INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FORUM
14th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
integrated into the ESDinds Conference
MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE: AN EMERGING
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE IN INDICATORS, SUSTAINABILITY AND VALUES
University of Brighton, United Kingdom
16-18 December 2010
The International Environment Forum adopted the international scientific conference that presented results of the ESDinds project as its 14th Annual Conference, and contributed elements to the programme. See the detailed programme at the link below and at http://www.esdinds.eu/. The project has produced exciting results on the development of values-based indicators, tested in the field with civil society organizations and businesses. The conference brought together workers in the different but overlapping fields of indicators, sustainability and values, and a new "community of practice" is starting to emerge from these interactions, with a web site at http://www.wevalue.org.
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME, ABSTRACTS and BIOS
CONFERENCE PHOTO ALBUM
CONFERENCE REPORT
INTRODUCTION
In our society only the visible counts. Only material and easily quantifiable values are measured, and when it comes to decision-making only what can be measured is appreciated, thereby strengthening a society that is based on market values and continuous economic growth, marginalizing environmental and social values. This is a significant challenge for those who consider real yet difficult to measure things such as the beauty of nature or intangible things like spiritual values to be essential aspects of life.
For the past two years an EU-funded research project on values-based indicators of education for sustainable development (ESDinds) has worked on how to make these invisible, ethical and spiritual values visible by, for example, developing indicators to measure trust, integrity, justice, empowerment, unity in diversity, and care and respect for the community of life in businesses and civil society organizations.
The Conference was organized around four overlapping themes:
Values - The relevance of values to the success of businesses, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and other organizations, even when they are not themselves values-based, is becoming increasingly recognized, and a theme of the conference was the usefulness of values-based indicators in that context.
Useful indicators for CSO projects - The development of useful indicators of any type for civil society (CSO) projects have always been problematic. At the conference speakers from CSOs, funders and researchers gave updates on challenges and emerging ideas.
Co-design and partnership in research - The importance of co-design and the involvement of Communities of Interest for the success and appropriateness of a research project was explored.
Ethics and Sustainable Development - Major advances have been made in developing indicators, but challenges still exist at the project (or local) level, and in linking to ethical values.
THURSDAY 16 DECEMBER
Opening Session: Making the Invisible Visible
Dean Andrew Lloyd of the University of Brighton formally welcomed the participants, and Professor Marie Harder introduced the conference theme and provided background on the ESDinds project behind the conference
VIDEO RECORDING of the welcome address by Prof. Andrew Lloyd
VIDEO RECORDING of the conference introduction by Prof. Marie Harder
The People's Theatre, one of the ESDinds partners, had traveled from Germany to put on a short performance relevant to the theme of the conference.
VIDEO RECORDING of People's Theatre
VIDEO RECORDING of the complete introductory session (duplicates the above)
Plenary Session 1: Developing an Overview
Indicators and the Need for Values
Bedrich Moldan spoke of the Brundtland definition of sustainable development. This is well known and widely used but has been widely criticised. It has a number of key elements:
1. It is concerned about people
2. It has a long term view
3. It has an ethical base
Unfortunately it is quite a fuzzy definition.
Why is sustainable development desirable? The conventional wisdom maintains that sustainable development means a development of human society and individual human beings that is sustainable socially, economically and environmentally. We try to figure out what these three pillars consist of, find appropriate indicators, etc. These were defined qualitatively at first, but are moving more towards the quantitative. However, we should also ask not only what does it mean, but also why it should be so, i.e. questions about the desirability of sustainable development. Developing the indicators of sustainability also develops the value judgments of the people developing them. There are two basic assumptions on which to base a view on sustainable development:
1. There is a moral imperative to all people (including those not yet born).
2. We are in the Anthropocene - the era of total human domination of Earth. This comes with total responsibility for the earth.
VIDEO RECORDING of Professor Moldan's talk
DESD we can? Learning our way out of unsustainability
The UN Decade of Education for Sustainability gives a central role to education and learning in transitioning to more sustainable lifestyles, communities, organisations, businesses and systems. As we have crossed, somewhat silently, the mid-way point of this Decade, Arjen Wals asked the question whether we are beginning to make a dent in the tsunami of unsustainability that is rolling over the Planet. Is Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) able to turn the tide, and how would we know? We are part of a system that accelerates unsustainabilty. There are many examples of this. 426,000 cell phones are thrown away per day in the USA alone. Mothers with HIV in South Africa are given a weekly allowance. It is not used to help their children, it is used to charge their phones. Clean water is not available for all yet wireless networks are available across the globe.
Society is becoming gradually more educated about this. The word green is used more and more, but there is a danger that this is just greenwash. Civilizations have disappeared before by exceeding their ecological and technological boundaries. The difference today is that, if civilization goes down now, the whole world goes down.
Can we turn this unsustainability around? "We need a radical change in the ways we think and act in particular in terms of education and training" (Koichiro Matsuura). We need to be creative in coming up with ways of getting out of unsustainability. We need an integrated view of civilization building. Setting benchmarks to measure things is more useful for the measurers than it is to hand over to someone, as the act of making the measurements provides learning for those who are involved. Sustainability has appalling vagueness to scientists but an appealing vagueness to post-scientists as sustainability only acquires sense once put into a context. See powerpoint presentation (5.1mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Arjen Wals' talk
Values: why do successful businesses consider them a competitive advantage?
In what mood do you walk into your office on Monday? What is your level of motivation as you sit at your desk, and how much of your complete self - talents, personality and skills - are you willing to dedicate to your company's objectives? Daniel Truran offered some examples whereby the nurturing of employees' values and their alignment with both the company and society's values brings about the most motivated and committed staff. This results not only in the retention of a company's best talent, but also having all the human resources totally committed to making the company successful.
It sounds like an oxymoron to have a business with values. But there are many examples where it works. The Lush anti-packaging campaign is one. Lush employees decided to join the get naked campaign to promote lack of packaging. What motivated this? Mainly it was because there was an alignment of the companies values with people's personal values.
Currently business targets only stimulate a tiny part of your being. Companies are not using their human resources to full effect. Wikipedia is constructed by people for free. Google develops new products as beta and sends them out for free; if the product is useful, development continues, if not, it is binned. These companies are tapping in to more unused potential of people.
The value of an organization is increasingly based on intangible things such as trust. Companies that are successful align society values, company values and personal values. Companies try to appeal to society's values, but if marketing is detached from company values, then you just get nonsense. What cannot be measured cannot be managed or improved. See his presentation (pdf, 2.3mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Daniel Truran
The Earth Charter: Meeting a Need for a Universal Values/Ethics Framework
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman closed the first plenary by saying that humanity must choose its future, one of peril or promise. The Earth Charter emerged from a long process relating human rights to our responsibility for the planet and living creatures. In 1987, The World Commission on Environment and Development (known as "the Brundtland Commission") launched its report "Our Common Future" with a call for a "new charter" to set "new norms" to guide the transition to sustainable development. Following that, discussion about an Earth Charter took place in the process leading to the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. After the failure to get a text adopted at the Earth Summit, and a long bottom-up discussion involving thousands of people, the Earth Charter was formally launched in the year 2000. It is a shared vision of basic values, a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It seeks to inspire in all people a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the whole human family, the greater community of life, and future generations. This is critical because of the lack of attention paid to values, or ethics generally, in many global processes currently being developed. The hope was it would carry itself, but acceptance is still fragile. See powerpoint presentation (455kb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Rabbi Newman's talk
Plenary Session 2: Recent Developments
Values as the basis for action in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: the Youth as Agents of Behavioural Change (YABC) Initiative
Dr Katrien Beeckman, head of the Principles and Values Department of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), introduced the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, composed of 186 National Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the IFRC. It is guided by 7 Fundamental Principles (Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity and Universality) underpinned by universal humanitarian values, such as respect for diversity and human dignity. This ethical framework constitutes the raison d’être of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and determines its action and modus operandi. The Principles and Values Department has recently set up the YABC or 'Youth as Agents of Behavioural Change' initiative, which empowers youth to become ethical leaders in their community promoting non-discrimination, non-violence and social inclusion. See powerpoint presentation (2.7mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Dr. Katrien Beeckman's talk
A New Framework of Values-Based Indicators and the ‘We Value’ Toolkit
Professor Marie Harder summarized the ESDinds Project (a two-year research project funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme) which is behind this conference. The basis of the project is that ethical values can be measured, when locally defined, by using a combination of indicators based on perceptions and observable outputs. An important output is the newly developed set of WE VALUE indicators, which allow civil society organisations and businesses to measure the intangible things that are important to them. This process enables them to crystallize their vision and goals, as they develop specific indicators and measurement methods. It can also assist them to achieve new relationships with funders: building a shared vocabulary around values helps both sides to appreciate each other. See the powerpoint presentation (6.6mb) and the separate forum entry.
VIDEO RECORDING of Prof. Harder's talk
Project Evaluation and Transformation with Values-Based Indicators: the Echeri Project with Indigenous Children in Rural Mexico
Cardiela Amézcua Luna founded Echeri Consultores, a non-profit organisation based in Michoacan, Mexico that promotes environmental conservation through values education and the arts. It is affiliated with the Earth Charter Initiative (ECI), a founding partner of the ESDinds Project Consortium. She described Echeri’s experiences with WE VALUE indicators in a participatory evaluation of two separate reforestation projects working with indigenous children and youth. The indicators provided specific, detailed information about the impact of the projects, and the participatory process resulted in transformation of the smaller youth group at a deep level.
VIDEO RECORDING of Cardiela Amézcua Luna translated by Ismael Velasco
The 14th Annual General Assembly of the International Environment Forum was held over the lunch break.
SPECIALIST SESSION 1: VALUES SYSTEMS
Windows on the World: Views from Minessence
Jackie Le Fèvre noted that academic opinion appears to be relatively settled upon the inter-related nature of values, and that values tend to sit in hierarchies and can rise or fall in priority in relation to external circumstances. Over the last twenty years the Minessence Values Framework (MVF) has been used with individuals, groups and organisations around the world. This framework clusters values into eight themes and describes seven distinct views upon the world. The current data set for the MVF contains over 17,000 individuals. She explained the structure of the framework itself and explored some of the insights into gender- and occupation-specific preferences that have emerged to date. See powerpoint presentation (1.2mb).
The IFRC's YABC (Youth as Agents of Behaviour Change) Initiative
Dr Katrien Beeckman built on her plenary lecture to provide more information on YABC (Youth as Agents of Behaviour Change), which empowers youth to become leaders of behavioural change in society and in their local community. It does so by equipping them with concrete and practical skills, such as non-violent communication or active listening. YABC starts with each youth member making the commitment to change from within. Through internal arts, youth gain inner peace and harmony before reaching out to their peers and the community. The final purpose for YABC youth is to raise the awareness of society on non-discrimination, gender equality, violence prevention and building a culture of peace, social inclusion and intercultural dialogue and to engage in concrete action, which can take the form of humanitarian diplomacy with authorities, carrying out social projects, organizing campaigns, etc.
Measuring Values in Education – a scheme in 58 schools in Ireland
Molly O'Duffy spoke about her work with Educate Together, the Patron Body for 58 multi-denominational state-funded primary schools in the Republic of Ireland. The ethos of Educate Together schools is predicated on the following core principles: multi-denominational, co-educational, child-centred and democratically run. The schools deliver an ethical education programme, which includes Moral and Spiritual Education, Environment and Ethics, Belief Systems, and Equality and Justice. In keeping with these principles, Educate Together promotes an ethos of respect for the identity, individuality and integrity of all members of the school community, and is devising a tool to help schools measure and evaluate their adherence to the values and principles of the ethos. Shel described this tool and outlined the experience to date in supporting schools to use it. See powerpoint presentation (1.8mb).
The Communication of Social Values
Dr Julie Doyle noted that the mainstream environmental movement has called for a transformation of its own approaches to climate change communication and action, through an acknowledgment that climate change can no longer be simply framed as an environmental issue. As such, a broader coalition of groups and networks, from social justice to faith organisations, are now addressing this issue. Through an analysis of recent climate change communication campaigns by Cafod, Friends of the Earth and the Camp for Climate Action, she explored how different social values are communicated by each campaign. Attentive to the power relations invested in their organisational structures, she considered how different values shape how climate change is made meaningful and the kinds of action advocated. See powerpoint presentation (1.4mb).
Life-Enriching Values
Gwen Clifford described her work with the Human Values Foundation, which has been providing highly acclaimed and effective, non-denominational holistic education programmes for thousands of primary and secondary age pupils both here in the UK and worldwide since 1995. Its programmes help young people explore, develop and practice human values starting with a simple framework of core values including Love, Truth, Peace, Right Conduct and Non-violence. It is now engaging with 21st century technologies to embed and sustain 'Life-enriching values for everyone, both young and old'. There is a long journey ahead but there are many more organisations and partners out there who share the same vision and aims. She suggested it was time to work more closely together. See powerpoint presentation (242kb).
SPECIALIST SESSION 2: INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ESD
Environmental Indicators
Professor Bedrich Moldan provided a deeper exploration of environmental indicators, in particular in the DPSIR (driving force, pressure, state, impact, response) framework developed from the work of the OECD. He provided examples from the issue of transport for each kind of indicator. However technical issues are only part of the story, since ethics underly any attempt to balance benefits and harm. Such value judgments are usually made at a political level in parliaments.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Indicators
Professor Arjen Wals explored indicators more deeply in the context of Education for Sustainable Development, and specifically the UNESCO Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. He asked what inspires learning, dialogue and education? Country rankings can have an impact, but it is hard to have a universal framework meaningful to every country. Terms have different meanings. Monitoring and evaluation can be accountability- or outcome-based, or learning- or process-based. Post-normal science is value-laden, and contested since there is no agreement on values. Test-driven education has been marginalized because so much that is important is unmeasurable, hence the interest in values-based indicators.
Positioning of WE VALUE indicators in relation to conventional indicators of sustainable development
Dr Tomas Hák and Svatava Jarouskova reported on a content analysis of well-known indicators of well-being and sustainable development, together with their underlying methodologies, to compare them with the newly-developed WE VALUE indicators that constitute a major output of the EU-funded ESDinds Project. Looking at environmental, economic and social indicators at the international, national and local/project levels, there were no environmental values-based indicators. At the international level, there was only one explicit social values-based indicator; at the national level a few explicit values-based social and economic indicators; and at the local level a few implicit social and economic indicators. The values-based indicators developed and tested within ESDinds clearly differ from conventional sustainable development indicators, so they can supplement and enrich one another.
The Quadruple Bottom Line (4BL) and holistic perspectives on sustainability – lessons from the social enterprise sector regarding values, strategies & social impact measurement
Dr Jim McLoughlin presented a holistic impact measurement methodology suitable for all organizations interested in measuring sustainability and developing strategic management capabilities. He advocated a quadruple bottom line (4BL) impact framework including social, environmental, financial and economic dimensions, which is incorporated into the holistic SIMPLE (Social Impact for Local Economies) impact measurement model. The model, co-developed by the Brighton Business School’s CUBIST research group and Social Enterprise London, was initially designed to provide the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of a training programme for social enterprises, and has subsequently been used to embed impact systems in social enterprise organisations. The SIMPLE impact model offers a 5 step approach to impact measurement called Scope it; Map it; Track it; Tell it and Embed it. He also explored how micro-level organisational impact reporting should be linked to macro-level societal sustainable measures of performance - effectively a total systems approach - and, in addition, how the social enterprise sector can be an important component in transforming society to a more sustainable future. See powerpoint presentation (2.8mb).
The Sustainable Self: a personal approach to education for sustainability
Dr Paul Murray described the approach used in his forthcoming book "The Sustainable Self". Many professions see education for sustainability as equipping individuals with the technical knowledge and skills they need to deliver 'sustainable' solutions without engaging them at a personal level with the concept of sustainability and the issues that underlie it. Yet if we do not feel engaged with a problem, we are unlikely to act to resolve it. With this in mind, values-centred training techniques were developed at the University of Plymouth to help translate sustainability from an abstract and distant idea into something real, meaningful and personally important. The process seeks to pump-prime the cultivation of six key attributes, which are: awareness of the problems and our personal role in their resolution, a deep motivation to live and work more sustainably, a sense of personal empowerment to act, a baseline understanding of the core themes underlying sustainability, the cultivation of skillful means, and engaging in pro-sustainability practices, personally and professionally. Underlying the training programme is the conviction that what is needed is not so much a change in values, but a recognition and mobilization of our deepest core values and attitudes, which invariably align extremely closely with sustainability ideals. See powerpoint presentation (3.7mb).
SPECIALIST SESSION 3: UNMEASURED THINGS WE VALUE – SHARING EXAMPLES
NGOs in Rural Development and their Drawbacks
Despite the many theories that have evolved on rural development, implementation of NGO projects can have very diverse outcomes, most of them unexpected. Professor Ahmet Akyurek provided a short summary of possible drawbacks during the actual field work phase. These drawbacks include: project preparation with inadequate information, "central" planning, lack of local voice and approval, mistrust of promises, establishing the "true facts" of any situation, disaster mentality, "crossed lines – no communication!" among organizations, motivation for aid, overcoming traditional suspicion, field staff, transplanting of projects, reaching the poorest of the poor, transport, an integrated approach, failure of villagers to honour promises, lack of basic facilities, factions in community life, lack of collective action, long-term solutions, "big is beautiful" syndrome, economic shifting from poor to poor, competition among NGOs, lack of follow-up, cost/benefit ratio, goals and tools, criteria of success, and success at all costs. See the accompanying document (111kb).
End of Tradition? Reconnecting British people back with Nature through OPAL
Nature provides the umbilical cord linking humanity to 'Mother Earth', but in recent decades not only has the physical cord been severed, but the emotional, psychological and spiritual ones too. In Western countries such as Great Britain a new generation is growing up who for the most part cannot even recognize and identify the commonplace animals and plant species. Maxwell Ayamba described the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) project that aims to change this by creating and inspiring a new generation of nature-lovers, getting people to explore, study, enjoy and protect their local environment. The OPAL network is open to anyone with an interest in nature in the UK, bringing scientists, amateur-experts, local interest groups and the public closer together. In 2007 OPAL received a grant of £11.75million from the Big Lottery Fund, developing a wide range of local and national programmes to encourage people from all backgrounds to get back in touch with nature. The project will also generate valuable scientific data concerning the state of Britain's environment. It is a partnership initiative celebrating biodiversity, environmental quality and people’s engagement with nature. See the powerpoint presentation (6.3mb).
The MOWGLI Mentoring Scheme in Syria
Bernadette Devine presented MOWGLI, which stands for: Mentoring – encouraging; Openness; Without prejudices; Giving without expectation of return; Learning that we find ourselves by losing ourselves in the service of others; Inspiring the best in those we work with. To be a successful business person you need the right balance of skills, knowledge and behaviours. MOWGLI mentoring concentrates on the behaviour. It is in essence a relationship and like all relationships they are richer for being a two way process. This richness emerges when both parties are communicating from a position of authenticity and humility. By doing so it allows us to connect at a deeply human level. A good mentor will hold a mirror up to their mentee, allowing them to see themselves as they are. The mirror will help the mentee discover that the gifts he has, which he takes for granted believing that everyone else shared them, are utterly unique to him. It is through a strong mentoring relationship that we discover our own identity.
Partnerships in PERL
David Chittenden described the Partnership for Education and research about Responsible Living (PERL), an EU Academic and international network of over 110 institutions in 50 countries that has built on the Consumer Citizenship Network. PERL aims to educate individuals as active citizens able to make more responsible daily choices, and to influence governments, businesses and schools to make better lifestyle choices both available and attractive. Its approach is build bridges and to collaborate by recognising that people need to determine their own lifestyle changes based on good information, consultation and the principles of sustainable human development. This includes life cycle analysis, social life cycle assessment and life quality analysis. Its approach to education includes scientific investigation and an active social learning process. He concluded by describing some of PERL's projects. See powerpoint presentation (22.9mb).
SPECIALIST SESSIONS 4 and 9: 'WE VALUE' AND 'EC-ASSESS' TASTER SESSIONS
This was an interactive workshop: using 'We Value' for exploring and measuring values, and Earth Charter’s 'EC-Assess' system. It provided a taster session for participants to try out the 'We Value' web platform - guiding participants through the steps of creating a profile, selecting and personalizing appropriate values-based indicators, choosing suitable measurement methods, collecting data, and relating the results to values. It also presented 'EC-Assess', an integrated assessment tool based on the ethical framework of the Earth Charter. This tool provides step-by-step guidance for the assessment of an individual’s lifestyle, an organization’s policies and practices, or a government’s laws and strategies. It measures both the subject’s level of declared commitment and level of performance in their actions, and will allow participants to identify opportunities for strategic change and growth.
Thursday Evening Public Inaugural Lecture
Life: A Systems Approach - Reflections on Multiple Dimensions of Sustainability
The first day of the conference concluded with Arthur Dahl giving his inaugural lecture as Visiting Professor at the University of Brighton on the topic Life: A Systems Approach - Reflections on Multiple Dimensions of Sustainability (click for full text). The presentation can be downloaded here (58 mb). You can also listen to the full audio recording (31.5mb)
Arthur Dahl described how he has taken a very eclectic and strategic approach to the science of systems during 50 years in the environmental movement. He started to explore the patterns and processes underlying complex biological systems, from simple seaweeds to coral reef ecosystems. Then, through very practical work on the environmental problems of small islands, he tried to integrate human communities and natural systems. The next step was the global level, exploring the links between environmental, economic and social systems necessary to move towards planetary sustainability. This meant trying to understand the mechanisms of information and control that allow these systems to function, and indicators that might signal how well they worked. He realized that, at the most fundamental level, it is human ethics and values that determine the effectiveness of our governance and our impact on the planetary environment. This led naturally to search for values-based indicators for sustainability, and the ESDinds project.
FRIDAY 17 DECEMBER
Plenary Session 3: Challenges and Progress in Using Values
New Developments in Understanding Values
Martin Kirk works for Oxfam encouraging UK people to understand poverty. The question is, are we winning against poverty and suffering? Unfortunately not, as climate change is setting us back, whereas at the end of the 20th century we were winning. Oxfam's interest in values grew out of this sober realisation that we will fail to tackle climate change, and overcome global poverty and suffering, with our current strategies. We simply don't have the tools or the understanding to face up to the scale of the threat, or to the forces that are holding politicians and public alike from taking the sort of action we know is required.
Concern for poverty in the UK peaked in about March 2005. Why is public support not continuing to go up when the visibility of these issues has massively increased? The problem is values. At the start of the "Make Poverty History" campaign, we wanted to make it a call for justice instead of charity. Unfortunately this was swamped by everything else and the charity value got pushed too much. Another problem with this campaign is that NGO campaigners thought too much about government policy and not enough about connecting with the public. Make Poverty History didn't tap into people's values, rather it was feeding data to politicians to convince them to do what they already wanted to do.
Over the last 12 months we have been working with colleagues from WWF and a host of other NGOs to understand better what constrains us all. We have come to understand how values are ordered and operate, and how they define the social and political space available for 'bigger than self' issues. We have crafted an ambitious agenda, based on the idea of wide collaboration around values, to re-define the boundaries of debate and action at a national level. This agenda draws on the rich library of data on values, combines it with learning about cognitive frames, and sketches out a vision that has the potential to match the tools we have to the challenges we face.
Values can be practically implemented through cognitive frames. "Frames are the mental structures that allow human beings to understand reality" (George Lakoff). Cognitive frames can go from surface frames through which individuals interact with the world down to deep frames which represent fundamental values. We have identified the surface frames that need to be used to encourage positive deep frames. We shouldn't use surface frames such as charity, aid, development, corruption, communication and campaigns. We need a definable shift in dominant social values. We are at the beginning of the journey. We need all the help we can get. See powerpoint presentation (4.8mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Martin Kirk's talk
The 'Good Governance for Medicines' Programme
Dr Guitelle Baghdadi-Sabeti of the World Health Organization linked values to health. One third of the world population does not have access to essential medicine. Why is this figure so high when we have improved training, infrastructure, etc? Mainly because of corruption which is the biggest single obstacle to economic and social development. Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. It negatively affects access and quality of health care. It endangers the health of entire communities, wastes resources and destroys public trust. The pharmaceutical sector is quite complicated and is open to corruption at many points. There is a strong correlation between the corruption index of a country and its infant mortality rate.
To address this challenge, WHO has launched the 'Good Governance for Medicines' (GGM) Programme. Its goal is to contribute to health systems strengthening and to prevent corruption by promoting good governance in the pharmaceutical sector. It complements a top down approach (based on laws and procedures designed to reduce corruption through fear of punishment) with a bottom-up values based approach. The programme assists countries through a three‐step process of assessing their vulnerabilities to corruption, and developing and implementing specific programmes to maintain efficient health‐care systems. The willingness of governments to implement the GGM has exceeded initial expectations. Starting in 2004 as a pilot project in four Asian countries, the GGM now operates in 26 countries. Successes are already visible: medicine procurement practices have been enhanced, leading to lower costs for medicines; pharmaceutical services and information are publicly available on ministry of health web sites; management of conflicts of interest is implemented; and a culture of transparency is emerging. Momentum for change is increasing, and good governance is often a top priority item on the agendas of ministries of health. See powerpoint presentation (14.2mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Dr. Guitelle Baghdadi-Sabeti's talk
The Value of Design in a Sustainability Context
Karen Blincoe, former Director of Schumacher College and President of Danish Designers related design to sustainability. Design is seen as the link between production and consumption. It is a very essential factor in unsustainable development patterns. Design is the driver of consumerism. All washing powder is basically the same, it is design that drives desire for one product over another. Design is used to awaken unfulfilled desires.
However things are starting to change. Design can be used as a tool for sustainable development. Design as the link between production and consumption can be used to further sustainable behaviour in many areas such as health, transport and energy. Examples of sustainable design can be found in nature. Design research has informed this change in design. It is now less of an instruction process and more of a facilitation process. Designers facilitate other people to design systems and products. Collectively wisdom is more and more being used to solve complex problems. See powerpoint presentation (11.9mb) and pdf version (18.6mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Karen Blincoe's talk
Measurement: Making Values a Normal Part of Projects and Organizations
In the last paper of the morning plenary, Arthur Dahl first reviewed the ESDinds project, its research approach, the variety of case studies as proof of principle, and the resulting WeValue.org platform. The project showed that measuring behaviours or feelings linked to values was possible, and that when these measurements were given a common values interpretation within an organization, they had internal consistency and validity. When values are measured, they become important and can be consciously encouraged or cultivated. Organizations or projects that are strongly values-driven have more effective outcomes. The flexibility of the approach can adapt to most situations and values frameworks. Measuring desirable behaviours and values becomes positively reinforcing. The WeValue.org partnership and web site provide a place to take this work forward and share experience. See powerpoint presentation (7.7mb) and pdf version (7.9mb).
SUB-PLENARY SESSION 1
Building Values-Driven Organizations, Communities and Nations
Richard Barrett used recent case studies to explore the tools, techniques and methodologies that have been used by the Barrett Values Centre (BVC) to support leaders in building values-driven organizations, communities and nations around the world. He described how BVC measures the consciousness of individuals and human group structures (organizations, communities and nations) by mapping the values to the seven levels of consciousness model. He also examined the need for a new leadership paradigm to support the global evolution of consciousness and the creation of a values-driven society. See his powerpoint presentation (10.3mb) and two illustrative video clips on Extremadura (WMV 6.2mb) and a Boardman interview (WMV 8.5mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Richard Barrett's talk
Healthy University-CSO Partnerships
Professor David Wolff gave an overview of the Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP) at the University of Brighton, and summarised CUPP’s own learning about what constitutes a healthy partnership between universities and civil society organisations. He referred to some of the specific characteristics of good practice. See the powerpoint presentation (1.2mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of David Wolff
The Role of Values in Achieving a More Sustainable Development
David Chittenden explored the concept of sustainable development as essentially an ethical value. He touched on the values that have contributed to our current unsustainability and showed why engaging with our values is essential to changing behaviour towards more sustainable lifestyles. PERL’s approach to education for sustainable lifestyles was shown along with some examples. New measures and indicators can help in proving what works and in scaling up our efforts. See powerpoint presentation (5.1mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of David Chittenden's talk
The Impacts of Using Values-Based Indicators in Projects Worldwide
Alicia Jimenez provided an overview of the involvement of the Earth Charter Initiative (ECI) as a CSO partner in the ESDinds project on values-based indicators. She presented a case study using the indicators to evaluate ECI’s own ‘Earth Charter Global Learning Opportunity’ (e-GLO) online course. In addition, she described the ECI vision of how values-based indicators could help organizations in its network, using examples from the University of Guanajuato and a Mexican non-governmental organization, Echeri Consultores. See powerpoint presentation (1mb).
VIDEO RECORDING of Alicia Jiminez
SUB-PLENARY SESSION 2
Partnership, engagement and participation - faith based communities and their engagement with the environment through long term plans
John Smith discussed some of the challenges in adapting the ESDinds approach to faith-based communities. Faith communities work with stories, and stories provide their data. They have proven sustainable longer than any other human institutions. They do not act quickly, but if they take something on, they will enshrine it. Organizations like the World Bank and UNDP have recognized their potential. In 2008, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and UNDP created a partnership to enable the major faith traditions world wide to develop long term plans for generational change for a living planet. In November 2009, thirty-one such plans were launched at Windsor Castle in the presence of the UN Secretary General and HRH Prince Philip (ARC's founder). The model created to enable this is a process of self-examination and stock taking leading to specific commitments to develop their own environmental programmes and to publicise not just what they do but why. The focus on generational change emphasizes the fact that faiths think and operate in generations.
European Union FP7 Opportunities for CSO Involvement in Research
Marie Harder replaced the EU representative to explain how the EU is encouraging Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to be involved more in research, through several innovative and quite new funding mechanisms. She introduced some of them, including the Mobilisation and Mutual Learning Actions plan from the Science In Society (SIS) Work Programme, and opportunities for CSOs as research partners. Examples of past and current Calls of Funding were shown to indicate the EU’s commitment to this theme. She discussed the EU report on Science in Society, (the MASIS report), and its relationship to CSOs.
The role of moral leadership in transformation for sustainability
The far-reaching transformations that society needs to go through -- for example in the field of how knowledge is generated, shared and applied by individuals and organizations, the type of values which are driving individual action and manifested in societal visions, and the norms and rules (institutions) which permeate society -- require a new type of leadership. Onno Vinkhuyzen and Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen explored the role of leadership for societal transformations towards sustainability, first describing the nature of the necessary transformations, then outlining some of the prevailing styles of leadership and how these present obstacles to transformation. They presented the framework of moral leadership developed by Eloy Anello and others at Núr University, Bolivia and used in a number of successful social and economic development projects. Within this framework a person who is exhibiting moral leadership is sufficiently committed to the values of social justice, equity and participation to inspire sustained efforts to bring about change, to assume the personal risks inherent in dealing with resistance to change. They then showed some of the core elements of this framework including a number of capabilities of special value to support transformation towards sustainable development. See powerpoint presentation (5.1mb) with the text of the presentation in the notes for each slide.
The Growing Importance of CSO Partnerships: Lessons from CREPE Project
Les Levidow summarized 'Co-operative Research on Environmental Problems in Europe' (CREPE), a FP7 project that brought together CSOs and academics as partners to carry out research. The thematic focus was environmental issues of agricultural practices and innovations, in the context of EU policy for a Knowledge-Based Bio-Economy (KBBE). They observed that CSOs often seek more active engagement to define research questions, rather than just being recipients of research results. Joint projects between CSOs and research organisations require investment from both sides in order to understand each other’s context, jargon and culture. Co-operative research encourages partnerships between researchers and non-researchers on issues of common interest, and although those categories imply fixed roles, the distinction between researcher and non-researcher can be fluid: CSOs often carry out research, even if not formally recognised as such. For working with CSOs, academics may need to develop more diverse capacities and roles than in conventional research. See powerpoint presentation (651kb).
The DISCUSSION that followed raised a number of interesting points. There is the challenge of communicating between organizations and people. Networking organizations may send a flood of e-mails. The faiths are not arbiters of morals, but they engage in dialogue about moral questions.
In an era of information abundance, there is a mis-match between information flow and the time available. with a lack of time to reflect or to analyze critically. Media saturation may be a kind of mental anaesthetic, filling the void of answers to basic ethical and spiritual questions. Values may serve as an initial filter for information, both excluding information that clashes with our values or world view, and highlighting information that resonates with us. We tend to select media that reinforce our viewpoints.
SPECIALIST SESSION 5: MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Validity Checks of ‘We Value’
Martin Zahradník emphasized that the “We Value” approach is not intended to be a common research design that operationalizes a universal value theory with common research method and assessment tools. It includes various research designs, operationalisations and specific assessment tools, due to its collaborative character and its localisation in various environments and organisations. Therefore, research criteria such as validity, reliability, relevance, etc. have to be tested repeatedly to ensure that we know what we are measuring and that we control the risks of misinterpretation of our results. He demonstrated examples of actual measurements of values-based indicators, showing how they fulfilled research criteria, and summarized the research team’s experience, with recommendations for further research.
Peace Child International’s Youth-led Monitoring and Evaluation Hub
David Woollcombe of Peace Child International (PCI) said they coined the term Youth-led Development (YLD) at its 1st World Youth Congress on Youth and Development in 1999. It refers to projects and initiatives devised and implemented by young people under the age of 25 to 30. Although the concept of YLD has secured increasing interest among the development community, most donors remain reluctant to commit large funds to the field because, they argue, young people are not accountable and often fail to deliver effective monitoring and evaluation of their projects. The Youth Hub aims to gather knowledge and evidence from the field to improve current approaches to monitoring and evaluation done by youth. The Youth Hub will offer PCI’s expertise in the form of a project management resource portal and online social network for young people seeking professional guidance for their initiatives using the following strategies: training and mentoring; measuring concrete project and learning outcomes; a cross-sectoral approach; longitudinal impact measurement; online implementation through social networking and state-of-the-art IT technology (data delivery via cell phones, automatic SMS deadline reminders, etc). See powerpoint presentation (13.3mb).
Measuring Social Impact
Simon Northmore described the development of systematic metrics that capture the outcome or impact of public, community and civic engagement activities by HEIs. These present an enormous challenge both at a practical and theoretical level. The University of Brighton’s Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP) has been in the forefront of work to develop a systematic approach to auditing, benchmarking and evaluating public, community and civic engagement. However, its experience has confirmed that there is a need to develop indicators at the individual project level that present an easily comprehensible metric of the value generated by university-community engagement activities. He presented CUPP’s approach to describing the outcomes of university-community engagement, based on six university community partnerships it currently supports, together with the Universities of Sussex and Chichester, as part of the South East Coastal Communities Project. See powerpoint presentation (393kb).
Assessing Empowerment
Andrew Bartlett asked what is empowerment? Can it be measured? If so, how and by whom? He attempted to answer these questions, drawing on the experience of agricultural projects in Asia. He started with a distinction between intrinsic and instrumental empowerment, leading to a typology of methods, with examples of behavioural indicators used with women in Bangladesh and case studies produced by farmers in Indonesia. Finally, he described some unplanned changes in farmer behaviour in Laos, and asked if we should be 'expecting the unexpected'. See powerpoint presentation (2.9mb).
SPECIALIST SESSION 6: VALUES SYSTEMS IN BUSINESS
AtKisson Inc. and the COMPASS Framework for Sustainability
Using several personal case studies from cities and regions in Australia, Michael Lunn presented the Compass framework for indicators that AtKisson Inc. has used for a decade with excellent results in communities, schools, and corporations. Compass is the tool for managing indicators and assessment, and the stakeholders who need them. 'North, East, South, West' become the memorable 'Nature, Economy, Society, Wellbeing' - sustainability’s compass. The process involves intensive multi-stakeholder dialogue, where values negotiation and learning to "speak each other's language" often play a crucial role. See powerpoint presentation (4mb).
"WeValue" for Businesses
Serge Thill of the European Baha'i Business Forum, an ESDinds partner, presented different ways in which the 'WE VALUE' concept of measuring values-based indicators might be extended from CSOs to business organizations. He addressed fundamental questions such as the place that values have in business today, and what businesses are seeking to achieve through values work, as well as more practical aspects of working with values in a business context. Finally, he discussed ways of securing the long-term effects of a values project in a business organization.
Illuminating Values Systems: Introducing Values Technology
Sara Wolcott and Leonard Joy noted that increasing recognition of the importance of values has led to a diverse range of definitions, uses and tools to measure values, all of which are useful. They introduced the Hall Tonna Values Technology as a useful conceptual framework and practical tool for measuring values that is successfully used in organisations from faith groups to businesses. They also considered the importance of a developmental perspective in working with values, and some of the important practical and ethical concerns for working with values, whichever system one uses. See powerpoint presentation (475kb).
Values and Behaviour in Organisations Under Stress
Jackie Le Fèvre illustrated how an appreciation of world view types and dominant values can be used to understand behaviour in organisations under stress, e.g. in merger situations or whole-organisation culture change programmes. She discussed what this means for shaping the approach taken by anyone in the organisational development/facilitator role, using the Minessence Values System as a framework.
SPECIALIST SESSION 7: CO-INCEPTION, CO-DESIGN, CO-PRODUCTION
Design for Social Learning: Transformative Learning Theory and Practice
Jody Boehnert said that there is a recognition within design that social innovation is needed to meet challenges associated with sustainability. Meanwhile, educators have developed powerful pedagogic practices such as 'transformative learning' (TL). TL was used within the women's movement in the 1970s to help transform women's understanding of the political and social conventions that worked against their liberation. She presented transformative learning as a practice which can addresses values within sustainability education and explained how and why this works. She also explained how design can facilitate this process (using examples from her research). She included examples of how she has attempted to measure values through testing students’ familiarity with key ecological concepts. See powerpoint presentation (pdf 7.5mb).
Co-Design in Action
Nick Gant presented a range of active co-design projects that explore different value systems and collaborative methodologies for sustainable development. These included 'open-sourcing' ideas, socially networked community led planning and building physical 'totems' as a means to facilitate more resilient products and communities. Within each project, he identified 'indicators' of non-financial benefits and values, and demonstrated the value of collaboration in the design process. See powerpoint presentation (69mb).
The Need for Better Design of Research Projects with CSO Partners
Marie Harder described how the traditional approach is that research should start with specialists, who can 'pick up' non-academic matters, assuming that all topics can be researched successfully from their R&D base platform. Civil Society Organizations are usually treated mostly as 'Objects of Study' that can in some cases help at specific points of research design and implementation. With a full partnership with and often leadership from CSOs, previously uncharted community knowledge becomes accessible to researchers, and the end result is directly and immediately useful. Overall, a complex problem is now considered from a new (co-developed) point of view, and this new point of view is partly owned by society, and resides there as well as with researchers. A new Community of Interest is formed with a shared vocabulary, ready to move forward together. Healthy shifts can occur in the research approach developed. CSO involvement shifts the research to new ground away from any traditional academic base. The CSO approach does not respect academic disciplinary boundaries, forcing different academics to work together. Instead of using established research tools, the CSO focus forces hybridisation of wide range of tools and the development of new ones. See powerpoint presentation (1.4mb).
SPECIALIST SESSION 8: PARTNERSHIPS
Healthy University-CSO Partnerships
Professor David Wolff provided a deeper exploration of themes discussed in his sub-plenary overview.
Partnerships in 'We Value'
Gemma Burford of the ESDinds team reflected on the nature of 'participation' in research or evaluation processes, noting that two separate dimensions can be considered: the breadth of participation (the number and diversity of people involved), and the depth (the extent of their ownership and control over decision-making). Recent research has shown that the people who gain most benefit from a project evaluation are those who participate most deeply, i.e. those with the greatest control over decision-making processes. She discussed the 'We Value' project to develop values-based indicators, focusing on how effective partnerships were established and maintained between university-based research groups and CSOs. The structure of the project, which granted full control to the CSO partners, ensured that all the research remained relevant to CSO needs and priorities. The result was sustainable benefits for the CSO partners.
Experiences of Partnerships in Global Action Plan International
Marilyn Mehlmann of Global Action Plan International shared her extensive experience with CSO partnerships.
How Project Quality links to Values
John Smith discussed the values dimension in his long experience with a variety of projects from faith-based groups to urban agriculture.
PEOPLE'S THEATRE
Friday evening, a group of youth from the People's Theatre (Germany), one of the partners in the EDSinds project, performed for the conference, with a play about values in business prepared for the occasion. As usual with People's Theatre, the play was interrupted at the most difficult moment and the audience asked to propose solutions to the ethical dilemmas presented. The audience was even invited to join the troupe in acting out the resolution of the problem. This illustrated the approach of People's Theatre to values-based education. It is now a regular user of ESDinds indicators and methodologies. See more pictures in the conference photo album.
SATURDAY 18 DECEMBER
Plenary Session 4: Looking to the Future
Beyond GDP Growth: Using Values to enable and measure Societal Development?
See more pictures in the conference photo album.
Sara Wolcott gave a remarkable summary of the conference. She asked why we are doing what we are doing, building partnerships around values? We are here because the visible world is falling apart, as many recent commentators (Held, Speth, Stiglitz, Jackson) have noted. Growth is like technology, not necessarily good. There is beyond GDP, prosperity without growth, and alternative one world indicators from Latin America. How do we bridge the different perspectives? We are as we relate; relationships are formed and form values. This conference has not yet found a shared vocabulary, but has identified a family of thought about values. It has brought us together for the first time. In these extraordinary times, we need to come together. We need a vocabulary, and action research, as we are working with peoples' souls. Society does not know what is important, and has no words for it. The great transition can be described as a double helix, with the interpersonal and personal intertwining. Universal values are expressed differently in different contexts, but WeValue helps us step out of context. It shows lived values, not aspirational values. The trajectory of human society is value development at ever-larger scales (family, tribe, clan, city, country, globe). As Martin Luther King said, none of us is free until all of us are free. We are drawn forward by justice as we progress towards higher values. We now have the skills and technologies to measure this, to make the invisible visible. It only works if it is real. It will not be easy. Entropy is strong, and our security needs are now massively threatened. But change is essential; we can change and will change.
Brighton and Hove’s response to the changing UK policy context: Intelligent Commissioning, co-production and developing new measures of success
Dr Paula Black, Head of Analysis and Performance at Brighton and Hove City Council, provided a local focus and one city's response. How do you keep hold of your values when faced with a massive (£30m) budget cut? What is important? Can social resources be generated to fill the financial gap? The broad policy context for delivering public services in the UK has changed significantly in the past two years. Some of the key issues are:
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The new Coalition Government
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The economic downturn
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Planned cuts to public spending
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Increased partnership working across the public, private and third sectors
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Abolition of Primary Care Trusts and the introduction of GP commissioning
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The localism agenda
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Moves to broaden democratic engagement and participation
Brighton and Hove has responded to these issues in part by moving towards an Intelligent Commissioning method of public service delivery, splitting delivery and mission roles and judging performance by outcomes rather than outputs. How do you incorporate and measure values? She outlined what Intelligent Commissioning is and what it means for the city. She then looked at the potential this creates for co-design and co-production within the commissioning cycle. Finally, she outlined how new measures are being created to understand progress towards achieving priority outcomes across Brighton and Hove.
'Effective' versus 'Successful' CSO Projects
Marilyn Mehlmann of Global Action Plan International noted that a successful project is easy to identify, not only in civil society but in any sphere: it meets its objectives. This assumes that there are indeed clear, measurable objectives, but let us take that as read. However this is not to say that even a successful project is necessarily effective. There are many possible reasons why the objectives may not lead us to be effective. She addressed four of them, all related to values:
- The objectives may be too narrow, or too difficult to measure;
- the solution may be in need of a problem;
- dishonesty "just for the boys";
- "civilizing" through CSOs, the new colonialism.
Other problems include tailoring objectives to the funder's requirements, and funders that oversimplify the complexity of sustainability. If you have a big investment in problems, no problems, no work. Transformation is a place you did not expect. Representative democracy cannot transform, it must be combined with participation. Empowerment can lead to the opposite result; is it important?
People long for a more sustainable life, with more time, quality time, and more honest dialogue. We need self reflection and on-going dialogue, consonant with values and beyond best intentions, and new ways to measure success. See powerpoint presentation (475kb).
Education and Lifestyles: Policy Processes, Values and Indicators
David Chittenden asked what is policy? Who has a mandate to make decisions? Governmental policy has an important role to play in a transition to a more sustainable world, but governments do not involve enough people and consult them too late. International policy processes are also important for establishing global norms which can then be implemented in national and local settings. But there are "wicked" problems with no consensus, no criteria, no evaluation of responses or outcomes, uncertainty, sparse information and big social choices. There are diverse currencies of action, not only money. Distribution always matters. There is no discussion of values in government. David Chittenden discussed the relationship between values and making policy, as well as how policy is often made and measured, with reference to education and lifestyles. He also showed some of the international policy processes that PERL is involved in (such as the Marrakech Process on Sustainable Consumption and Production, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and ISO 26000 on Social Responsibility) and highlighted some of the values involved. See presentation (pdf 1.1mb).
The Future of the Global Economy
Professor Augusto Lopez-Claros set the broader context by reviewing the global economic outlook. He asked what are some of the longer-term challenges posed by the latest global financial crisis and what are some of the difficult choices which governments, businesses and civil society will confront in coming years in our search for a more equitable and sustainable economy? The world economy contracted by -0.6% in 2009, but with great variability between countries suggesting possible decoupling. The causes of the financial crisis included the behaviour of financial agents and deficiencies in the system, but not enough has been done to correct these. The energetic and widespread government reaction prevented a bigger calamity, but at a high cost in public indebtedness that has inverted vulnerability. In the US, public debt will soon be 100% of GDP, and OECD countries could reach 140% of GDP. Can we grow ourselves out of debt, as we did after the last world wars? At over 100%, debt servicing becomes onerous, distorts economic policy and services, and prevents responding to crises. The dilemma for governments is to balance fiscal stimulus to offset recession with maintaining the confidence of the market. The next crisis coming is in governments' abilities to roll over debt. The US needs to borrow $4.6 trillion in 2010, and Japan $3.2 trillion. Such countries are living beyond their means and are hostage to the market. The aging populations will be another pressure on public finance, as will climate change and other environmental problems. Rising GDP does not correlate with welfare beyond a certain level. The divergence in income levels between rich and poor is getting worse. The most egalitarian (Nordic) countries use their budget for distribution: education, public health, and infrastructure, and save in good times to even out the bad. How can we work together to address these challenges? Perhaps we need a G8 of religions to consult on this. See powerpoint presentation (848kb).
FINAL DISCUSSION
In the final DISCUSSION, one theme was about action at the local level. Local authorities could be a driving force, but they are limited in powers and citizen support, and often dependent on financial support from national government. Devolution can just be a way to pass on the responsibility for hard decisions. Too much focus at the local level could lead to ghettoism. There are experiments with local economy, but keeping money in the local community can impact on the national economy. Creative communities and social innovation succeed in a small organic way, but when they scale up they lose trust and increase bureaucracy. Sometimes encouraging community public service is opposed by the trade unions who see jobs being replaced by volunteers.
Another theme was the global crisis and possible responses. Smaller countries have been least affected, especially those not so integrated into the global economy. Chile created a copper fund when prices were high to save for bad times. The many intertwined problems will continue and a crisis is coming. Adaptive capacity is needed, such as savings and resources. Demilitarization could help. The Irish experience was cited, with a false rise in GDP with the influx of finance by multinationals, while literacy, social support and the health system declined. Financial institutions show a total lack of responsibility, with profits to the banks and losses to the governments, and politicians buy into this. We still believe that bankers are smart, and it is strategically hard to bring values in. The recent financial crisis was only a small blip; a more fundamental transformation is needed towards a moral economy. As Buckminster Fuller said, we should overturn the system by making it irrelevant. There are alternative measures of worth, and a lively recent debate on alternative economics.
Where do we go from here with WeValue? Some organizations and individuals are continuing the partnership, and others are welcome to join. We need multiple dialogues at all scales, across disciplines and CSOs, with more practical examples of values in action. The Brighton team will consider organizing another event to facilitate further action. It will also offer training in WeValue methods, and there are further funding calls to respond to. Earth Charter International will keep going and wants to exchange experience. EBBF will launch its programme to bring WeValue into businesses and organizations on 1 February. The IFRC (Red Cross) offers its experience with Youth as Agents of Behaviour Change. As we build relationships, we shall build a shared language and send out humble champions.
With snow shutting down transportation across England, the conference ended early, but with a sense of satisfaction that a constructive process had been set in motion.
ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE
The electronic conference consisted of a forum on this web site at https://iefworld.org/forum/119 where summaries of key speeches were posted, and presentation slides were added as available, with video and audio recordings coming later. Registered users could comment on the sessions.
VALUES-BASED INDICATORS OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (ESDinds) project
The ESDinds project has succeeded in developing indicators to measure trust, integrity, justice, empowerment, unity in diversity, and care and respect for the community of life in businesses and civil society organizations. It has found processes to help organizations crystallize their understanding of their values, identify general indicators that express those values, define specific indicators or proxy measures that represent the implementation of those values, and measure those indicators quantitatively or qualitatively. This can be done in ways that are internally consistent, and has already produced useful results in evaluating the impact of projects which have values-based elements. The methodology has already been used successfully with an Earth Charter project for indigenous school children in Mexico, a Red Cross project for former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, a Mexican university, the Lush cosmetics company in Italy and a small Peoples Theater in Germany, and will soon be tested in China, with a financial services company in Luxembourg, and opened to trials by many other civil society organizations. There is already a considerable body of practical experience on values-based indicators. More details on the ESDinds project can be found at http://www.esdinds.eu/.
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Last updated 9 February 2012