Societal Investments in Wellbeing

Evidence-based strategies about using tools and data or creating budgets that prioritize wellbeing. These strategies are most often used by government units, but can also be employed by organizations.

How to Navigate this Page

Select policy targets and evidence-based strategies that are priorities and achievable within your setting and sector. Align with your mandate, capacity, jurisdictional boundaries, and scope of practice.

Strategies marked with ☔ are important for populations-at-risk.

Entry Point for Action:
Reflects the organization’s or government unit’s sector scope and mandate

Policy Target:
Relates to the initiative’s focus

Evidence-based Strategies:
Concrete actions to guide initiatives’ design, delivery, and evaluation

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Expand Provision, Regulation, and Funding to Care, Education, and Transportation Services

Childcare and early childhood experiences

Government units have a clear, shared understanding of the critical role that subsidized or free childcare plays in economic development, poverty reduction, and financial wellbeing promotion

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Trends in public expenditure in childcare
Childcare burden, stratified by sex and gender (e.g., food preparation and feeding, and care, training, and instruction of children)
Number/percentage of parents/guardians who started an education or job training program (i.e., pursuit of higher education opportunities)
Trends of household income over time
Female participation in the workforce (especially for families with young children)
Gender wage gap

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Prioritize Redistribution-Based & Universal-Type Policies

Progressive taxation

Government units adopt a progressive taxation system to enhance universal and equity-based policies as well as redistribute wealth to support health, economic, and social equity

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Taxes paid by ultra-wealthy people
Trends in government spending, particularly in social protection

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Simplify Access to Benefits & Services

Design supportive social welfare

Initiatives address the underlying root causes of financial strain, supporting individuals and families who otherwise would rely largely on government unit benefits for a long period of time; i.e., the positive effects of social welfare on financial wellbeing go beyond the time people were enrolled in the programs ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of people feeling their financial situation is worsening
Levels of financial stress (e.g., stratified by sex, gender, race/ethnicity, or household income)
Poverty levels

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Budget for Wellbeing

Wellbeing indicators

Initiatives incorporate reproducible, simple wellbeing metrics (e.g., happiness) and reliable tools into their decision-making process, including definition of priorities and actions and wellbeing budget planning

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of initiatives with an understanding that economic success goes beyond personal wealth and includes health and wellbeing
Number/percentage of initiatives using wellbeing measures, such as self-reported life satisfaction, quality of life, trust in government, and community engagement

Wellbeing in policy-making

Government units recognize financial wellbeing as a key aspect of overall societal wellbeing and make improvement of wellbeing at the population level a goal of public policies

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of initiatives defining improvements in individual financial circumstances as a top priority
Overall wellbeing rates at the population level

Government units use wellbeing evidence in policy-making

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Effectiveness of public spending with respect to overall wellbeing outcomes

Initiatives develop economic policies that target collective wellbeing and that consider the social impacts and high societal costs of poor overall wellbeing

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Overall wellbeing levels
Trends of incidence and/or prevalence of health and wellbeing outcomes

Limited budgets

Initiatives adopt innovative ways to deal with budget deficits to avoid cuts in the breadth and quality of services delivered

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Trends in socioeconomic gaps
Trends in health inequities
Trends in beneficiaries’ financial wellbeing relative to initiative’s budgetary issues

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Assess and Measure Long-Term Impacts

Long-term outcomes

Initiatives move beyond the assessment of short- and medium-term outcomes to also include impacts over the long-term (e.g., within four years or beyond the term of current governments)

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of government units or organizations with protocols detailing how and which measures will be used to assess long-term outcomes

Initiatives assess the long-term benefits that accrue to the individual and to society, examining the magnitude and extent to which their actions impacted living conditions, health status, and overall wellbeing at individual and population levels

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Gross National Happiness Index (e.g., before and after implementation of federal initiatives)
Levels of life satisfaction (e.g., before and after implementation of an initiative)
Self-reported health status (e.g., before and after implementation of an initiative)
Trends of preventable hospitalization (e.g., stratified by socioeconomic status or race/ethnicity)
Trends of prevalence rates of substance misuse
Median after-tax income of households (e.g., before and after implementation of an initiative)

Data collection

Relevant and comprehensive demographic and socioeconomic data (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex, gender, socioeconomic status, immigration status) is routinely collected to allow for stratified analysis to better understand different groups’ needs ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Availability of systematic collection of data categorizing identities and backgrounds
Number/percentage of governments or organizations presenting stratified or targeted data analysis

Measurement of differential impacts

Initiatives conduct stratified analyses to determine differential long-term impacts (magnitude and direction) across population groups with the objective of minimizing social inequalities ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of government units and organizations reporting social inequalities (e.g., from the most to the least disadvantaged groups)
Number/percentage of government units and organizations referring to updated, evidence-based reports on inequalities in their decision-making process

Funding allocation

Initiatives set aside budget and resources, including for staff and training, to conduct long-term assessments

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Number/percentage of staff agreeing with the statement that long-term assessments occur at the time expected
Number/percentage of staff reporting that initiatives apply evaluation findings about long-term impacts to refine activities

Assessment of long-term impacts to guide future funding

Long-term cost-effectiveness of initiatives support definition of funding priorities and decision-making regarding allocation of funds (e.g., budgetary expenditures or priorities)

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Availability of reports presenting analysis weighing the costs of investments and potential returns or value to society (e.g., tax base growth)
Number/percentage of initiatives using long-term or cost-effectiveness evidence to guide decisions about budget allocation, particularly when considering expenditure reduction
Stakeholders’ perceptions on the clarity and sufficiency of information provided in the initiatives’ cost-effectiveness reports to make independent and critical evaluations viable
Stakeholders’ perceptions on data transparency (e.g., within organizations and governments)

Government units prioritize the use of simple measures (e.g., rate of return for every dollar investment in the initiative) to assess long-term impacts and to support budget negotiation, including informed decisionmaking on how much, how long, and where to allocate resources

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Reports of initiatives contain easy to calculate and interpretable economic metrics of long-term impacts
Availability of reports for third parties

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Strengthen Employment Security (Income and Benefits)

Employment stability

Policies and programs ensure employment conditions and work practices are stable, inclusive, and supportive of wealth generation, health, and overall wellbeing

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Availability of opportunities for promotion and career advancement (e.g., stratified by sex, gender, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity)
Accommodation of breastfeeding employees’ requirements in workplaces
Number/percentage of terminations of employment for failure to perform due to age or disability (i.e., where no legal protections exist)

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Promote Neighbourhood-Level Advantage

Safety, security, diversity, and quality of local services and amenities

Government units and organizations collect neighbourhood-level data (e.g., crime rates, quality of and access to green spaces, access to public transportation)

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Availability of open-access or public-access databases
Periodic reports present updated findings on the inequalities among neighbourhoods and make recommendations for action

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Address Stigma & Discrimination (e.g., systemic racism and ableism)

Wealth-building

Initiatives address the root causes of socioeconomic deprivation and financial exclusion and recognize that historic, persistent discrimination against certain population groups has imposed barriers to building intergenerational wealth (i.e., more assets and/or money)

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Household wealth by age (e.g., stratified by race/ethnicity, immigration status)
Share of household wealth by generation
Trends of wealth distribution at societal level
Levels of participation in government-led saving plans/accounts to fund post-secondary education for children (e.g., stratified by household income, immigration status)

ENTRY POINT FOR ACTION

Consider Diverse Household Financial Circumstances

Financial resilience

For population groups whose basic needs are already met, initiatives provide supports for people to improve their capacity to cope in times of financial adversity (i.e., financial resilience) so they are better equipped to weather and recover from a future financial shock, such as an unexpected major expense or income drop. For population groups struggling to meet their basic needs, initiatives first focus on addressing the barriers limiting people’s abilities to afford essential necessities, such as food and shelter ☔

SAMPLE INDICATORS

Self-reported savings balance
Individual debt management skills
Self-reported capacity to meet living expenses (e.g., change in capacity over time)
Confidence levels in ability to raise emergency funds (e.g., stratified by income levels)
Average number of owned financial products (e.g., bank account, credit, insurance)
Confidence levels in financial decision-making among participants of financial capability programs (i.e., knowledge acquisition, skill development, and concrete opportunities for behaviour change)
Number/percentage of people who report leveraging financial support from social networks to meet their financial needs
Number/percentage of people who feel their community connections help them navigate available services (i.e., proxy of social capital)