Ed Diener coined the term subjective wellbeing as the scientific definition for one’s own assessment of satisfaction with life, and the extent to which you are fulfilling your potential and leading a life that you value. This led to the introduction of the Satisfaction With Life Scale in 1985, and it remains the most widely used measure of wellbeing in the world, sitting at the heart of the Huber Social Wellbeing Measurement Framework.

The social impact measurement of Pups in Prison was designed to begin to understand the short and long-term impact of the program – not only on prisoners, but the prison environment as a whole and the eventual recipients of the dogs.

The answer is a mix of storytelling and science. We isolate COVID-19 in results by explaining the context and backing it up with data.

Accounting for COVID-19 in Social Impact Measurement is a hot topic of our clients right now. Get in touch for our point of view.

In the pursuit to measure social value we must not get carried away and overlook and oversimplify how this is to be achieved. Otherwise we risk establishing a new economy that may create as many issues as it seeks to address.

Refugees have a need for services that target areas of wellbeing beyond the immediate emergency resources such as food, water, shelter and clothing. Focus on these emergency services often leave little resources to address wholistic factors of wellbeing such as a sense of purpose, community connection, self-belief, relationships, communication and general life skills. Left unaddressed, we set ourselves up for a continuing cycle of unrest, conflict and ongoing mass displacement of people.

Should student wellbeing be the ultimate goal for the education sector?

If we want to elevate Wellbeing to the same level as GDP, the same rules need to apply. We need a universal measure of Wellbeing, subjective Wellbeing, measured to standard and independently verified that delivers actionable insight for targeted investment.

Just as longitude is needed alongside latitude, we need to measure Wellbeing alongside economic growth to navigate the progress of humanity.