The CST partners with the Sustainability Institute’s Change Maker Programme to host special guest speaker Lorenzo Fioramonti
The Change Maker Programme at the Sustainability Institute is a postgraduate programme that equips students with the knowledge, tools and skills to become leaders of change in sustainability. The programme is a space in which we imagine a new future and how to transition to this future by exploring what is possible and what may be achieved. And as such, we host a variety of talks throughout the year on topics that explore higher-level theoretical concepts and global trends, which impact and influence change initiatives.
The Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST) at Stellenbosch University partnered with the Change Maker Programme for one of these talks that hosted Prof Lorenzo Fioramonti from the Centre for Governance Innovation at the University of Pretoria. Prof Fioramonti is an economist and has done extensive work on the problem the neoliberal economy and specifically of using GDP as the sole measure of development.
The talk was hosted at the Sustainability Institute with an opportunity for participants to network before the talk while enjoying some cheese and wine. These events are open to the public and the crowd included a vibrant mix of students, academics and professionals from the Stellenbosch and Cape Town region.
Prof Fioramonti’s talk was titled “The Wellbeing Economy: the future of prosperity in Africa”. In his talk Fiormonti explained the problem with our current economic model, and then explored what an alternative economic system could look like, which he has termed the Wellbeing Economy. The problem with the current economic model lies in its design to solely pursue economic growth. However, many economists and governing institutions are now recognising that this model does not promote social and ecological wellbeing. Even institutions like the IMF are admitting that neoliberal economics has not contributed to development.
The overarching message from Fioramonti is that we need to design a new economic model that promotes wellbeing, not just economic growth. The way to promote wellbeing is to redesign the economy to
- Favour localisation of production and service provision;
- Support modular scaling and horizontal development of businesses;
- Move towards a labour intensive economy by supporting artisanship and customisation;
- Operate without waste in a circular economy;
- Redesign the role of business, from producers to facilitators;
- Recognise the important role of family and community within our economy and to place that at the core;
- See nature as a partner, not simply as a provider of resources.
Fioramonti argued that Africa has a great opportunity to leap frog from the current extractive economic system to an economic model centred on human and ecosystem wellbeing, where the value of raising children, growing and preparing food, building strong communities, and taking care of the environment is acknowledged. While our current economic model is based on a single monetary system, and therefore on a single feedback mechanism, Prof. Fioramonti proposed the need to adopt multiple forms of currency that carry different values and principles, and thus help to build and support, rather than destroy, the social and ecological fabric.
We pose this question to you in closing: How can each of us play a role in making the wellbeing economy a reality?
