- 162 Rt de la Capite
1244 Geneva, Switzerland
Barbara Bulc
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department Member
- Wellbeing, Participatory governance, Globalization and Interdependence, Community Empowerment, Sustainable Urban Transitions, Urban Innovation, and 9 moreCaring / Care Ethics, Mindfulness and Resilience and Psychological Well Being, Indigenous knowledge systems, Social Science, systems and process thinking, action resarch and organizational change, Systems Thinking, postindustrial reimagining and transformation, Mindfulness and well being, Well-Being, and Participatory Designedit
- Barbara Bulc is a social chemist and the founder of Global Development and the non-profit collaboratory SDG Colab in ... moreBarbara Bulc is a social chemist and the founder of Global Development and the non-profit collaboratory SDG Colab in Geneva, Switzerland. Her transdisciplinary practice focuses on design and research of new social arrangements, governance and actions for the well-being of people and the planet. She worked for over two decades in leadership roles in global diplomacy, business, public health, and international development with the Clinton Foundation, Global Business Coalition, and as the CEO of KRKA Pharmaceuticals in New York,
in over 30 countries. This experience led her to dedicate her practice to creating a shift towards a wellbeing society - reimagining values and relationships, essential to shift the current economic paradigm. She is the author of a new book Activating Values in Urban Transitions: A novel approach to urban innovation in Romania. She wrote publications and articles about rethinking multi-stakeholder partnerships and governance in international development including The Urgency for Transforming Youth Engagement and A Roadmap for Intergenerational Leadership in Planetary Health (The Lancet Planetary Health, 2020). Her recent study Accelerating Global Health R&D, commissioned by the UK government, examines novel approaches to investments and policies for equitable system-wide collaborations. She studied chemistry and social sciences at Ljubljana University and business management at Columbia University Business School in New York and University of Cambridge Judge Business School in Cambridge. She is a student of mindfulness in a variety of Buddhist and other wisdom traditions. She has practiced with John Kabat Zinn and Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche and sees embodied awareness as key to our personal and collective transformation.edit
Research Interests:
Over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By 2050, this number is expected to rise to two-thirds. As cities grow in size and impor- tance, negotiating just urban transitions is critical for our shared future. Many cities... more
Over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By 2050, this number is expected to rise to two-thirds. As cities grow in size and impor- tance, negotiating just urban transitions is critical for our shared future. Many cities are engaged in a global competition to become “smart,” which typically means employing cutting-edge digital technologies to improve service delivery and quality of life, while attracting businesses to a vibrant innovation economy. While the race for smarter cities is often framed in terms of enhanced control, economic growth, lifestyle, and convenience,
it is also increasingly becoming associated with an effort for cities to be more just and democratic.
This report documents the urban transition of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, a mid-size intermediary city in Eastern Europe. In 2019, a collective of ur- ban innovators began asking what would happen if a different set of values were guiding urban transitions. What if goals of well-being were priori- tized over economic growth? What if care were prioritized over efficiency? What if the cultivation of trust was more important than expediency? OurCluj was created with the goal of exploring these critical questions.
It is a geographically localized innovation cluster that takes the shape of
a multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary “living laboratory” optimized for the enhanced well-being of the city’s young residents, who are considered to hold the key to a better future. Living laboratories are usually focused on specific innovations like transport, energy systems, tourism or education. Instead, OurCluj focuses on well-being, which substantially alters the shape and function of the living laboratory structure. We call this unique arrangement a “Values-Based Urban Living Laboratory” (or VBULL), and we describe why activating values of care and trust is necessary.
This research demonstrates that urban transitions are not only a matter
of who gets funding and how arrangements are governed, but also, and perhaps most importantly, how narratives change. What stories are getting told about the future? What stories need to be told about the past? And how do people model democratic transitions through their everyday actions? We describe the work of the VBULL in three parts:
• Imagining possible urban futures,
• Reflecting on the history of past harms, and
• Exploring novel practices that promote power sharing.
Included in the report are 10 design recommendations for practitioners to catalyze VBULLs in their spaces. These include methods for trust building, storytelling, learning, transparency and accountability. Each design recommendation has practical examples and references that can serve as inspiration. A glossary at the end of the report provides the most commonly used terms when practicing urban transitions.
The research was conducted in spring 2020, just at the beginning of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, by a team from Romania, Switzerland, and the United States, in support of Fondation Botnar’s OurCity initiative. Nearly 30 participants in OurCluj were interviewed, and each interview was creatively documented by artists from the Cluj-based ArtiViStory Collective. The resulting artworks were shared with interviewees, and their responses substantively informed the insights of this report. The artworks are displayed throughout this report. They should be seen not as an illustration of the text but as an additive interpre- tive element to the findings. In an additional set of full color posters within the print addition, there is an interactive exercise that demonstrates how art and its interpretation can serve as a creative catalyst for the formation and the maintenance of VBULLs.
it is also increasingly becoming associated with an effort for cities to be more just and democratic.
This report documents the urban transition of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, a mid-size intermediary city in Eastern Europe. In 2019, a collective of ur- ban innovators began asking what would happen if a different set of values were guiding urban transitions. What if goals of well-being were priori- tized over economic growth? What if care were prioritized over efficiency? What if the cultivation of trust was more important than expediency? OurCluj was created with the goal of exploring these critical questions.
It is a geographically localized innovation cluster that takes the shape of
a multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary “living laboratory” optimized for the enhanced well-being of the city’s young residents, who are considered to hold the key to a better future. Living laboratories are usually focused on specific innovations like transport, energy systems, tourism or education. Instead, OurCluj focuses on well-being, which substantially alters the shape and function of the living laboratory structure. We call this unique arrangement a “Values-Based Urban Living Laboratory” (or VBULL), and we describe why activating values of care and trust is necessary.
This research demonstrates that urban transitions are not only a matter
of who gets funding and how arrangements are governed, but also, and perhaps most importantly, how narratives change. What stories are getting told about the future? What stories need to be told about the past? And how do people model democratic transitions through their everyday actions? We describe the work of the VBULL in three parts:
• Imagining possible urban futures,
• Reflecting on the history of past harms, and
• Exploring novel practices that promote power sharing.
Included in the report are 10 design recommendations for practitioners to catalyze VBULLs in their spaces. These include methods for trust building, storytelling, learning, transparency and accountability. Each design recommendation has practical examples and references that can serve as inspiration. A glossary at the end of the report provides the most commonly used terms when practicing urban transitions.
The research was conducted in spring 2020, just at the beginning of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, by a team from Romania, Switzerland, and the United States, in support of Fondation Botnar’s OurCity initiative. Nearly 30 participants in OurCluj were interviewed, and each interview was creatively documented by artists from the Cluj-based ArtiViStory Collective. The resulting artworks were shared with interviewees, and their responses substantively informed the insights of this report. The artworks are displayed throughout this report. They should be seen not as an illustration of the text but as an additive interpre- tive element to the findings. In an additional set of full color posters within the print addition, there is an interactive exercise that demonstrates how art and its interpretation can serve as a creative catalyst for the formation and the maintenance of VBULLs.
Research Interests:
Women’s and children’s health is a unique area where compassion, altruism and economics combine in a single cause. By saving lives, we not only do something morally right but also help build more prosperous, productive communities. The... more
Women’s and children’s health is a unique area where compassion, altruism and economics combine in a single cause. By saving lives, we not only do something morally right but also help build more prosperous, productive communities. The inextricable link between a country’s health and its wealth is widely understood. Women and children
represent more than half of the world’s population, so their well-being is a cornerstone of human development and progress. Women who are health literate and can access the health care they need to give birth safely – and ensure their babies get a healthy start in life – create the preconditions for economic growth and prosperity.
This document entitled Private Enterprise for Public Health dovetails with these efforts. It is a practical “what, where and how” guide intended to inspire new and existing private sector players to make a massive difference by doing what they do best – innovate, and apply their core capabilities, technologies and processes, in partnership with others, to solve complex and interrelated problems in women’s and children’s health.
Now, the next step is to focus our collective action on developing solutions and bringing them to scale in countries where needs and opportunities exist.
This first-of-its kind guide was developed by Barbara Bulc, Global Development in collaboration with Angela Barmettler, FSG; Laura Herman, FSG; Simon Meier, FSG; Marc Pfitzer, FSG; and Mike Stamp, FSG. Support was provided by Amanda Mckelvey, PMNCH.
Comissioned by The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) hosted by the WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
represent more than half of the world’s population, so their well-being is a cornerstone of human development and progress. Women who are health literate and can access the health care they need to give birth safely – and ensure their babies get a healthy start in life – create the preconditions for economic growth and prosperity.
This document entitled Private Enterprise for Public Health dovetails with these efforts. It is a practical “what, where and how” guide intended to inspire new and existing private sector players to make a massive difference by doing what they do best – innovate, and apply their core capabilities, technologies and processes, in partnership with others, to solve complex and interrelated problems in women’s and children’s health.
Now, the next step is to focus our collective action on developing solutions and bringing them to scale in countries where needs and opportunities exist.
This first-of-its kind guide was developed by Barbara Bulc, Global Development in collaboration with Angela Barmettler, FSG; Laura Herman, FSG; Simon Meier, FSG; Marc Pfitzer, FSG; and Mike Stamp, FSG. Support was provided by Amanda Mckelvey, PMNCH.
Comissioned by The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) hosted by the WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
The world today has the largest generation of young people in history with 1.8 billion between the ages of 10 and 24 years. Many of them already are driving transformative change, and many more are poised to do so, but lack the... more
The world today has the largest generation of young people in history with 1.8 billion between the ages of 10 and 24 years. Many of them already are driving transformative change, and many more are poised to do so, but lack the opportunity and means. This cohort represents a powerhouse of human potential that could transform health and sustainable development. This force for change represents an unparalleled opportunity for the World Health Organization(WHO) and partners to transform the way they engage with young people. Their engagement is critical to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. WHO needs young people’s input to ensure its work reflects the lived reality of their lives, and their needs, concerns, ideas and solutions. This input should come through strongly in the advice and support WHO gives to Member States and partner organizations. Safe, effective and meaningful engagement is also an important part of helping young people realize their full potential for health and wellbeing and their rights. This not only enables individuals to thrive, it also brings economic and social benefits for countries, because a healthy population is more likely to be productive and prosperous. However, for many organizations, successful
engagement with young people is more of an ambition than a reality. Several United Nations (UN) agencies, governments, non governmental organizations, and private sector actors are benefiting from engaging young people in innovative ways, and vice-versa. However, there are still obstacles to seeing such engagements lead to a paradigm shift in young people realizing their rights and driving transformative change. Leveraging some of WHO’s core functions – its normative, data, research and innovation activities, as well as helping countries meet their health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – could help overcome some of these obstacles and will require strong partnerships.
engagement with young people is more of an ambition than a reality. Several United Nations (UN) agencies, governments, non governmental organizations, and private sector actors are benefiting from engaging young people in innovative ways, and vice-versa. However, there are still obstacles to seeing such engagements lead to a paradigm shift in young people realizing their rights and driving transformative change. Leveraging some of WHO’s core functions – its normative, data, research and innovation activities, as well as helping countries meet their health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – could help overcome some of these obstacles and will require strong partnerships.
Research Interests:
The first of its kind global overview of activities and impacts of product development partnerships (PDPs), commissioned by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO, formerly DFID). The study entitled “Accelerating global... more
The first of its kind global overview of activities and impacts of product development partnerships (PDPs), commissioned by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO, formerly DFID). The study entitled “Accelerating global health R&D: the role of product development partnerships” assesses the past, present and future development of new medicines and technologies for 35 poverty-related and neglected diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. To capture the scale of this humanitarian crisis, out of the total $240 billion spent globally on health R&D, less than 2% ($4 billion) is channeled towards neglected populations. Our findings and recommendations will help shape future investments and activities in this field for the UK government and other major government donors and philanthropies including The Wellcome Trust and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.