Doughnut Economics Workshops
The Doughnut “offers a vision for what it means for humanity to thrive in the 21st Century – and Doughnut Economics explores the mindset and ways of thinking needed to get us there”.
Sounds like a pretty sweet idea, right? Let’s explore it in more detail.
The Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries.
Image credit: Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL)
What is Doughnut Economics?
Doughnut Economics is an economic framework and concept developed by Kate Raworth, an economist and Senior Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute. The concept offers an alternative perspective on traditional economic thinking by proposing a model that strives to balance social and planetary well-being.
The name “Doughnut Economics” is inspired by the shape of a doughnut. The inner circle of the Doughnut represents the social foundation, which outlines the minimum standard of living that all people should have, including access to food, clean water, healthcare, education, and social equity.
The outer circle represents the ecological ceiling, which refers to the limits of the planet’s resources and its capacity to deal with human activity without causing irreversible environmental damage. You can find a visual representation of the Doughnut here.
The aim of Doughnut Economics is to find a harmonious balance between these two circles. The goal is to ensure that societies meet the needs of all individuals within the social foundation without bypassing the boundaries of the ecological ceiling. By staying within this “doughnut” space, it’s believed that a sustainable and equitable economy could be achieved.
Doughnut Economics also challenges the traditional measures of economic success, such as endless GDP growth (Gross Domestic Product), and instead encourages alternative metrics that focus on social well-being, environmental sustainability, and human development.
Overall, it provides a framework for an economic model that operates within the limits of our planet while ensuring a fair and prosperous society for all.
How can business use Doughnut Economics to bring about transformative change?
In 2023, the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) launched business & enterprise workshops to help bring more organisations into the doughnut. True Horizon and Plans With Purpose are both members of the DEAL Community and trained to deliver the Doughnut Workshops. Through half or full day workshops, the goal is to help you go beyond business as usual to unlock transformative ideas through collaboration, innovation and leading examples of doughnuts in action.
What do Doughnut Economics involve?
We run these workshops in person or on-line, as a three hour taster session or a full day workshop. To maximise impact you can opt for the workshop to cover an individual organisation or to include multiple organisations together.
Nancy and Ali both facilitated the session so beautifully – everyone seemed so engaged throughout and I personally learned a great deal and found it both inspiring and insightful.
There was a perfect balance between theory and action, hard-hitting facts and optimism to leave us feeling equal parts informed and galvanised to use our businesses as a greater force for good.
Every organisation would benefit from taking a day out to do this – it just makes sense!
The revelation of the day was the ‘Action Lab’ half of the title, moving from theory to practice. Nancy and Ali made the workshop fun, engaging and action focused. I highly recommend this workshop to any business at any stage of their journey.
I found yesterday’s workshop really insightful and logical – stepping through each aspect and coming to a conclusion and the best path forward for the idea that is going to make the most impact. A lot of information but not overwhelming which was great. Fun but serious involving everyone.
“Doughnut Economics sets out an optimistic vision of humanity’s common future. A global economy that creates a thriving balance thanks to its distributive and regenerative design. Humanity’s glass easily looks half empty. But there are enough people who still see the glass half full to bring it about.” Kate Raworth
If you’re intrigued and want to find out more about the potential Doughnut Economics has to unlock transformative change in your organisation, then please register your interest by clicking below and we’ll be in touch.
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