Wellbeing economy toolkit: supporting place based economic strategy and policy development

Clackmannanshire Local Wellbeing Economy Pilot

The Scottish Government and Clackmannanshire Council worked together during 2020-2022 to co-create a vision for a local wellbeing economy that is tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of Clackmannanshire. Guided by the NPF, Scotland’s Wellbeing Framework, and building on and progressing our sustainable, inclusive growth approach, a diagnostic process was developed. This focused on wellbeing outcomes and aimed to identify the key drivers and priority interventions that are needed to support Clackmannanshire’s transition to a local wellbeing economy. The aims and outcomes of the pilot are summarised as follows:

Project aims:

• Test how the wellbeing economy diagnostic process can be used to identify, design, prioritise and facilitate the delivery of sustainable interventions to transform the local economic system in order to improve both local and national wellbeing outcomes.
• Take a system-wide approach to consider the key factors that drive local wellbeing outcomes, and the interaction between these factors.
• Identify ways to prioritise and target interventions in the economy to deliver and optimise improvements across a range of wellbeing outcomes.
• Develop tools to support decision-making consistent with the transition to a wellbeing economy.

Project outcomes:

• The project has helped Clackmannanshire to develop a clear set of wellbeing priorities tailored to their local area. To set the collective wellbeing economy vision for their delivery partners, Clackmannanshire has committed to developing a Local Outcomes Improvement Plan focused on the wellbeing economy. Its Community Wealth Building Action Plan is one of the practical ways that Clackmannanshire is taking action to improve its wellbeing outcomes, including the establishment of a Wellbeing Economy Anchor Partnership and the development of a Clackmannanshire Good Employment Charter to address quality of employment and earnings.
• Lessons learned in this pilot have helped to refine the Scottish Government’s approach to understanding the wellbeing economy at a local level and informed the development of this Wellbeing Economy Toolkit to support more local authorities in taking an evidence-based, system-wide approach to policy making and facilitate the transition to a local wellbeing economy.

Throughout the stages of this toolkit, examples from the Clackmannanshire pilot case study are highlighted to help illustrate how the steps can be applied in practice. However, policy makers are encouraged to consider the particular circumstances in their own area in tailoring the approach.