From Individual Wellbeing to Collective Welfare: A New Perspective of Being and Becoming in a Post-Pandemic World

Cornelia C  Walther

doi:10.21153/thl2020volno0art1014

Authors

Cornelia C Walther Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, Deakin University; Aix-Marseille University Faculty of Law, France

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/thl2020volno0art1014

Keywords:

Individual wellbeing, Collective welfare, Humanitarian aid

Abstract

This article gives an overview of the twice four-dimensional logic that underpins the POZE paradigm at the individual and collective level. It is based on the understanding that human existence is a composition of four dimensions—soul, heart, mind and body, expressed as aspirations, emotions, thoughts and sensations. This individual multidimensionality reflects the collective arena, which is composed of micro, meso, macro and meta dimensions, in the form of individuals, communities, countries and planet earth.

Individual wellbeing is the cause and consequence of collective welfare, due to four principles that influence the individual and the collective sphere: change, connection, continuity and complementarity. One without the other is not sustainable. Aid must be designed and delivered with the ambition of holistic support that considers not only each dimension but contributes to the optimisation of their mutual interplay, the ultimate ambition being to lift individuals everywhere to fulfill their potential.

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Author Biography

Cornelia C Walther, Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, Deakin University; Aix-Marseille University Faculty of Law, France

Cornelia C Walther combines praxis and research. As a humanitarian practitioner, Cornelia worked for nearly two decades with UNICEF and the World Food Program in largescale emergencies in West Africa, Afghanistan and Haiti, mostly operating as head of communication. As coach and researcher, she collaborates with the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership at Deakin University and the Aix-Marseille University Faculty of Law. Cornelia holds a PhD in Law and is a certified yoga and meditation teacher. In 2017 she initiated the POZE Network in Haiti, offering individuals tools to identify and pursue their aspirations. In 2020, three of her books have been published by Palgrave/Springer: Development, humanitarian action and social welfare (May), Humanitarian work, social change and human behavior (June) and Connection in times of Covid (November).

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