#GLOBALGOALS
“If you define the goal of society as GDP, that society will do its best to produce GDP. It will not produce welfare, equity, justice or efficiency unless you define a goal and regularly measure and report the state of welfare, equity, justice, or efficiency.”1
Donella Meadows
It is time for a global rethink on the way we measure development. Do the standards we set for development lead to a distortion of what development really means? With new Sustainable Development Goals taking effect next year – the emphasis on development indicators could not be stronger. Development indicators must be redesigned to reflect the standard of sustainable development which we globally strive to attain. Development strategies will parallel the measures which they are set against – providing the ideal platform to design the development we wish to achieve. A multi-faceted approach must be considered for sustainable societal goals to be realised, delivering development which can fulfil the #globalgoals.
We must determine what constitutes a more developed world with the consideration that measures of development have the potential to decisively shape public policy.
Case Study 
Bhutan, east of the Himalayas, measures prosperity in terms of happiness rather than GDP. Bhutan’s rejection of GDP as the sole measure of development has seen it adopt a revolutionary approach by measuring prosperity based on formal principles of gross national happiness (GNH)2. Bhutan’s holistic values which are at the core of its public policy is a key example of a nation which has put sustainability at the forefront of their development agenda. What will influence your vision on what it means to live in a more developed world?
#globalgoals
Emma Chittleburgh (UK)
CONNAUGHT ULSTER 2015 