Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada Indice de progr

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Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice
de progrès véritable - AtlantiqueVALUING
VOLUNTEERS Sydney, Cape Breton, 20 May 2004
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Why Measure Voluntary Work?

• Contribution to wellbeing (cf other jobs)
• Health Canada - social supports
• Not count gt not value gt insufficient attention
  in policy arena
• Mark of civil society, democracy
• Strong voluntary sector a NS asset
  acknowledge, nurture, protect, strengthen
• YET invisible in our core measures of progress
  and wellbeing

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Our key indicator of wellbeing

• If the economy is growing we are better off
• More paid work hours make economy grow
• More stress, more Prozac sales (4 billion), more
  cigarette sales, more fast food - Anything can
  make economy grow - Juan
• More is always better vs balance
• Free time has no value

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And its companion messages...

• Natural resource depletion makes economy grow
• Economy can grow if poverty, inequity grow
  Affects recreation (lifestyle interventions
  ineffective for low-income)
• Volunteer, unpaid work no value. So 12.8
  decline no policy attention
• Fossil fuels, GHGs make economy grow

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And health....

• Sickness growth industries. Canada spends 103
  billion/year treating sickness - up by 6.5 /year
  since 1998 double 1980
• Diabetes up 5-fold globally. Lilly Youve got
  to be in diabetes
• vs. Prevention 2 of health budget
• Current measures send misleading signals to
  policy makers, public

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What are the consequences?

• Volunteer time, free time (especially for women)
  getting squeezed out - 6 decline in N.S.
  womens free time (next figures 2006!)
• N.S. 30,000 fewer volunteers than in 1997
  decline of 10.7
• Statcan working moms 75 hour week Time
  poverty vs balance All un-noticed!

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Total Work Hours, Couple with Children, Canada

• 1900 2000
• Male, paid work 58.5 42
• Female, paid work -- 36.5
• Male, unpaid work N.A. 22.4
• Female, unpaid work 56 33.6
• Total work hours 114.5 134.5

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Strong voluntary sector investment in our
future

• But childhood obesity, asthma, physical
  inactivity are up. Volunteer decline -gt sport
  coaching, after-school recreation
• Depleted natural world (fish, forests, species),
  global warming
• Materially better off but more secure?

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Eg What are costs of volunteer decline in
sports/recreation?

• 90 greater chance of heart disease if inactive.
  1/3 of heart disease could be avoided if all Nova
  Scotians were physically active.
• 20 stroke, hypertension, colon cancer, type 2
  diabetes, 27 of osteoporosis, 11 breast cancer,
  could be eliminated by becoming physically
  active.

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Costs of physical inactivity

• Inactivity costs NS 107m (direct) 247m
  (indirect) 350m/year
• More than 700 Nova Scotians die prematurely every
  year because they are physically inactive 9 of
  all early deaths.
• Every year 2,200 potential years of life are lost
  in N.S. due to physical inactivity

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Costs of obesity

• Obesity 56 diabetes 2 in NS attributable to
  obesity 37 hypertension 22 heart disease 24
  gallbladder disease stroke, cancers
  (colorectal, endometrial, post-menopausal
  breast), arthritis etc.
• Obesity costs NS health care system 120m/year
  (6.8 budget) 140m indirect productivity
  losses 260m
• 39 N.S. overweight (BMI gt27)

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53 Nova Scotians are inactive Only 21
physically active(CCHS) (3 kcal/kg/day), age
12, 2000/01 ()
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T R E N D S Nova Scotia Remains Stagnant

• exercising regularly in NS stagnant. Dramatic
  decline in physical activity by men. Obesity
  more than doubled
• All 4 Atlantic provinces rank well below Canadian
  average.
• Atlantic Canadian men now have a significantly
  higher risk of heart disease.

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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1985
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
15
Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1986
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1987
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1988
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1989
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1990
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1991
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
21
Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1992
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1993
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
23
Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1994
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
24
Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1995
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1996
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1997
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1998
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1999
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 2000
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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Obesity Trends Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 2001
Source Mokdad A H, et al. J Am Med Assoc
199928216, 200128610.
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In all fields, contemplate true costs of
volunteer decline

• Culture, arts, social services........
• Social supports, social networks key determinant
  of health (Health Canada
• Increases resilience, recovery from illness,
  health

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Economics as if People did not Matter

• The more we produce and consume, the better off
  we are
• Growing economy healthy, robust economy.
  Shopping is patriotic
• Vs health as balance. Security, health,
  community, environment, free time, volunteerism
  have no value

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What can we do about this?

• How can we assign free time, volunteerism, health
  their true value?
• How can we give volunteerism the attention it
  deserves?
• How can we help Nova Scotians fully appreciate
  contribution and value of voluntary work?

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1) We can change the way we measure progress

• What we measure
• reflects what we value as a society
• determines what makes it onto the policy
  agenda
• influences behaviour (eg students)

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Good indicators can help Nova Scotians

• foster common vision and purpose
• identify strengths and weaknesses
• change public behavior
• hold leaders accountable at election time
• initiate actions that promote wellbeing

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In Genuine Progress Index

• Health, security, free time, education, unpaid
  work (voluntary hhold), have value
• Sickness, crime, disasters, pollution are costs
  so reductions in crime, poverty, GHGs, ecological
  footprint are progress
• Human, social, natural capital valued
• Growing equity signals progress

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Valuing Voluntary Work

• Nova Scotians give 140 million hrs of voluntary
  work/yr 73,000 FTE jobs
• Worth nearly 2 billion /year to NS economy
• Nationwide decline in volunteer work cost
  Canadians 2 billion in lost services in 2000
• Invisible in conventional accounts

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Who are the volunteers?

• Health, education, social services, culture,
  arts, religion, environment, justice, jobs, fire,
  search/rescue, international,......
• Formal and informal
• Demographics changing
• Motivations changing

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Key Social Support

• Health Canada uses volunteerism as a key
  indicator of a supportive social environment
  that can enhance health.
• All four Atlantic provinces highest rates of
  volunteer work in the country.
• More women than men volunteer

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Volunteerism Atlantic Provinces lead (formal
rate)
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But volunteerism has declined --here and
nationally
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Economic Valuation

• Market value (cost if volunteers disappeared)
• Cheapens or strategic? (Hamm - cheque)
• 1.9 billion 10 GDP (more than govt)
• 73,000 FTE jobs 82,000 full part-time
• Indirect contributions - e.g. Skills training

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2) Policy implications

• Inventory critical services provided by
  volunteers
• Understand how voluntary sector is affected by
  labour market trends
• Track involuntary voluntary work
• Track burnout (next slide)
• Acknowledge, support, reward, centre stage

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Volunteer time crunch predicted in 1998 GPI report

• Overtime up among educated, skilled (partly due
  to 1990s downsizing)
• Married women 75 hours/week
• Predict time crunch among volunteers
• -gt Forecasting just as for paid economy
• -gt Understand voluntary sector with same
  precision, detail as paid economy

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2000 results confirm 1998 predictions

• 2000 Volunteer burnout NS 30,000 fewer
  volunteers, but average hours per volunteer are
  up 32.3 (1997-2000)
• Volunteer service hours/capita up from 42.3
  (1997) to 50.1 (2000), bucking national trend
  where vol. services down

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Policies to support the voluntary sector

• Core funding vs project funding -gt
• Acknowledge importance of paid staff
  Cost-effective every staff hour () leverages
  many volunteers hours (e.g. Glace Bay Citizens
  Service League)
• Simplify funding/grant applic. procedures
• Provide bookkeeping/accounting/legal services
  etc.
• Includes vol. social service in school curricula

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To sell policies ASK

• What would it cost government to perform the same
  services? (support for community based orgs. is a
  good deal)
• What are the consequences of burnout, decline in
  voluntary services for recipients and society?
• Decline in social wellbeing, quality of life or
  replace vol. services for pay?

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New policy initiatives that address underlying
causes

• Learning from the Europeans, rather than compare
  with US US passed Japan with longest hours -
  rapid growth at expense of quality of life
• Scandinavia - family-friendly work top concern
• Germany 6 weeks vacation Denmark 5 1/2

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Making Part-time Work Desirable

• Netherlands 1,370 paid work hours / yr
  Canada 1,732 paid work hours / year
• Non-discrimination law equal hourly pay,
  pro-rated benefits, equal promotion opp.
• Netherlands unemployment 12.2 gt 2.7 -
  Highest rate of part-time in OECD
  - Involuntary part-time 6 lt1/6 Atlantic
  - New bill gives workers right to reduce hrs

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Value/expand free time Danes have 11 hrs more
free time each wk than Canadians

• Source Andrew Harvey, Canadian Time Use in a
  Cross-National Perspective, Statistics in
  Transition, November, 1995

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Sharing the Work Can...

• Reduce unemployment, underemployment and overwork
• Improve work-life-family balance and health
  enhance recreation opportunities
• Increase free time and community service
• Protect the environment, spare the planet from
  over-consumption, natural resource depletion

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If we explicitly value...

• Our free time
• The time we spend with family and children
• Productive unpaid work done in households
• Our voluntary contributions to community
• Health and Equity
• Then we will naturally explore policy options
  that are currently not on the political agenda

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By including these values in our core measures of
progress...

• We can draw attention to models that
• go beyond superficial coping, stress relief
• can improve health and wellness
• quality of our lives, expand community activities
  and social networks
• and value volunteerism fully and properly

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Can we do it?Percentage Waste Diversion in Nova
Scotia
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Can it be done?...1900s/1980s...