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The need to go beyond GDP to measure the well-being of people and societal progress is now fully recognised, also at a political level. The project aims at fostering the on-going debate on the measurement of well-being and the progress of societies among all relevant stakeholders, developing a European network and supporting National Statistical Institutes’ measurement initiatives in this area.

The key purpose of the e-Frame project – funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme – is to provide a European framework for the debate over the measure of well-being and progress among all relevant stakeholders. The e-Frame  project aims at taking into account all significant aspects of the debate on measuring economic performance, development, well-being and more generally the progress of societies in order to coordinate the activities of relevant stakeholders (NSI, European institutions and policy makers, researchers and civil society) and propose the way forward.

e-Frame will focus its activities on the achievement of the following general objectives:

  • Stocktaking of available results and of ongoing research activities on the measurement of well-being and societal progress, including issues of sustainability and social as well as human capital;
  • Fostering a European debate over the issue;
  • Defining guidelines for the use of existing indicators;
  • Proposing a coherent way of “delivering” information (areas of interest, statistical information);
  • Identifying new topics to be put on to a future research agenda;
  • Harmonising National Statistical Institutes initiatives on progress measurement.

e-Frame will ensure a coordination of European beyond GDP activities putting at the centre of the action the national statisticians so to lead to improved official statistics.

The development of effective dissemination strategies is a key requirement. To this purpose the project will strive to contribute to effective dissemination of thematic results to targeted audiences developing several strategies and activities. These will be implemented according to a strong  dissemination plan  which is structured around a number of events which will set the pace for activities, in particular during the life cycle of the project the following events will be organised:

  •  two general conferences
  •  nine thematic workshops

To foster the debate on the measurement of well-being and the progress of societies among all relevant stakeholders, the e-Frame project sets up the European Network on Measuring Progress. The Network was launched at the European Conference on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering the Progress of Societies, 26-28 June 2012, Paris.

The purpose of the Network is to connect different stakeholders, practitioners, researchers, civil society organizations and policy makers during the project life and beyond. The Network is also aimed at involving the stakeholders in the activities carried out by the project representing a platform to encourage proactive contributions on the definition of the cross-cutting outputs of the project (Stocktaking, Handbook and Roadmap).

The structure of the Network is designed so that members can communicate through this website and the OECD Wikiprogress platform. The European Network on Measuring Progress meets here in a dedicated section on Wikiprogress.

The e-Frame European Network members will be organized in a data base, managed by Istat, that will allow to create mailing lists for the e-Frame debate and for spreading the activities linked to the topics on the measurement of well-being and the progress of societies carried out at European level. The Network will facilitate the dissemination of the results reached by ongoing (and concluded) relevant projects on the theme of beyond GDP. The e-Frame European Network members will receive alerts on the e-Frame project news and on other related projects and activities.

To join the European Network on Measuring Progress please subscribe here while for further information, please contact Istat e-Frame Team at rd-projects@istat.it