Regional Wellbeing Summits Archives - Page 3 of 3

Cultivating a Thriving Inner Landscape Where Our Potential Can Bloom: 7 Learnings on How Mental Health Helps Achieve Social Change and PeacebuildingCultivating a Thriving Inner Landscape Where Our Potential Can Bloom: 7 Learnings on How Mental Health Helps Achieve Social Change and Peacebuilding

Guest post by:

Catalina Cock Duque

Co-Founder and President, Fundación Mi Sangre

Growing up in Colombia, a country with an armed conflict, filled with bombings, massacres, and displacement, I always felt the need to heal our wounds of violence and work towards the construction of peace. Fundación Mi Sangre, co-founded with songwriter and singer Juanes, has been my primary vehicle for pursuing this purpose. Since 2006, Mi Sangre has played a pivotal role in fostering systemic cultural change in Colombia by involving youth and the actors surrounding them as key contributors to personal, community, and systemic transformation. This model equips participants with life, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills, empowering them to co-create positive changes in their communities, including solutions towards peace.

Our work encompasses a multifaceted vision of leadership, emphasizing the development of both individual and collective skills. It involves nurturing awareness, empathy, critical thinking, and curiosity while fostering collaboration. We address the challenges young people face due to living in impoverished and violent environments, providing comprehensive mental health support as a valuable resource for personal and collective transformation. With this emphasis on inner work, mental health, and wellbeing, we have seen positive results not only in our participants’ lives but in the systems all around us.

From more than 15 years of service to young people in Colombia, here are some of the lessons from our journey that have now become integral to our work.

1. We can support the individual through the collective.

In dealing with trauma and other mental health challenges, some specific cases require individual psychosocial support. However, our organization and country lack the resources to provide it individually at scale. Therefore, we have integrated mental health skills into leadership programs, to offer support in a collective setting while integrating a preventive approach. These programs blend self-discovery and introspection, with safe spaces, fostering social connections and a sense of belonging. The mental health dimension of our leadership programs holds a special place in the hearts of our participants. From our retreats, I recall with emotion their warm hugs, the tears of healing they shed, and the laughter that set their spirits free, all within the safe space we helped create for them.

2. Holistic wellbeing – connecting mind, heart, body, and spirit – is essential.

Our programs prioritize a holistic approach encompassing the mind, heart, body, and spirit. Engaging the mind fosters critical thinking, self-awareness, and informed decision-making. Emotional aspects, represented by the heart, nurture empathy and meaningful relationships. Physical well-being, supported by the body, ensures energy and vitality, offering valuable wisdom through a strong mind-body connection. Nurturing the spirit, which encompasses purpose and resilience, provides inner strength to face challenges. Collectively, these dimensions empower individuals to lead authentically, while achieving significant change. Our young participants have successfully created more than 1,800 change initiatives, achieving profound systemic transformations in areas such as violence prevention, reconciliation, gender equity, migrants’ inclusion, and prevention of forced recruitment to armed groups.

3. The creative arts and nature are our biggest allies.

Creative arts and nature are central to our programs. We offer creative outlets like painting, music, and writing to serve as therapeutic outlets, hellping to alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression. Art encourages mindfulness, fostering social connections and deep interactions. Simultaneously, nature provides purpose and tranquility and teaches the vital concepts of oneness and interconnection. Whether it’s a simple walk in the park, incorporating plants, or outdoor experiences in natural settings, these holistic approaches significantly enhance our program’s effectiveness. My heart fills with gratitude when I remember a participant who shared that she had discovered the wisest counselor in nature and had never received such profound guidance from anyone else.

Credit: Fundación Mi Sangre/Alejandro Bonnells

Credit: Fundación Mi Sangre/Alejandro Bonnells

“My heart fills with gratitude when I remember a participant who shared that she had discovered the wisest counselor in nature and had never received such profound guidance from anyone else.”

4. Mental health and wellbeing have to be cultivated.

From our community engagement, it is clear to us that mental health and wellbeing are not static conditions; they are cultivated over time through a combination of self-awareness, self-care, and positive life choices. To help our communities make these choices, we have developed several strategies, including an open-source library with tools and resources, along with trainer approaches and curriculums for parents and educators, on how to develop 17 different holistic leadership skills. To our surprise, this library, originally created for our team, has more than 2,500 visitors per month, demonstrating its regular use. We also don’t limit our mental health support to our participants: since the pandemic, our full team holds weekly online meetings to share various practices, encouraging us to lead by example and embody the change we want to be in our communities.

5. We must shift paradigms around mental health.

Transforming mental health paradigms is a crucial piece to this puzzle, given historical stigma that discourages those who are struggling from seeking support. To help change this dynamic, we have launched grassroots and national campaigns at Mi Sangre to normalize mental health discussions, emphasizing the importance of open, empathetic, and non-judgmental conversations. Recognizing that change starts at the individual and community levels, we are committed to creating tailored approaches to mental health, considering differences in ethnicity, gender, and age while incorporating local wisdom. We also seek to expand the dialogue on mental health to include wider audiences: inspired by the Wellbeing Summit for Social Change in Bilbao, we co-created the Wellbeing Summit Bogotá in September 2023. Mental health was a central topic at this event, which convened changemakers from the social change, business, academic, and public sectors. We aspire to extend this initiative to other Latin American cities, further advancing this crucial agenda for mental health.

An example of posters co-designed with local communities, written in Nasa Yuwe, the language indigenous communities of Toribio, Norte del Cauca, Colombia, with an invitation to reach out to mental health support services. Literal translation: “Weaving the good life. Mental health is harmony, source of inspiration and wisdom”. Credit: Fundación Mi Sangre/Alejandro Bonnells

6. Our personal journeys influence our professional work

Leading Mi Sangre has been a profoundly personal journey.My pursuit of inner growth and wellbeing commenced 18 years ago after facing burnout during my first venture. However, this journey evolved recently when I developed a deeper understanding of trauma’s impact on my work, through participation in the Inner Development Program by The Wellbeing Project. In a retreat with fellow change agents, I was transported back to a poignant childhood memory. I overheard the tragic fate of our neighbors, the parents of children my age who were kidnapped and brutally murdered. The re-emergence of this memory unleashed profound emotions, revealing the lasting impact it had on me. This experience unveiled the roots of certain unhealthy patterns in my entrepreneurial drive – a fear of losing what I cherish, an unconscious drive to do everything to survive and protect my loved ones, and a limiting belief that I must accomplish everything now because tomorrow is uncertain. I have undergone profound transformations as a result. When leaders embark on deep explorations of their inner selves, a much deeper layer of meaning emerges about who we are, what we do, how we pursue it, and, more importantly, how we want to pursue it. I have witnessed numerous stories of leaders similarly elevating their modes of operation (and impact!) by embarking on journeys of inner work.

7. Inner work can help heal systems.

In the pursuit of positive social change and lasting peace, inner work stands as a pivotal force that transcends individual growth to mend the very systems that have been fractured by violence and turmoil. The power of inner work is not confined to self-discovery and personal development; it extends to our collective consciousness and societal structures. Mi Sangre’s work involves weaving ecosystems, bringing together a wide array of participants from the public, private, and third sectors – sometimes even including former enemies and victims – to co-create solutions. Through our methodologies, we have witnessed the potential to transcend differences, hate, and fear in order to act collectively towards peace. By delving into the depths of our inner selves, we unearth the empathy, resilience, and wisdom required to reshape these systems.

“By delving into the depths of our inner selves, we unearth the empathy, resilience, and wisdom required to reshape these systems.”

Both through my work and personal experience, I’ve learned to embrace pain and struggles as inherent aspects of life. However, I’ve also seen the potential for leading a life filled with profound meaning, even in the face of persistent challenges. Equipping leaders with the skills to address trauma, support their mental health, and enable wellbeing is essential. In doing so, we are able to help them cultivate resilience, enabling them to reach their highest human potential, foster healthy relationships, and serve life with freedom and joy.

Looking back at the dream Juares and I had 16 years ago – working towards peace – I am convinced that including inner work in our systemic approach has been pivotal in catalyzing extraordinary leadership. Without it, we may have never been able to advance the reconstruction of our social fabric, influence decision-makers, and help heal systems that impact over 2 million people who have undergone profound transformations toward peace-building and social change. I invite you to explore how mental health, healing, and inner work may transform your work in social change – with a thriving inner landscape, there’s no limit for our how our potential can bloom.

About the authorAbout the author

Meet Catalina Cock Duque

Catalina Cock Duque, a seasoned catalyst for systemic change with over 25 years of experience, is a passionate leader in sustainable development, peace-building, and social impact. Distinguished as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and recognized by Silla Vacía in Colombia, she co-founded Fundación Mi Sangre, impacting over 2 million people in Colombia. As a Co-Founder of Oro Verde and the Alliance for Responsible Mining, Catalina played a pivotal role in establishing the first global certification for artisanal gold mining, expanding its reach to over 10 countries. She holds a BA from the University of Maryland and a Master’s from the London School of Economics, complemented by executive courses in leadership and innovation from top institutions worldwide.

Hear from Catalina's experience on taking part of The Wellbeing Summit Bogotá: Hear from Catalina's experience on taking part of The Wellbeing Summit Bogotá:

Exploring Art, Teraanga, and Social Change With Partcours at the Wellbeing Summit Dakar-ThièsExploring Art, Teraanga, and Social Change With Partcours at the Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès

Learn about the upcoming collaboration between the Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès host, Tostan, and renowned Senegalese art festival, Partcours.

In the heart of West Africa, where the vibrant culture and traditions of Senegal meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world, an extraordinary event is set to unfold: the Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès, hosted by Tostan in partnership with The Wellbeing Project, promises to be a source of hope and inspiration for social change across the continent. At the core of the first Regional Wellbeing Summit in Africa will be a collaboration with Partcours, one of Senegal’s leading contemporary arts festivals. In the 12th edition of this renowned event, a new exhibition, “Yoonu ci biir (The Inner Pathway)”, will explore stories of inner journeys towards wellbeing through the eyes of local artists.

Wellbeing in a Changing World

In a world grappling with unprecedented challenges, the concept of wellbeing takes on a profound significance. The creation of art can be an act of hope; an expression of joy, anger, celebration. Art can provoke us to take action, move us to tears or laughter, and the creative process itself can be integral to our wellbeing.

The Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès is an African-led, African-based initiative, bringing together local, national, and regional leaders. At the heart of this summit is the idea of Teraanga, a cultural concept rooted in Senegal. It reflects the belief that we are all interconnected and interdependent. What affects one individual or community has a ripple effect, impacting everyone. This concept will be reflected throughout the Summit through a dedicated space for discussion and action centred on wellbeing in the African context.

Teraanga reflects the belief that we are all interconnected and interdependent. What affects one individual or community has a ripple effect, impacting everyone.

An integral part of this discussion is the critical role of the arts in fostering creativity, self-expression, and wellbeing in diverse African communities. Believing in The Wellbeing Project’s motto – that wellbeing inspires welldoing – the Summit will explore the arts as a key tool for discovering and unlocking opportunities for social change.

Fatim Soumaré, Senegalese artist. Credit: Tostan

The Arts for Wellbeing: Collaboration with Partcours

For this transformative summit, Partcours has teamed together with Tostan to curate an immersive art experience exploring the concept of wellbeing. The exhibition, “Yoonu ci biir (The Inner Pathway),” will feature the work of two remarkable local artists, Fatim Soumaré and Omar Diouf (Yafane), who have taken unique paths to find their creative practice and viewpoints on wellbeing.

“Art allows me to express, without constraints, my hopes of connecting with our ancestral practices and oral traditions. My works not only reflect cultures inherent in African craftsmanship; they also subscribe to an interdisciplinary dialogue. They bear witness to the progress and ingenuity of collective practices to develop and sustain social and economic activity. Through the thread-craft traditions of the women’s collective I created in 2021, I explore the traces of their existence to ensure the collective preservation of their material and immaterial memory.”

Fatim Soumaré is a Senegalese artist living in the Sine Saloum region who has a deep passion for textiles. She has preserved the ancestral African tradition of falè, the hand-spinning of organic, rain-fed cotton. Fatim’s art is not just a visual experience but a tactile and emotional one. Through her art and home textile brand, she employs a collective of 200 craftswomen, connecting them to their heritage and a source of livelihood.

“Art allows me to express, without constraints, my hopes of connecting with our ancestral practices and oral traditions. My works not only reflect cultures inherent in African craftsmanship; they also subscribe to an interdisciplinary dialogue.”

— Fatim Soumaré

Omar Diouf (Yafane), Senegalese artist. Credit: Tostan

Omar Diouf, also known as Yafane, is a self-taught artist from Mbour, Senegal. A farmer by day, his artistic universe is adorned with diverse and beautifully recycled materials, from shells to mirrors to plastic waste. He infuses his lived experiences in his artwork, bridging elements of sustainability and creativity in his creations.

“For me, art contributes a lot to my community. My creative knowledge and abilities are companions for both me and my community. Art contributes to our African cultural heritage and is an important legacy for the benefit of future generations.”

The art installations, thoughtfully created by these two artists, will be showcased at the Sococim Foundation Cultural Center in Rufisque, near Senegal’s capital, Dakar. The opening night will coincide with the Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès, bringing together artistic expression and reflections on wellbeing from an African perspective.

“Art contributes to our African cultural heritage and is an important legacy for the benefit of future generations.”

— Omar Diouf (Yafane)

This collaboration is a unique opportunity to connect local changemakers, artists, and wellbeing practitioners from across Africa to share ideas and experience the profound impact art can have on wellbeing, and wellbeing on art.

As Partcours’ curator Mauro Petroni noted, “Our two featured artists’ inventions explore very different paths. However, both start from their own intimate lives and arrive at the same point.”

In Yafane’s work, he explained, we can see a forward journey from his roots. As a farmer, he lives in a field that is his space and his workshop. Completely self-taught, he accumulates all sorts of things and arranges them to achieve an expression of skilful simplicity. This allows him to go wherever and land wherever – totally uninhibited.

Meanwhile, in Fatim’s pieces, we can see the reverse as she journeys towards her origins. Having set off from another world, she comes to the collective source to rediscover the simple wisdom of tradition. From there, she continues a journey without contradiction into the poetics of woven thread and the social lives of women artisans. She takes us with her, with her lightness and her laughter.

Petroni concluded, “At some point in history, thanks to wellbeing, they crossed paths. Fatim and Yafane will be our guides and our examples, teaching us the understanding and expression of their human experience.”

Fatim and Yafane’s creations will be one part of the Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès’ larger programme, which will feature local and regional arts and music to help foster self-reflection and shared connection. West African song and dance, contemporary art installations, and theatre will be woven into the Summit – inspiring a unique individual experience that can lead to collective action and wellbeing for all.

“Yoonu ci biir (The Inner Pathway)” will open on Thursday, 30th November at 17:30 at the Sococim Foundation Cultural Centre, where attendees can meet the artists who will participate in a dialogue on art and wellbeing.

Those in Senegal can enjoy the exhibition from 30th November to 31st December 2023 as part of the collaboration between Partcours and the Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès.

Wellbeing in West Africa: How We Gather TogetherWellbeing in West Africa: How We Gather Together

Guest post by:

Carina Ndiaye, Chief Partnerships Office, Tostan

In Senegal, we call it Teraanga. It stands for openness and sharing, meaning: “we invite you to come in.” This cultural norm is present throughout the region and across the continent. Words like Ubuntu in southern Africa portray acknowledgment, respect, and coexistence. In Senegal, through Teraanga, the concept behind the Hindi word Namaste (meaning: “the light in me sees the light in you”) is extended and reinforced to say, “what is mine is yours.” This applies not only materialistically but also to the earth, the sun, the sea, and the unseen. From visitor to member, from transitory to influenced, in our culture, the ‘you’ never stands alone. What affects you also affects me and my community, and community includes anyone who walks our way and crosses our path.

As Tostan agreed to host the first African Wellbeing Summit, joining The Wellbeing Project and key partners hosting similar summits around the world, Teraanga has been a foundational concept for us. It is an entry point into the broader West African cultural systems that value people and their shared history and interconnectedness and that prioritize interdependence over independence.

Our upcoming African Regional Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès 2023 reflects our dedication to embracing community-centered models that resonate with our core values. Locally-driven initiatives and capacity development for communities are critical paths forward, as our CEO Elena Bonometti has pointed out. But at the heart of our vision is Teraanga, where openness and sharing guide us in meeting the multifaceted challenges that our world faces. In Senegal, when challenges arise, a community gathering – referred to as a “pénc” in Wolof – is called to bring together the community for discussion. The Summit will be a globally-connected pénc, embodying the essence of African-based, African-led collaboration and growth in wellbeing. This is not just a “nice to have”; it is essential to our collective wellbeing and social cohesion.

There is a deep respect here for where people come from and for who and how they are. Many traditions create space for people to be seen, acknowledged, and recognized. Through greetings, names, joking, showing respect, and almost countless ways of engaging, we witness and reinforce one another. We see more clearly the threads interweaving our collective well-being. These traditions aren’t technical solutions or abstract topics; they are ways of meeting and gathering together, of creating spaces and openings where we can understand one another, share our perspectives and passions, and work better together.

With over 32 years of experience as a Senegal-based organization, welcoming partners from more than 50 countries far beyond Africa’s border, at our Tostan Training Center, we have come to understand that these ways of welcoming, these traditions for creating space, for seeing and being seen, can be powerful. As our global community seeks to find ways to support increased wellbeing in a context of increasing urgency and challenge, we hope our African Regional Wellbeing Summit Dakar-Thiès 2023 can contribute and share these ways of coming together.

Through our collaborative planning for the Summit, we have found some important themes to explore together. These include mental health, digital wellbeing, wellbeing in the workplace, and others. But the success of our conference won’t be limited to topics, action plans, or best practices. It will also depend on how people feel when they leave, how they can sustain connections, and whether they have found some new ways of inviting change into their lives, their organizations, their work, and our world.

About the African Regional Wellbeing Summit in Dakar and Thiès, Senegal

Join us for the first African Regional Wellbeing Summit in Dakar and Thiès, Senegal, hosted by Tostan from November 29th to December 1st, 2023.

The Summit will be an opportunity to engage in workshops, panels, and social moments to explore wellbeing, especially for those working in service for community-led development, from diverse African perspectives. Discover themes including mental health and its impacts on wellbeing, the role of religion, youth, and digital health.

Wellbeing Of The World Wellbeing Of The World

A Global Symphony

“Wellbeing of the World – A Global Symphony” is an international, collaborative music project by composer/inventor Tod Machover and his team at the MIT Media Lab. Over the next two years, the music project will sample perspectives on inner, organisational, societal and planetary wellbeing at the regional Hearth Summits, as well as more generally, all leading up to the global Hearth Summit in 2025. This uniquely exciting initiative aims at exploring through sounds of all kinds how different cultures and communities explore the journey of wellbeing for individuals, organisations, communities, societies and the planet, for the current moment as well as for the future.

With “Wellbeing of the World — A Global Symphony,” Tod Machover, the MIT Media Lab, The Wellbeing Project, and the regional Hearth Summits are launching a new initiative whose ambition is to collect sounds, voices and music from the different regional and global summit locations to create a true world symphony, the very first of its kind. The project is designed to explore and promote wellbeing by weaving together the unique sounds that the different cultures and places around the world select to explore the journey of wellbeing for individuals, organisations, communities, societies and for the planet.

“Wellbeing of the World — A Global Symphony” will culminate at the 2024 global Hearth Summit, with a headline musical performance that brings together this collective and global artistic expression of wellbeing, and will also be expressed in a first-ever, AI-generated “flowing symphony” that will constantly evolve, inviting sonic input and listener preference far into the future.

Throughout the two-year journey, local communities from all the regional and global Hearth Summit locations will be invited to help create this collective story, using software specially designed at the MIT Media Lab.

Sounds can come from professional musicians and amateurs, from people of all ages and backgrounds, and from anything in the environment (human-created or not) that conveys a vivid sense of place and of purpose.

As the sounds are collected, using research currently underway at the MIT Media Lab and under Tod Machover’s creative supervision, the process will combine, contrast and coordinate them to dramatize individual voices as well as collective harmony. The result will be an ever-changing musical piece: the Wellbeing of the World Symphony, a sonic portrait of wellbeing around the world.

Wellbeing Of The World Wellbeing Of The World

At the Regional Hearth Summits

Meet Tod at The Wellbeing Summit 2022

The City Symphonies Model

The model which brought this highly original initiative to life is to be found in the City Symphonies, a project developed by Machover and the MIT Media Lab since 2013, which invited citizens of a specific city from all ages and backgrounds to work together to create its sonic portrait, constructed from contributed sounds ranging from musical to noise, composed to “found,” and from expert to anything. This project was also brought to Bilbao on the occasion of the 2022 Global Wellbeing Summit for Social Change. City Symphonies have not only resulted in powerfully memorable musical compositions, but also have built extraordinary community and cultivated creativity in radical new ways.

About Tod Machover About Tod Machover

Tod Machover, composer and inventor, is Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music & Media at the MIT Media Lab, where he is also Director of the Opera of the Future Group and Academic Head.

He has been called “America’s most wired composer” by The Los Angeles Times, and “a musical visionary” by The New York Times, and is widely celebrated for inventing new technologies that expand music’s potential for emotional expression, for creating community, and for enhancing health and wellbeing.

Tod Machover’s work has been awarded numerous prizes and honors from organizations such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm and Koussevitzky music foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, the German and French ministries of culture, the World Technology Network, and Musical America (that named him Composer of the Year in 2016). He has been commissioned and performed by many of the world’s most prominent cultural organizations, including Yo-Yo Ma, the Pompidou Center (Paris), the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, The Kronos Quartet, and many others. Machover is especially recognized for his groundbreaking operas, including the audience-interactive Brain Opera, the “robotic” Death and the Powers (Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), and his current opera project, The Overstory, based on Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize winning novel about trees and the urgency of recalibrating the relationship between humans and the non-human world.

A “Pénc” for African Wellbeing: Convening social change actors at a critical moment A “Pénc” for African Wellbeing: Convening social change actors at a critical moment

Guest post by

Elena Bonometti, CEO of Tostan

African, community-centered, collaborative models are showing a way forward that is organized around locally driven and globally supported efforts. Locally-led initiatives, capacity development for communities and agency-first programs are mapping ways to both address unequal and antiquated power dynamics, and ensure that communities are centered and leading as they face shared global challenges.

Yet even with promising directions like these, the realities of rapid, multiple global crises and growing challenges have also created a largely unaddressed and growing risk: those at the center of social change and wellbeing efforts are being stretched increasingly thin. In particular, there is a growing risk that the wellbeing of the social sector and community leaders is declining when the world needs it the most.

Wellbeing can be defined in numerous ways. In Tostan’s work in partnership with communities, it is communities that define what wellbeing means for them and their goals. Commonly we see themes around health, finance, education, women’s leadership, equality, and governance emerging. These are lessons we must take into professional, personal and community-wide projects to consider wellbeing not as a “nice to have” but as absolutely essential to social cohesion.

The potential challenge of a decline in wellbeing is especially relevant in West Africa, where a social sector already confronted in recent decades by major issues — in health, education, economic hardship and many others — now faces many new challenges simultaneously – as climate change joins pandemics, challenges to peace and security and the erosion of democracy, and increasing inequality.

Yet West Africa also has many positive aspects and major contributions to make to our world – ways of seeing and being that promote inclusion and respect and increasingly feel relevant to a fragmented world. As my colleague Carina Ndiaye, Chief Partnerships Officer for Tostan puts it:

In Senegal we call it Teraanga. For openness, sharing. It means: we invite you to come in. But this cultural norm is present throughout the region and throughout the continent…Through Teraanga, the concept behind the Hindi word Namaste (meaning: the light in me sees the light in you), is extended and reinforced to say, what is mine is yours. Not only materialistically, but the earth, the sun, the sea, and the unseen as well. From visitor to member. From transitory to influenced. In our culture, the ‘you’ never stands alone. What affects you, what ails you, what reinforces you also affects me and my community. And community means any, and everyone, who walks our way and crosses our path.

In Senegal and across West Africa, when challenges arise, a community gathering – referred to as a pénc in Wolof – is called to bring together the community for discussion.

For all these reasons Tostan and our partners will host an African-based, African-led, globally connected pénc – a convening at the intersection of wellbeing as a global goal–and growth of wellbeing as a daily practice in our organizations, communities, and personal lives. To support the emergence of sustained impacts in wellbeing through practices of wellbeing. wellbeing within ourselves, our organizations, our communities, our nations, and around our world.

Together with partners like you we hope to convene a discussion among African actors about critical local, regional and global issues at the heart of wellbeing across the continent.

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Locally led

Globally connected

Universally human

The wellbeing movement is growing around the world!

The regional Hearth Summits mark an incredible evolution of our collective movement. These events, hosted by local communities of changemakers, advance a hopeful vision of individual, collective and ecological wellbeing for all. Together, we are catalyzing a culture of wellbeing for changemakers and in changemaking everywhere.

Join us as we celebrate local perspectives on wellbeing that inspire transformative impact around the world!

Upcoming Regional Hearth Summits

A Space for Experiences

Discover the World of Wellbeing and Welldoing

At the regional Hearth Summits, changemakers are creating a new culture of social change through deep conversations, immersive arts experiences, hands-on workshops, and more.
Discover stories from the regional Hearth Summits through key topics:

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