What gets measured, gets talked about
The CIW is guided by a conceptual framework that shifts the focus solely from the economy to include other critical areas of people’s lives that lead to enhanced wellbeing. Following a process of consultation with the Canadian public, international and Canadian experts, and an environmental scan, a framework of eight interconnected domains emerged.
The CIW framework takes a systems approach and identifies key leverage points that have a positive impact on our wellbeing across several domains - community vitality, democratic engagement, education, environment, healthy populations, leisure and culture, living standards, and time use.
The CIW conceptual framework
The CIW framework provides a complete picture of wellbeing, incorporating a set of 64 key social, health, economic, and environmental indicatorscontributing to overall quality of life.
Collectively, this provides the basis for our signature product, the CIW composite index, and the means to track Canada’s progress of wellbeing over time.
The CIW framework encourages people to question the way decisions are currently made, and to consider alternative ways to promote a higher quality of life for all Canadians as well as a healthy economy. Using the framework, even without the data, has the potential to change the way Canadians think and act with regard to wellbeing. By bringing organizations, representing many/all eight domains, together to tackle challenges in one part of the system, the improvements can translate across a number of domains and in overall wellbeing.
For examples of how the CIW framework is being used across Canada, refer to Community of Users.