Human Wellbeing in the 21st Century: Meeting Challenges, Seizing Opportunities - The Bellagio Initiative Report

"Global events during this time illustrated vividly the twin premises of the Initiative: that humanity is indeed experiencing major challenges; but, also, that there are opportunities for change that can, and must, be grasped urgently."

This summary document of the Bellagio Initiative is a description of the "changing landscape of international development and philanthropy, an accounting of the major challenges to protecting and promoting human wellbeing - and new opportunities and innovations to support it - and a pointed look at the areas where philanthropy and international development organizations can engage constructively with these challenges and opportunities."

The deliberations involved in this initiative "sought out voices seldom heard in global forums, and engaged in a process of deliberation with them. As an example, the Dialogues saw representatives of indigenous peoples sitting down with UN advisers to discuss sustainability and growth, as well as refugees and pastoralists exploring migration issues with ministers of state. Beyond those who participated in person, the Initiative also used its website and social media platforms to gather ideas and opinions from many people who have been equally passionate about protecting and promoting human wellbeing at this critical moment in time."

The Bellagio Initiative was comprised of three components: "a series of Commissioned Papers that explored key challenges to human wellbeing...; a programme of Global Dialogues that saw these and other challenges debated...; and finally, a two-week rolling workshop, the Bellagio Summit..." The Initiative developed the ecosystem model of philanthropy and international development, which focuses an agenda for change on the relationships that need to be "created, (re)built, and strengthened if human wellbeing is to be protected and promoted." Rebuilding trust and taking on risk were foci of discussion, beginning with moving from technocracy to human-centred development.

Challenges and opportunities for change that emerged from discussions include the following:

1. "Change the ideas: new ways of thinking about what development is and should be," for example, more openly challenging accepted assumptions such as that economic growth is always good, or reorienting existing positions such as, considering how economic growth can be oriented towards human wellbeing. "The more voices that contribute to a debate to construct a new human-centred development paradigm, and the greater the diversity of those voices, the better it will be for achieving Bellagio’s ambitious goal of shifting the development policy agenda"
2. "Change the agenda: reorient the development policy agenda to address current threats to human wellbeing," accepting that this will entail "difficult political debates and challenging political trade-offs, rooted in the realities of current economic, social and environmental change." This will include:  
   • Build on momentum, including building in new voices from the grassroots-level initiatives.
   • Embrace local levels, including reconnecting with advocacy and working with civil society and grassroots organisations lobbying for change in particular societies and cultures.
   •  Listen to people - "their voices must contribute to deliberations over policy direction."
   • Harness new and existing resources, such as new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and innovative forms of development financing (social bonds, Diaspora funding etc.)
3. "Change the measurements: to make measurements of development more meaningful for human wellbeing." "When we change what we measure, we begin to change how we think and we also begin to change the policy agenda." This consists of accelerated efforts to develop new measures of the impacts of development efforts on human wellbeing.
4. "Change how we work: to embed change at all levels of development work." Systems-level change includes: improve communications; share knowledge; and establish common indicators. Organisational change includes: understanding the comparative advantage of philanthropic and development organisations and finding and forming partnerships - "either horizontally (with collaborators) or vertically (downwards, with implementing organisations or grass-roots bodies, and upwards, with coordinating or regulating organisations)." Individual change includes "reconsider[ing] how we view and contribute to development [and] explor[ing] the role of human values in development more generally."
5. "Change who is involved: to create space for a new cast of actors....This means making system changes that make people themselves players with an integral part of development processes. This will require development organisations to be more transparent and to act to empower citizens to hold them to account for their actions. It is important that development and philanthropy organisations reflect on the extent to which they are willing to allow themselves to be held to account by the people that they claim to be working for."