of society?

Seán Ó Conláin and Caroline Whyte speak with Margreet Frieling, the knowledge co-lead at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), about her experience with the New Zealand wellbeing framework and in WEAll, coordinating a global policymakers network on wellbeing frameworks along with the Zoe Institute, and sharing information on case studies of ‘wellbeing economics’ in action.

Featured images on the home page link: photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

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