What is human wellbeing? A locally driven, 3-dimensional

perspective

Emily Woodhouse

WCS / UCL / Imperial College

The rise of wellbeing…

Poverty to wellbeing

In traditional welfare economics focus on income/GDP and linked to growth

Human centred development

HDI (capabilities)

Livelihoods & resource strategies

Sustainable livelihoods frameworks

QoL / Subjective wellbeing (Gough et al. 2007)

In conservation focus on income, human-wildlife conflict, attitudes towards parks (Pullin et al. 2014)

Human wellbeing: key distinctions

• Multi-dimensional – in line with what people value

• Positive framing – “inclusive aspiration”

• Universal vs local – ideally flexible universal framework

• Objective vs subjective - can be at odds (e.g. MPA in Indonesia – Gurney et al 2014)

Why should conservationists care?

Understanding incentives

Improving perceptions, engagement, legitimacy conservation outcomes

Ethical – “do no harm”

3-dimensional conception

“a state of being with others, which arises where human needs are met, where one can act meaningfully to pursue one’s goals, and where one can enjoy a satisfactory quality of life’’ (McGregor 2007)

MATERIAL What you have Needs satisfactionindicators

RELATIONAL What you can do with what you have

Human agency indicators

SUBJECTIVE How you feel about what you have and what you can do

Quality of life indicators

Social concept – construct objective and subjective through social relations with others; social good important in wellbeing

Locally grounded approach

‘Voices of the

Poor’ wellbeing

domains

Description and examples

Material Secure and adequate livelihoods

Enough food and food security

Assets e.g. land, natural resources, livestock,

savings and capital, goods, housing, furniture

and tools

Health Feeling strong and well

Access to health services

Appearing well

Having a healthy physical environment

Social

relations

Good relations with family, community and

country

Dignity e.g. not being a burden, feeling listened

to

Ability to help others and fulfil social obligations

Ability to care for children (including education

and marriage)

Security Confidence in the future – predictability

Peace

Safe and secure environment e.g. safety from

disasters

Personal physical security and safety

Security in old age and for future generations

Freedom

of choice

& action

Sense of control and power

Ability to pursue what you value doing & being,

and meet aspirations

Ability to be a good person e.g. to help others

“To feel that you have a good/normal life (engishui e kawaida) in this community, what is important?”

Wellbeing in Simanjiro, Northern Tanzania

Dimension Example indicators Method

Material Assets – livestock, land (communal & private), crops producedAccess to services including education

Livelihoods survey

Relational Participation in cons/dev activitiesSocial relations and conflict

Group discussionsWellbeing survey

SubjectiveFeelings of securitySense of control over changeTrust in external actorsValued cultural traditionsAttribution of changes

Wellbeing survey (use of likert scales) based in qualunderstandings

Significance of security in HWB in Tanzania

Thoughts on relationships with equity

• Understanding (disaggregated) wb needs and impacts prerequisite for analysing distributive equity.

• Can constitute each other e.g. equity as part of wb

• Relational wb related to procedural equity; and can uncover contextual equity issues e.g. institutions/power structures

• Social idea of wb (living well together) reflects wider issue of reconciling individual wb with societal good – question of justice

• Locally grounded wb approach has potential to improve equity in planning & evaluation

Thank you!