Health issues and social protection

The 17th of December was dedicated to the topic “Health and social protection – Building an economy of well-being”. To capture the complexities around modern societies, the European Commission aims to measure progress, true wealth and well-being by indicators that complement GDP figures but are more inclusive of environmental and social aspects of progress. Subjective well-being refers to an individual’s own assessment of their quality of life and their situation. Promoting the well-being of its citizens is a key goal for the EU and has gained prominence in the social policy agenda in the last decade. This includes differences or inequalities in health. A very important topic, not just since COVID-19.

Social Economy workers in service of others often work under intense pressure and as they seek to address the needs of others, tend to overlook their own wellbeing. The result: high incidences of burn-out, serious mental health issues and personal relationship breakdowns, which have a severe impact on organisations and the whole social sector. François Bonnici, Head of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum, believes “wellbeing inspires welldoing”. In his keynote he presented the “wellbeing initiative” and how the Schwab Foundation always prioritizes the wellbeing of social entrepreneurs.

Sessions included an insight from Paula Schwarz, Fondatrice of The Cloud Nation on “Forming The New Path To Wellbeing In European Healthcare” and an interactive workshop on “New Health & New Work – the dramatic changes due to Covid-19 and the opportunities for the European society” with Dr. Björn Pospiech from the Strong People Institute. The second keynote after the lunch break was from Greta Rossi, Co-Foundress of Recipes for Wellbeing, where she works towards a culture shift for a holistic understanding of wellbeing to enable anyone to contribute more effectively to creating positive change in the world. Her keynote focused on “Digital Well-being in times of COVID-19”. 

The final panel included representatives from the European Commission taking questions from the audience and discussing the topics of the day and their relevance on EU policies.