FOH President Called to High Level Meeting at UN HQ

Friends of Humanity President and Founder, Graziella Zanoletti received an urgent call to attend a high-level meeting on behalf of FOH partner Alice Project. The meeting "Happiness & Wellbeing: Defining a New Economic Paradigm" was called by Jigmi Y. Thinley, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Bhutan, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 2nd, 2012. Graziella Zanoletti was asked to attend and represent the Alice Project because the founders of the project, Valentino Giacomin and Luigina de Biasi, could not attend.

The meeting organizers hope "that the high-level meeting will call for the world’s best experts, based on the best available knowledge to work together over the next year to hammer out the details of the measures, accounts, and financial mechanisms required for a happiness-based economic model for the consideration of the international community. Such a model, or aspects of it would then be available for incorporation into national policies on a voluntary basis." These policies were called in response to the UN General Assembly resolution A/65/L.86, introduced by Bhutan with support from 68 Member States, and unanimously adopted by the UN, calling for for a “holistic approach to development” aimed at promoting sustainable happiness and wellbeing. 

Read more about Bhutan's Input for the Draft Outcome for Rio +20 here.
Read more about Prime Minister Thinely's statements here.

Graziella Zanoletti will attend the meeting to report on the unique, sustainable aspects of the Alice Project schools and to provide a solution to address global issues. Alice Project leader Valentino Giacomin wrote a report outlining the information Ms. Zanoletti will present at the meeting: "Alice Project proposes to offer a holistic education in order to fill the inner void that makes the students unhappy...the students follow and practice the teachings of Patanjali, automatically they develop linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and emotional intelligence." Their unique education system perfectly matches the harmonious development, based on inner wellness, knowledge and collective happiness, that the Kingdom of Bhutan advocates. 

Valentino Giacomin goes on to indicate that these unique efforts have resulted in Alice Project students showing  "happiness." He states "This is what everyone who visits the schools can assess (qualitative evaluation). This kind of Education makes the students less prone to dream high and being more realistic about their target in life, choosing works related to Education (teachers, social workers, agriculture…). In other words, our students have a chance that other students do not have: if all their career dreams fail (as it happens in 90 per cent of the cases for all the students, who are not able to get a job that fit with their University degree and specialization) they have an inner resource where to take refuge, avoiding desperation, frustration and depression: the treasure of their Self (or Soul for religious people). This inner security makes them more flexible and creative, helping them to find, anyhow, a way to survive."

By attending the meeting, Graziella Zanoletti proves that Friends of Humanity supports projects that stand on the cutting edge of development and offer holistic solutions to global issues. Furthermore the call from the Royal Government of Bhutan indicates that non-profit organizations, such as FOH, are playing a key role  creating a sustainable future for all people.
To read more about our work with Alice Project follow this link.