Knowledge Exchange Platform (KEP) Workshop 2 - OECD Extended slide deck.pdf

OECD Knowledge Exchange Platform on Well-being Metrics and Policy Practice (KEP): Virtual Workshop 2, 3 October 2024

Integrating multidimensional well-being evidence and principles in policy decision-making tools

1. Integrating multidimensional well-being evidence
and principles in policy decision-making tools
Background information to the 2
nd
Virtual Workshop of
the Knowledge Exchange Platform on Well-being Metrics
and Policy Practice (KEP)
3 October 2024
Gerard Eijsink, Policy Analyst
Lara Fleischer, Head of Well-being Data Insights and Policy Practice Unit
Kate Scrivens, KEP Project Manager

2. Well-being informed decision-making requires a new or adapted
infrastructure of policy that may encompass principles such as:
Multidimensionality
Supporting a broad, multidimensional vision of what matters for people’s lives through:
•The application of multidimensional evidence and analytical frameworks;
•Facilitating cross-departmental collaboration, whole-of-government action, and systems
thinking.
Improvinginsightintothemultidimensionalimpactsofgovernmentdecisionson inequalities
and vulnerable groups
Equity and
inclusion
• Agreaterfocusonpeople-focusedoutcomessuchassubjectivewell-beingorsocial
connectedness
• An increased effort to integrate viewpoints and lived experience of diverse stakeholders, including
thecommunitiesaffectedbyspecificpoliciesorprogrammes,throughco-designor consultation.
• Afocusonsustainabilityandlong-termoutcomes,thattakesintoaccounttheneedsof
both current and future generations.
• Afocusonpreventativeaction,earlyintervention,andupstream(social)investmentthat
looksbeyondshort-termreturnsoninvestmentandaimstoreducecrisisspendingandoverall
expenditure over a longer timeframe.
People focused
outcomes
Longer time
frame of
interest

3. Examples of the type of (new or adapted) policy decision-making tools
of relevance for the workshop
Modelling and forecasting
techniques
Social investment and early
intervention approaches
% Cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
Ex ante impact assessment
Policy and programmeevaluation
Well-being screening
frameworks and toolkits

4. “Tools” can be methods, processes or
approaches that incorporate (some of) the
well-being principles
(Preliminary) well-being policy decision-making toolkit
We have mapped them using the principles
of well-being informed policy and along the
phases of the policy cycle
The preliminary mapping includes 15 tools
from 8 OECD countries and 3 by the
European Commission
It provides an initial overview of current
practice across the OECD -additonal
examples will be added & feedback welcome!
A longer list with background
information on each policy decision-
making tool can be found at the end
of this slide deck.

5. Reflection of well-being principles in policy decision-making
tools*
Country Name of the tool Multidimen-
sionality
Cross-
departmental
approach
Equity and
Inclusion
People-focused
outcomes
Stakeholder
engagement
Sustainability
and LT outcomes
Preventative
action/early
intervention
Australia (ACT Government)Wellbeing Impact Assessment
New Zealand CBAx
Netherlands Societal Cost-Benefit Analysis (MKBA)
United Kingdom The Green Book Supplementary Guidance
EC -JRC Socrates (Multi-criteria Assessment)
Iceland Prosperity Act
Italy
Modelling of Equitable and Sustainable
Well-Being (Bes) Indicators for Policy Use
EC –JRC Euromod
Australia (Victoria State
Government) Early Intervention Investment Framework
Canada Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund
New Zealand Social Investment Agency
European Commission Voluntary Guidelines on Social Investment
Canada GBA+ (QoL)
Netherlands De gevolgenscan/ The Impact Scan
Scotland (United Kingdom)Well-being Economy Toolkit
United Kingdom (Cornwall
Council) Development and Decision-making tool
Netherlands Joint Policy Evaluation
Chile DIPRES Fondode Evaluaciónde Impactos
*Please note that the categorisationof the tools was based on subjective classifications made by the OECD team, informed by a review of
relevant literature, available online resources, and outreach discussions. This is a draft and preliminary version of this mapping.

6. Impressions from the scoping
Multidimensionality, equity and inclusion, sustainability and long-term outcomes
are commonly embedded in decision-making tools.
Some tools explicitly consider communities affected by the policy in question
as stakeholders, while others focus on political stakeholders and those in other
government agencies.
Most tools focus on increasing people’s quality of life, but not all tools have
integrated indicators for subjective well-being or people’s lived experiences.

7. Decision-making tools serve different stages of the policy cycle
Agenda
setting
Policy
Formulation
Legitimation
Implemen-
tation
Evaluation
Setting goals, estimating
costs and effects, and
appraising policy solutions
and instruments.
Securing support for policy
through legislative or
executive approval,
consultations or referenda.
Identifying problems
needing government action,
prioritizing issues, and
defining their nature.
Assigning responsibility,
providing necessary
resources, and ensuring the
policy is executed as
planned.
Measuring the policy's
success and impact and
determining if it was
properly implemented.
Based on various policy cycles described in the
literature e.g. Werner, J. and K. Wegrich(2006)
“Theories of the Policy Cycle”, in Fischer, F., G.
Miller and M. Sidney (eds.), Handbook of Public
Policy Analysis and Cairney, P. (2013), Policy
Concepts in 1000 Words: The Policy Cycle and its
Stages

8. Country Name of the tool or initiative
Agenda
setting
Policy
formulation
LegitimationImplementationEvaluation
Technical skillset
Required**
Accessible for all
policy makers
Australia (ACT
Government)
The Wellbeing Impact Assessment
New Zealand CBAx
Netherlands Societal Cost-Benefit Analysis (MKBA)
United KingdomUK Green Book (Supplementary guidance)
European UnionSocrates (Multi-criteria Assessment)
Iceland Prosperity Act
Italy BES Indicators for Policy Use
Australia (Victoria
State Government)
Early Intervention Investment Framework
Canada Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund
New Zealand Social Investment Approach
European UnionVoluntary Guidelines on Social Investment
Canada GBA+ (QoL)
Netherlands De gevolgenscan/ The Impact Scan
Scotland (UK) Well-being Economy Toolkit
United Kingdom
(Cornwall Council)
Development and Decision-making tool
Netherlands Joint Policy Evaluation
United KingdomEvaluations registry
Chile DIPRES Fondode Evaluaciónde Impactos
Mapping of tools with all policy stages*
*Please note that the categorisationof the tools was based on subjective classifications made by the OECD
team, informed by a review of relevant literature, available online resources, and outreach discussions. This is a
draft and preliminary version of this mapping.
**The two columns on the right map which tools require a
specialist technical skillset and which tools are designed
to be more easily accessible to all policy makers.

9. Impressions from the policy cycle scoping
A substantial amount of the tools mapped for this exercise focus on policy
formulation, legitimation and implementation.
There are not many decision-making tools that explicitly target the agenda
setting phase of the policy cycle (for which an overall conceptual well-being
is often used).

10. Supplementary background information on each tool
Any feedback or comments on the mapping
of the well-being policy decision-making
tools, or additional examples are welcome.
Contacts:
Kate Scrivens ([email protected]),
Lara Fleischer ([email protected])
Gerard Eijsink ([email protected]

11. Name of tool.
Since 2017, a subset of 12 indicators from the framework
for measuring Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being
(BES) has become part of the economic planning cycle.
Istatannually provides the Ministry of Economy and
Finance (MEF) with the updates of the 12 equitable
and sustainable well-being indicators. The document
is the Annex on equitable and sustainable well-being
indicators to the Economic and Financial Document
(DEF) in which the MEF analyzes the trend in the last
three years of the Bes indicators and makes
forecasts on their evolution in the following three
years, based on the impact of public policies.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The rigourous annual process integrates well-being thinking into
government budgetting.
BES Indicators for Policy Use
Ministry of Economy and Finance, Italy
More information can be found on the website.
The indicators include forecasts of the effects of policy decisions
on 8 domains of well-being, and as such are partially forward-looking.
This makes it possible to steer policy at an early stage in the process.
The forecasting models are updated with new (academic) insights
when they become available.

12. Name of tool.
The CBAx is a Cost-Benefit Analysis toolthat helps
agencies to: i) take a consistent approach across
government to cost benefit analysis, including common
values and assumptions, ii) take a long-term and broad
view of societal impacts, costs and benefits, iii) rigorously
assess these by monetising and discounting impacts,
where possible, and iv) be transparent about the
assumptions and evidence base. CBAx is an Excel-
based model that provides a database of values to
monetise impacts and allows to consider the impact of
non-monetised impacts. CBAx includes a repository of
values for commonly used monetization of different
indicators (e.g. QALY's, WELLBY’s).
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The CBAx takes a rigorous and evidence-based approach to
inclusion of well-being into policy design.
CBAx
New Zealand’s Treasury Department
More information can be found on the website.
The tool facilitates policy analysts from different (non-economic)
backgrounds to perform a cost-benefit analysis, by providing a
step-by-step guidance and an easy to handle tool.
The CBAx provides an example of how to include harder-to-
monetize values of well-being into cost-benefit analysis, using a
repository of values.

13. Name of tool.
The decision-making tool is used to illustrate the
positive and negative impacts of a policy proposal in
an easily accessible formthat draws decision makers
to key issues that may require further debate, mitigation
or even cancellation. It requires policy makers and
analysts to identify the various impacts. There are two
focus areas, i) their social indicators (such as housing,
connectivity, education, safety, prosperity, health, food
etc.) and ii) a larger set of environmental quality
indicators such as land use, soil and waterway health,
biodiversity, renewables, ocean health, water resources,
air quality. A traffic light approach is then used for each
indicator to show the impact on each specific indicator.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The decision-making tool includes a broad, multidimensional
range of dimensions of well-being, and helps policy-makers in a
relatively light-weight fashion to think about these dimensions.
Development and Decision-making tool.
The Cornwall Council (UK)
More information can be found here.
The Decision-making tool identifies areas for future research
whenever sufficient evidence to make a decision is lacking. This can
then be addressed by policy makers and/or academics.
The cross-departmental approach aims to break siloed thinking.

14. Name of tool.
The EIIF is a tool that helps to guide early
interventions to improve lives of inhabitants and
deliver better outcomes across services system, by
linking government's funding to quantifiable impacts.
When making a case for EIIF funding, line agencies are
required to quantify the impacts of an initiative in terms of
improved outcomes and avoided costs. The EIIF
supports the line departments by providing the
methodologies, valuation techniques and analysis,
but use input from line departments and experts to
enhance the quality of the analysis. The EIIF keeps a
library of literature and evaluations to value, quantify and
assess outcomes.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
By investing at an early stage of a policy process, societal issues
are tackled earlier and emergency services costs can be decreased
down the line.
Early Intervention Investment Framework
The Victoria State Government of Australia
More information can be found on the website or here for a case study.
The EIIF helps to increase the quality and transparency of
budget claims by basing analyses on academic knowledge or
information of earlier evaluations.
The EIIF works together with line departments and as such create a
cross-government work practice.

15. Name of tool.
EUROMOD is a tax-benefit microsimulation model of
the European Union that enables researchers and policy
analysts to calculate, in a comparable manner, the
effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes
and work incentivesfor the population of each country
and for the EU as a whole. EUROMOD is a static
microsimulation model. It applies user-defined tax and
benefit policy rules to harmonisedmicrodata on
individuals and households, calculates the effects of
these rules on household income, and then outputs
results, at the micro level. Extensions of the model now
have made it possible to include indirect taxes, health
status, employment status and other social policy issues.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
Using specific model families (such as single-parent households with
low incomes), equity considerations can be modelled into
EUROMOD.
EUROMOD
European Commission –Joint Research Centre
More information can be found on the website.
The Euromod tool is user-friendly, open-access and requires
relatively little prior training.
EUROMOD allows to compare the effects of taxes, work incentives
and consumption on different families and in different (EU-) countries.

16. Name of tool.
GBA Plus is a process for understanding who is
impacted by a policy issue or initiative. It helps
identifying how the initiative could be tailored to meet
diverse needs of the people most impacted; and
anticipating and mitigating any barriers to accessing or
benefitting from the initiative. As such, it focuses
specifically on potential vertical inequalitiessuch as
gender, sex, race, and/or disabilities. In its essence it's a
set of questions that policy makers should ask
themselves when designing policies, to make sure the
policy outcomes are considered for different groups of
individuals. This helps policy makers to overcome
potential biases and blind spots.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The GBA+ tool is explicitly designed to make policy makers think
about effects on minority groups, and as such increases thinking
about equity and inclusion considerations in policy.
Gender-Based Analysis Plus
Canadian Department for Women and Gender Equality.
More information can be found on the website.
The GBA+ has a strong focus on stakeholder engagement, by
including questions from the perspectives of affected communities or
otherwise marginalized groups.
The use of GBA+ in policy implementation requires relatively little
prior training and time investment.

17. Name of tool.
The Impact Evaluation Fund of Dipres aims to finance
evaluation proposals that use reliable methodologies
to measure the effects of a program on its
beneficiary populationand determine if these outcomes
can be attributed to the program's intervention. The goal
is to support and finance rigorous impact evaluations that
provide valuable insights for public policy in areas such
as Education, Employment, Health, Public Safety,
Agriculture, and Housing, among others. Once a year,
Dipres opens the call for evaluation proposals for
roughly two months. During this period, individuals or
organizations, whether public or private, with expertise in
the field of the evaluation can submit their proposals.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The Fund allows for a variety of evaluation techniques and
methods, in a wide range of topics.
Impact Evaluation Fund
Chilean Department of the Budget
More information can be found on the website.
Using a Fund can help incentivise creative evaluation techniques,
with data made available through the funding of the Fund.
Working together with government departments can help secure
cooperation and impact of the evaluation.

18. Name of tool.
The gevolgenscanor Impact Scan is part of a policy
guidance document, called the Policy Compass. It is
meant as a policy tool that helps to move from
thinking about well-being to bringing it in practice. It
provides an overview of themes and questions that
policymakers need to consider in order to make a good
estimation of all possible consequences of a policy
option. Policy makers are required to think about all
dimensions from three perspectives, the ‘here and
now’, the ‘future’ and ‘elsewhere’, referring to impacts
outside the Netherlands, as well as potential impacts on
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The Impact Scan helps policy makers to think about impacts of
policy from a multidimensional well-being perspective, thereby
decreasing their possible blind spots or biases.
Impact Scan
Netherlands’ Knowledge Centre for Policy and Regulation.
More information can be found on the website (in Dutch). An infographic can be found here (in Dutch).
The Impact Scan is designed to be suitable across different
government departments, and can be implemented with relatively
little time investment.
The Impact Scan aligns with other well-being initiatives used in
the Netherlands, such as the Statistics Netherlands ‘Broad Welfare’
definition and the SDG’s.

19. Name of tool.
The Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund provides
national funding to support the delivery of
innovative, community-based programs in mental
health promotion for: infants, children and youth, young
adults, caregivers of children and youth. Funding helps to
generate new knowledge about what programs and
policies work, for whom and in what contexts. The aim is
to: address health equity, build protective factors, reduce
risk factors at the individual and community levels,
address the underlying determinants of health at the
population level. This approach seeks to contribute to
health equity through scale up and systems change
to promote positive mental health in Canada.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The use of a Fund can help identify policy proposals for early-
intervention and preventative action and as such can help
decrease emergency spending.
Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund
Public Health Agency of Canada
More information can be found on the website.
Funding supports priority groups susceptible to mental health
inequities, such as: First Nations, Inuit and Métis, LGBTQ2+,
newcomers and refugees, people with other socio-economic risk
factors.
The total length of programs can be 8-9 years, where the last phase
is used to expand implementation to achieve system-wide impact
for sustainability.

20. Name of tool.
The Act on the Integration of Services in the Interest of
Children’s Prosperity (“Prosperity Act”) in Iceland aims to
increase child well-being by improving coordination
in the provision of comprehensive services to
children and families at an early stage of
intervention. The impact of policies are measured
through a dashboard with 5 dimensions (education,
quality of life, health and well-being, security and
protection and participation and social connection). The
implementation of the prosperity act was preceded by a
one-off Economic Impact Assessment, quantifying
costs and projected returns to the government and
municipalities, with a focus on monetisingadverse
childhood experiences.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
By intervening at an early stage and focusing on preventative
action, response times of care are shorter and more severe and
costly adverse childhood experiences can be avoided.
Prosperity Act
Iceland’s Ministry of Education and Children
More information can be found on here.
The integration of services (e.g. education, health, safety) has
helped to implement a multidimensional approach to children’s
prosperity.
The Economic Impact Assessment has attributed to government
wide acception of the Act, including from parties with different
political views.

21. Name of tool.
The Social Investment Agency sets the standards for
social investment practice to ensure there is
consistency across government agencies, advises on
the creation of the data and evidence infrastructure,
works with other agencies to apply the social investment
approach and leads an ongoing review of social sector
spending to measure outcomes. Social investment
involves: Understanding people’s needs using data
and evidence; Setting measurable goalsand focusing
on what works; Improving services by measuring their
effectiveness and feeding this information back to
decision-making; Enabling local providers to deliver
services tailored to the needs of their communities.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The Agency is installed as a separate, stand-alone government
agency that helps other departments with their social investment
evidence base and data collection.
Social Investment Approach
The Social Investment Agency
More information can be found on the website or in the Cabinet paper on Accelerating Social Investment.
The Social Investment Agency aims to put power in the hands of
communities over time, by working in partnership with communities.
The aim of the Agency is to include evidence from a wide range of
sources to include different aspects of well-being, and as such
being able to focus on helping people with highly complex social
issues.

22. Name of tool.
The MaatschappelijkeKosten-Baten Analyseor societal
CBA is a tool that helps quantify costs and benefits
beyond the direct economic impact. An SCBA is an
analysis of a policy proposal in which all relevant societal
effects of all policy options are systematically mapped.
These effects are quantified and monetisedas much
as possible, so that they can be added up and made
comparable. For all aspects of the analysis that can be
expressed in monetary value, a balance of costs and
benefits can be determined. The effects of the policy
alternatives are compared to the zero alternative: the
most likely development without new policies.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
An SCBA is a rigourous approach to measuring all well-being
costs and benefits, benefitting from the newest academic insights
as well as a repository of values for impacts.
Societal Cost-Benefit Analysis
Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis
More information can be found in the guide (in Dutch) or in this paper (in English).
The appurtenant paper (see below) provides general
recommendations for the inclusion of well-being into CBA
methodologies, relevant to government official working with well-
being.
The SCBA explicitly includes long-term effects of policies, and
provides further insight into how to include distributional impacts.

23. Name of tool.
SOCRATES (SOcialmulti CRiteriaAssessmenTof
European policieS) is a multiple criteria software tool
for Social Multi Criteria Evaluation at an ex ante stage.
SMCE shows values in their original scales and as such
does not monetize social, environmental and human
rights aspects. Three main components constitute the
core of SOCRATES: multi-criteria, equity and
sensitivity analyses. Equity analysis requires a set of
social actors to set their qualitative evaluation of the
alternatives considered in the multi-criteria analysis. The
sensitivity analysis checks whether the rankings provided
are stable and to determine the influence of each input
parameter in the model.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
Socrates provides a high level of flexibility to include different
aspects of well-being criteria, and weights can be adjusted depending
on inputs from consulted social actors.
SOCRATES
The European Commission –Joint Research Centre
More information can be found on the website.
SMCE provides an alternative to monetization of all well-being
impacts, such as is standard in CBA’s.
The online tool is interactive and easy-to-manouver.

24. Name of tool.
The guiding principles of the EC aim to build a common
understanding for Member States on methodological
approaches that Member States could deploy to
assess economic effects; the available indicators and
their possible further development; appropriate statistical
arrangements, including in relation to data access; and
best practices on transparency and dissemination. The
guiding principles can support Member States in
evaluating how reforms and investments in the labour
market, skills and social policy domains can contribute to
economic growth and includes guidance on indicators
such as human capital enhancement, innovation potential
and fiscal benefits of investments in labor policies.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The guidelines for investment have a strong focus on longer term
impacts of investments and policy measures.
Voluntary guidelines on Social Investment
The European Commission
More information can be found in the Voluntary Guidelines Document.
The guidance from the European Commission can help to achieve
further comparability of methodologies regarding social
investment.
The guidelines can help policy makers to connect labour market
and social policies to economic effects.

25. Name of tool.
The well-being economy toolkit is a stage-by-stage
diagnostic process designed to aid decision making
and prioritisationof economic interventions to
facilitate the transition to local and regional well-being
economies. Stages of the process include creating a
well-being economy story, understanding drivers,
consultation and engagement, prioritisation,
operationalisation, and monitoring and evaluation.
The toolkit is intended to provide a resource for those
involved in developing economic strategy and place-
based economic development policy. It has a strong
focus on local community building.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
Participation and co-creation are key to the well-being economy
approach, with a focus on reaching out and involving and
empowering citizens, communities, and local enterprises.
Well-being Economy Toolkit
Scotland’s Chief Economists Directorate
More information can be found on the website.
The approach focuses on reducing inequalities and improving the
lives of citizens, thereby also making the economy more resilient.
The focus on leveling up local approaches fosters peer learning
between communities and municipalities, such as with the
Clackmannanshire Local Wellbeing Economy Pilot.

26. Name of tool.
The Supplementary Green Book Guidance outlines the
role of wellbeing concepts, measurement, and
estimation in the appraisal of social or public value
within the context of Green Book evaluations. It serves as
supplementary guidance to HM Treasury’s Green
Book, which is the primary source of government
guidance on appraisal and evaluation. The document is
also aligned with the Better Business Case guidance and
the Aqua and Magenta books. It is intended to be applied
in accordance with the Green Book’s five case model and
integrated with existing welfare estimation
methodologies.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The supplementary Green Book guidance provides guidance on
how to include well-being insights at every stage of the policy
process, from identification and prioritisation to measurement and
evaluation.
Well-being Guidance for Appraisal
The United Kingdom Treasury
More information on the Supplementary Green Book Guidance.
The guidance provides insights about key well-being concepts
for policy makers with different levels of expertise, including
outside the UK’s policy context.
The Green Book helps policy makers to decide which analysis (e.g.,
CBA or CEA) to use when, and which valuation techniques to use.

27. Name of tool.
The Wellbeing Impact Assessment (WIA) is a tool that
has been created to help the ACT Government plan for
and make decisions based on a fuller understanding of
the impacts of proposals(including both benefits and
trade-offs) on wellbeing in the ACT. WIAs are a
requirement for Cabinet Submissions and Budget
proposals. Information sessions and training are
provided to help the public service analyseand
consider wellbeing impacts as policies and decisions
are being made. The WIA aims to bring a well-being
focus to the budgeting and Cabinet processes, ensuring
that decision-making explicitly considers those factors
that most influence the quality of life.
Brief explanation of tool. May provide inspiration when:
The WIA provides an set of questions to foster inclusive well-
being thinking of policy makers across all types of domains. It helps
to stimulate whole-of-government thinking
Well-being Impact Assessment tool
The Australian Capital Territory Government
More information can be found on the website.
This type of tool can be used with relatively limited prior training of
policy makers and can help to acchieve relatively quick integration of
well-being thought throughout government.
Equity and inclusion considerations such as included in the WIA
help broaden the scope of policy makers in a light-weight manner,
with limited increases in time investment.