WGS 2017: Global Policy-makers, Happiness Advocates and Experts Converge to Form Communities for Happiness

Groups across 10 sectors including Public Policy, Governmental Happiness and Happiness Measurement discuss impact of their disciplines on happiness

Dubai, UAE, February 12, 2017:  The role of governments is to create an enabling environment where people can flourish and achieve their dreams, stated Her Excellency Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, UAE Minister of State for Happiness. 

Laying the groundwork for a free exchange of ideas among experts from around the world, the Minister invited delegates to assemble at different tables to discuss the theme of their choice and its relationship with happiness. Over 75 attendees joined the discussions, forming communities that exchanged ideas and best practices related to 10 topics - Public Policy and Happiness, Health and Happiness, Organisational Happiness, Governing Happiness, Personal Happiness, Education and Happiness, Measuring Happiness, Sustainability and Happiness, Future of Happiness, and Happy Cities.

Vanessa King, a board member at Action for Happiness, a UK-based social movement, which participated in the Organisational Happiness community, found the session interesting because it brought together different viewpoints from around the world. She said: “We covered everything from the happiness macro and educating shareholders in terms of thinking about workplace happiness as investors to the role of governments as workplaces and how to get governments to engage with businesses and organisations - both large and small.”

She added: “Most people are involved in small businesses, but how do we get them to share the governments’ vision and realise the extent of their responsibility, whether they are a private or a public sector organisation? Lots of big companies are now beginning to pay attention to happiness at work - the Microsofts, the Googles - but what about the smaller organisations? We are aware that leader and manager behavior has a huge influence on how happy people feel at work - can governments capitalise on this knowledge through developing training programs for leaders and managers?” 
King leads psychology and workplace happiness at Action for Happiness, where she has studied the role of governments and organisations in creating happy workplaces.

John de Graaf, Executive Director of Take Back Your Time and co-founder of The Happiness Initiative, and Seattle Happiness Initiative and Board Member of the Earth Island Institute, who participated in the Public Policy and Happiness community, said: “We have just had a meeting on public policy and happiness, where a lot of great ideas are coming out - I wish we had more time. Some of the ideas are about even small policy changes that can make a difference. Also, we discussed the importance of distribution of happiness, not just the average of happiness and the fairness and the issue of dealing with inequality, which seem essential.” 

Another attendee, Gabrielle Kelly, Director of Centre of Well-being and Renaissance in South Australia, said: 'This was a very rapid synthesizing of very complex topics on well-being with some of the world’s greatest minds. The importance of a well-being policy reducing the impact on the disadvantaged and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable has emerged as a key concept. We also concluded that governments alone cannot determine the happiness policy of people.'

Each panel discussion was moderated by the organisers of the World Government Summit with a view to identifying a clear scope or theme, structuring the details of the discussion, and defining a way forward for each community. The communities are also encouraged to stay in touch, seek potential collaborations and ways to maintain an ongoing exchange of ideas. 

The World Government Summit (WGS) 2017 has drawn the participation of more than 4,000 personalities from 139 countries around the world, reflecting the leading stature of the summit on regional and international levels and the high interest from governments, global organizations, private and public sector entities, decision makers, entrepreneurs, academics and university students as well as scientists and innovators. WGS 2017 features 150 speakers across 114 sessions that highlight the world’s most pressing challenges and showcase best practices and cutting-edge solutions to deal with them.