Alternative indicators of well-being for Melanesia: changing the way progress is measured in the South Pacific

The UK-based New Economics Foundation first published “The Happy Planet Index: an index of human well-being and environmental impact” in 2006, in which countries were ranked in relation to three indicators of well-being:  life satisfaction, life expectancy, and ecological footprint. The report declared Vanuatu, one of the world’s most impoverished countries, to be the world’s happiest.
Can the happiest country in the world be, at the same time, one of the least developed? The Happy Planet Index finding alerted leaders in Vanuatu to the need for new indicators to be developed. These would take into account the income-neutral factors contributing to well-being for Melanesians, rather than solely relying on GDP and associated development metrics to measure success or progress.
The project to track Melanesian well-being began in June 2010, with the first regional stakeholders meeting in Mele Village, Vanuatu. Statistical and cultural authorities from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Kanaky New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Bougainville and Vanuatu discussed the contributing factors to well-being within a Melanesian context. Three distinct and unique domains of well-being emerged from the meeting: access to land and natural resources; cultural participation and; community and family vitality.
Further social research was conducted to determine what information is most relevant and how questions could be phrased to obtain such information. This included focus groups with youth, women, community leaders and ni-Vanuatu social researchers. Fieldwork was conducted in 2011 and 2012 by the Vanuatu National Statistics Office and a report of findings frvaom the pilot study was launched in August 2012 by the Malvatumauri National Council of Chiefs.

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