Deadline: 31-Jul-23
The Heinrich Boell Foundation is accepting applications for the From Growth to Well Being Think Fund.
For decades, economic growth—measured as Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—has been the ultimate guiding principle for mainstream economic and political thinking. GDP was synonymous with rising living standards and continuous progress. Yet the last two decades have demonstrated that a blind pursuit of growth has caused catastrophic ecological harm, a mass extinction of global biodiversity, and led to an ever-widening gap between the world’s richest and poorest people. In simple terms: growth, as measured by traditional economic indicators, is becoming destructive.
This insight is especially important in an era of multiple crises. While governments around the world are struggling to respond to this period of global upheaval, it is also an unprecedented opportunity to rethink their economic principles and assumptions and reorient them toward a true consideration of planetary boundaries, human rights, and global social justice.
The From Growth to Well Being Think Fund offers small grants to experts, researchers, and writers – especially from the Global South – to develop proposals, recommendations, and ideas to move the conversation on inclusive and more equitable economic transformation forward. This will contribute to building a pool of innovative and cutting-edge knowledge in a regionally and professionally diverse manner.
Issue Areas
- Possible topics could include:
- What are complementary or other indicators that can serve as alternative measures to GDP?
- What are current data collections gaps that hinder the tracking of more holistic economic indicators, particularly in the Global South?
- What are other culturally and regionally different wellbeing paradigms like “Buen Vivir” or “Ubuntu,” and how can they be applied in practice?
- What are the key gender considerations than need to be taken into account (e.g. role of paid/unpaid care work for global prosperity) when moving toward a wellbeing economy?
- What is the role of International Financial Institutions (IMF/WBG) and how can they be transformed?
- How do they increase public awareness around the need to reorient their economic models and mobilize support for different policies at the national and international level?
Funding Information
- Successful applicants will receive a grant of up to $3,000 for discussion pieces, articles, graphics/illustrations, policy papers, or research work.
Eligibility Criteria
- They seek (preferably) Global South experts, researchers, and writers with a track record of publications who offer new perspectives on an equitable economic transformation and inclusive growth.
What’s Expected?
- Format: they are open to different formats. Submission can range from articles and policy papers to podcasts, videos, or illustrations.
- Timeline: Selected applicants are expected to complete their pieces by October 30, 2023, at the latest, and the work should be published by the end of the calendar year.
For more information, visit From Growth to Well Being Think Fund.