Perspectives: The boundless expanse of the Amazon, golden sands, salsa beat, warm people, the beautiful game and the world’s greatest football team of all time; these are attributes that best define Brazil. Of late though, this land of physical grace and indomitable spirit is also known for its pursuit of happiness. And not just happiness, but ‘Gross National Happiness’ at that. Yes, Bhutan’s own cherished development philosophy.
Given the happy-go-lucky nature of its people, perhaps it is no surprise that this South American giant should adopt ‘happiness.’ But it is certainly a matter of great curiosity how a tiny Himalayan kingdom’s national ideal should come to influence the emerging face of this country that has of one of the largest economy in the world.
There are obvious parallels between Bhutan and Brazil. Dr Susan Andrews, a happiness practitioner and the founder of Felicidade Interna Bruta (the Portugese translation of GNH) said that Brazilians have a natural preference for good life, a trait that clearly transcends the single-minded pursuit of materialistic gain alone.
It helps that Brazil is a land of plenty. It enjoys energy self-sufficiency and has one of the longest coastlines in the world. Unlike most countries in the region, its industrial base is largely developed.
The country is today seeing unprecedented growth, especially in the north-eastern city of Fortaleza where the 2012 International GNH Conference, the fifth to be held in Brazil was hosted from 9 to 11 November, 2012.
Organized by Universos, a humanitarian non-governmental organization, the conference was held in a typically Brazilian carnival atmosphere with musical interludes (opera and tropical instruments) and comic relief (clowns) punctuating meandering seminal academic discourses. There were plenty of smiles and laughter during the course of the event, if not happiness. The vitality of Brazil’s community also came to the fore with about 1,000 people who came to attend the conference being fully engrossed in the discussions and fun diversions.
The conference explored ways and means to integrate the values of sustainability and wellbeing in Brazil’s public policies and social organization initiatives. The conference was sponsored by Banco do Nordeste and various other companies as part of their cooperate social responsibility which is a well ingrained culture in Brazil today.
The conference was held at time when there was increasing awareness on the need for alternative development paradigms on the way to Brazil’s rise in global prominence. There are at the moment several projects, some funded by the state government, that aim at wholesome development of the country.
Andre Feitosa, a speaker at the conference, however reminded the gathering that there are challenges of depleting natural resources and rising inequality in Brazil. For Brazil to be able to tackle these challenges, it must adopt a model that provides sustainable solutions to the development needs of the country.
Speaking at the conference, Dasho Karma Ura said that the GNH model is not culture specific and can be easily adapted to accommodate various national contexts. He said that despites its small size, it was a matter of pride for Bhutan to have its national concept of development being explored globally.
He explained that given Brazil’s resource abundance and the easy nature of its people, GNH is ideally suited for success in this land. If issues related to inevitable changes are sensitively handled, there is great hope for this nation to fully realize material and spiritual harmony in its development.
John de Graaf, the founder of the Seattle Area Happiness Initiative called ‘Take Back Your Time’ said that among other things, his organization administers a shorter version of Bhutan’s GNH survey on American respondents whereby their wellbeing is judged against the nine domains.
He added that as societies progress, the question of handling over productivity becomes essential. He praised Bhutan’s leadership in this area and said that at this moment of Brazil’s development, it would do well to heed Bhutan’s example, which it seems more willing to do than most countries around the world. He said that Brazil has a wonderful humane culture and it should never lose it.
The conference also saw the video presentations on various GNH inspired projects that were implemented in Brail ranging from children’s education to sustainable recycling plants.
Contributed by Dendup Chophel
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