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EIESP - IEEPS European Institute of Education and Social Policy
c/o Université de Paris-Dauphine
1, Place du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny
75 116 Paris FRANCE

Phone: +33 (0)6 74 77 38 15
Website: www.eiesp.org
Email: ieeps@eiesp.org

About the Consortium

In 2009, a group of foundations decided to establish the ‘Learning for Well-being’ Consortium in Europe, designed to support this vision, in partnership with other actors of society. The founding group are:


For more information contact the Secretariat at the European Institute of Education and Social Policy (gordon@eiesp.org & arjomand@eiesp.org)



 
The founding group are all members of the European Foundations Centre (www.efc.be).
 
EFC Foundation Week
Focus on Children and Youth – 1st June 2010
Celebrating International Children’s Day!

On the 1st June, during the European Foundation Centre 'Foundation Week' (www.efc.be), the Learning for Well-being Consortium of Foundations in Europe joined forces with the EFC Children and Youth Funders Group and Eurochild to organize a full-day event dedicated to children and youth. It consisted of three consecutive sessions focusing on different aspects of children’s rights, participation and learning for well-being. As well as debates, there was a networking lunch where foundations could showcase their work with children and youth.

The Consortium's session was entitled 'How European Foundations contribute to the ‘learning for well-being’ of children and youth in their diverse environments'. Please click here to read the report of the session, attended by about 45 representatives of foundations and their partners, government, NGOs and researchers. More photos of the event will be posted soon. Please click below to view the PowerPoint presentations at the session:

Presentation of the Learning for Well-being Consortium of Foundations in Europe
Presentation of the Policy Glossary on Well-being
Presentation from the Evens Foundation
Presentation from the Bertelsmann Stiftung
Presentation from the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace
Presentation from the Universal Education Foundation

Plan of the Learning for Well-being Consortium



Vision

Learning for well-being is about helping children and young people find a sense of inner happiness and a form of life that suits their nature. It is about realizing our unique potential within our common humanity. It builds on the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child and reflects the four pillars of learning defined by the report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together & learning to be. It supports the World Health Organisation’s definition of health: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Statement of Purpose

We, members of the Consortium, will inspire and engage policy makers, foundations and other stakeholders in Europe to listen more to children and young people, and to take more initiatives with them for their well-being in their learning environments (as underlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child).

Success Factors

As our unique approach, we will focus on implementing the concept of learning for well-being for children and young people, based on agreed principles, at the EU, national, regional and local levels by:
  • Encouraging the conscious nurturing of children’s and young people's well-being by providing expertise and input to policy-making at all levels in Europe, especially in less well-covered areas/topics regarding the enhancement of children’s well-being (for example indicators of personal perception).
  • Sharing knowledge and skills among foundations and political decision-makers in order to disseminate and implement effective content and strategies for learning for well-being for children and young people.
  • Supporting inter-sectoral and inter-professional work by the EC Directorate-Generals (e.g. covering health, education, youth policy, mental health etc) and other relevant government and multilateral agencies.
  • Creating a culture of engaging children as change agents in the transformation of their learning environments.
  • Engaging with a critical mass of partners from multiple sectors of society who have the depth and breadth to take forward the vision of ‘Learning for Well-being’.
  • Developing a common language and a co-creative culture in and among European foundations.
 

Goals

  1. Policy-makers, NGOs, businesses and foundations become increasingly aware and take action to improve ways in which learning environments through their development can support the well-being of children and young people, such as:
    1. Early years education and care;
    2. School and out-of-school activities (including educational activities);
    3. Information and communication technology and media;
    4. Local communities /local community development;
    5. Family;
    6. Hospitals, clinics, local surgeries;
    7. Other support systems.
 
  1. Girls and boys are involved and actively participate in all the different activities in an age appropriate way.
  2. More and more foundations, European institutions and stakeholders are engaged in supporting the vision of ‘Learning for Well-being’.
 

Activities:

The Consortium has agreed a first activity plan:
 

‘Learning for Well-being’ Policy Glossary:

In February 2010 Professor Ilona Kickbusch was commissioned by the Consortium to take the lead in drafting a Policy Glossary on ‘Learning for Well-being’ for children and young people, which will provide a conceptual and strategic framework as well as the basis for a common language for policy makers at all levels in Europe. One of the aims is to help create a shift in mindsets and practices that responds to the diversity of individuals and their learning processes, valuing the fulfilment of individual potential. The Policy Glossary will reflect the state-of-the-art in knowledge and interdisciplinary research on ‘learning for well-being’, outline principles for policies at different levels of governance and propose ideas about making it happen. The work on the Policy Glossary has received a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
 
 

‘Learning for Well-being’ Conference:

The Consortium is organising an agenda setting conference for European and international institutions, national governments, foundations, business, research and NGOs to support the EU agenda towards the well-being of children.
 
The conference will be held in Brussels early in 2011 in cooperation with, among others, partners from education, health, media, ICT, community and family organisations. It will bring together global and local partners from multiple sectors of society and disciplines. An advanced draft of the Policy Glossary will be presented to the conference for discussion.
 
 

‘Learning for Well-being’ Europe Charter:

The Consortium will draft a Charter for adoption by the conference in 2011. It will be a declaration of common understanding of what is required for the diverse learning environments of children and young people to be more conducive to their well-being. This Charter will serve as a guide for developing, implementing and evaluating programmes to enhance the well-being of children.
 
 

‘Learning for Well-being’ Indicators:

The Consortium Secretariat has drafted a stocktaking report on existing data sets and indicators for measuring ‘learning for well-being’: The well-being of children and youth – a stocktaking report on data sets and indicators. It integrates approaches to understanding the personal perception of children and young people about their well-being in their diverse learning environments and also highlights the need for indicators for measuring the types of competences and capacities that enable them to flourish and realise their unique potential. This understanding will also contribute to shaping the Policy Glossary. (A draft version of the report will be made available on this web page mid 2010.)
 

Setting up the ‘Learning for Well-Being’ Consortium of Foundations

The Consortium was established at meetings in Brussels on the 2nd of July and the 11th September 2009. The guidelines and outline plan were agreed and the first members of the Steering Committee elected. The Chair is Daniel Kropf (Founding Chair and Executive Director of UEF) and the Vice-Chair is Corinne Evens (President of the Evens Foundation). The Secretariat is coordinated by the European Institute of Education and Social Policy (gordon@eiesp.org ).

Organisation of a Well-Being Indicators Workshop- July 2009


In July 2009, an indicators workshop was hosted in Brighton by the Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace for the Learning for Well-Being’ Consortium of Foundations. The issue for the workshop was: How to develop indicators of children’s personal perception of their well-being in their multiple learning environments that would be relevant not only for the work of all organisations but also for society at large; and contribute to nurturing the well-being of children?

The workshop aimed at agreeing the well-being framework that will be used for developing the Consortium indicators work. It also discussed what exists in terms of indicators of children’s well-being; the nature of the existing indicators, their use and purpose and also gaps, in order to clarify where to situate the work, and agreed on the main domains for the indicators and how to move forward. The full report is available on request from the Secretariat: gordon@eiesp.org and arjomand@eiesp.org

Events leading up to the establishment of the Consortium

‘Education by All for the Well-being of Children’ Foundations Workshop in Berlin - November 2008
Since 2006 UEF had been promoting and supporting the development of a movement, based on a vision of ‘Education by All for the Well-being of Children’ (which has now evolved to ‘Learning for Well-Being’). It did this both through its own work internationally and in building a partnership with other foundations under the umbrella of the European Foundations Centre. In November 2008, 21 representatives from ten foundations in Europe and the Middle East met in Berlin for a workshop endorsed by the EFC. It was convened by UEF and hosted by the Bertelsmann Stiftung. In preparation for the workshop, a survey of 12 foundations was carried out between August and October 2008 to form a shared baseline of information and understanding about how each other’s work contributes to children’s and young people’s well-being. In Berlin, the foundations discussed how to work together within the initiative to further it strategically through coordinated and concrete actions.



The foundations who participated were: ACEV (Turkey), Bertelsmann Stiftung (Germany), Evens Foundation (Belgium), Freudenberg Stiftung (Germany), Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace (UK), Makhzoumi Foundation (Lebanon), Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany), Türkiye Eitim Gönüllüleri Vakfı (Turkey), Universal Education Foundation (France), Welfare Association (Jordan).
 
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