GPI has become a talent pool for young people working in wellbeing measurement, community development and youth leadership. The interns will receive and participate in professional development workshops, especially focusing on measuring social impacts and gender friendliness, along with their counterpart young coordinators in Cambodia.

Cambodia Volunteer Service (CVS), a subsidiary NGO of Thai Volunteer Service, will be the overseas partner and coordinating organization. CVS partner organizations will also be involved at key points in the training and projects. CVS works in youth leadership and community development and has several projects working with indigenous organizations and communities. GPI/CVS previous intern, Autum Jules, will also be involved in the internship activities as a GPI staffer.

The focus of the work will be communications and environmental education, protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, and textile projects through the networks of CVS, in order to power livelihood for women and girls and independence for indigenous communities. The interns will also be asked to work with the wider network of organizations cofounded by GPI and TVS in order to support marketing and funding activities.

Communications and Technology Facilitator (at least 2 interns needed; can accommodate more)

The Communications and Technology Facilitator will work on projects providing training and hands-on support for Young Volunteers and CVS staff as they engage in community development activities, including mapping of local wisdom knowledge, preparation of database input, social media support, and writing of reports as well as background materials for proposals. The intern will work on environmental education support materials, including indigenous knowledge, prevention of land grabbing, and specific issues of pollution in the Mekong River and surrounding communities. The intern will help build the capacity of GPI and indigenous partners by: supporting processes of program monitoring and evaluation, particularly in social impact assessment. The intern will also be involved in creating and assisting with presentations, video-editing, writing website content, publications and other communication materials as required. Website design is desired if the skill level of the intern allows for it. The intern will also assist in the delivery of capacity building workshops in measurement and evaluation. The intern will be asked for input in devising new and innovative ways to transfer knowledge, communicate results and engage communities.

Those intereted can apply through ACIC here.

Politicians and economists fixate on growing the economy measured by a country's gross domestic product. But this yardstick counts harmful activities such as greenhouse gas emissions, plastic waste, and cigarette sales as gains, and it ignores environmental protection, voluntary community work, and other benefits. What we measure is a choice, and what is and isn't counted determines what sorts of policies are enacted. How can we shift the focus to well-being and quality of life?

What Really Counts is an essential, firsthand story of the promise and challenges of accounting for social, economic, and environmental benefits and costs. Ronald Colman recounts two decades of working with three governments to adopt measures that more accurately and comprehensively assess true progress. Chronicling his path from Nova Scotia to New Zealand to Bhutan, Colman details the challenge of devising meaningful metrics, the effort to lay the foundations of a new economic system, and the obstacles that stand in the way. Reflecting on successes and failures, he considers how to shift policy priorities from a narrow economic-growth agenda toward a future built on sustainability and equity.

Colman has taken the critique of GDP outside the academy and attempted to realize an alternative. The lessons he offers in What Really Counts are vital for anyone interested in how we can measure what matters and how better measures can help build a better world.

Every dollar invested in climate change action now avoids more than $17 in future damages—GPI Atlantic

The costs of future climate change are so astronomical that even modest investments cutting greenhouse gas emissions now will produce huge savings in avoided damages in future.

Climate change economists estimate that each tonne of greenhouse gases we emit will cause at least $38 in global climate change damages. When compared to costs of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions now, GPI Atlantic found that every dollar invested now will save at least $17 in avoided future damage costs.

Nova Scotia has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% since 1990, mainly from electricity, through increased use of wind power, heat pumps, and efficiency measures. But Nova Scotians are also driving more, and emitting ever more greenhouse gases from cars and gas-guzzling SUVs. Every Nova Scotian still emits 18 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year – twice as much as West Europeans, 65% more than Quebecois, the fifth highest in Canada, and the fourth highest per dollar of GDP – 13% above the national average.

In Nova Scotia, climate change is predicted to increase extreme weather events, particularly hurricanes, floods, and droughts, and to flood low-lying regions round Halifax Harbour, Yarmouth and the Bay of Fundy due to sea-level rise, higher tides, and greater storm intensity, frequency and surges.

The Geological Survey of Canada projects a 75-centimetre sea level rise in Halifax Harbour this century. Nova Scotia’s southern and eastern shores will see more erosion and coastal instability, and Environment Canada warns of potential saltwater infiltration into Nova Scotia groundwater, threats to communication links, and falling lake and groundwater levels.

GPI Atlantic has a new Share the Earth youth project. Students may also join the GPI Climate Change Working Group to help produce briefs like this one. Please contact gwen@gpiatlantic.org to sign up and check the GPI Atlantic Facebook Page for details of upcoming workshops.

Sources for the information here:

GPI Atlantic reports
What NS is Doing

Additional Materials:

The public is invited to the Harry Baglole Memorial Public Symposium in Island Studies, "Measuring Quality of Life on Prince Edward Island," on Thursday, November 22, 7-9 p.m., at UPEI's MacKinnon Auditorium, Room 242, McDougall Hall. This event is sponsored by UPEI’s Institute of Island Studies, in conjunction with UPEI Research Services.

The principal speaker will be Gwen Colman, who, in 1997, along with her husband Ron, founded Genuine Progress Index (GPI) Atlantic, a pioneering research organization in creating new measures of wellbeing and progress. Gwen will be speaking about GPI's work in collaborative development of wellbeing measures with communities in Bhutan, New Zealand, Thailand, and Nova Scotia. Recently, GPI has worked with a network of universities and NGOs in Southeast Asia, developing a methodology for collaborative development of wellbeing measures at the community level. She will speak about recent work in two communities in Thailand, and about previous work with the creation of Community GPIs in two communities in Nova Scotia. Gwen will identify the elements for creating successful community partnerships to measure wellbeing and their resultant impact.

For more information, please visit the UPEI Institute of Island Studies website.