I’m fortunate to have a job where I see lots of people doing lots of amazing things (occasionally the reverse too) but a project that I visited whilst in Austin Texas as part of the US Embassy’s International Visitor Leadership Programme last week has got to be up there with one of the best

My role is to act as a guardian for the interests of future generations in Wales. I will challenge and support public bodies to think about the long-term impact of the things they do. My draft strategic plan sets out how I intend to do this.

The best business is when people, planet and profit intertwine

Alternative models for improving health and well-being is one of the priority areas for the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

Working in collaboration with Cardiff University, the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has undertaken research and a Section 20 Review, to establish the extent to which the Act has been informing procurement decisions across the public bodies in Wales since 2016 (when the Act came into force).  

The Well-being of Future Generations Act gives us the encouragement, the permission and the statutory obligation to make the changes needed to improve our social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being

Since the bike-sharing scheme launched in Cardiff earlier this year, I was one of the people that took advantage of the scheme and began travelling using the nextbike for my everyday travels across the city. After using them a few times, I started raving about it to my friends and family, or anyone who would listen, and getting them to use it too.

Poverty in Wales would be halved if Welsh Government commits to a progressive Universal Basic Income (UBI), according to a major study commissioned by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe.

I am pleased to be publishing the first Future Generations Report.

Education fit for the Future A White Paper For discussion Produced by Professor Calvin Jones in collaboration with the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe, in collaboration with Literature Wales and Wales Arts International, is announcing an exciting opportunity for an emerging poet to bring the Well-being of Future Generations Act to life.

Like many parents, I supply my family with vitamins as we try to prevent the inevitable latest strain of winter cold or even flu. GP waiting rooms fill up and media outlets report the annual surge in waiting times or demand for hospital beds.

"Public Services Boards must rise to challenge of decision-making for future generations and the Welsh Government must raise their level of support and ambition for them to do so", said the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

At this time of year, there is a lot of pressure on us to buy gifts for those that we love, and we want to make it special. But have you ever thought that when you are buying something, that there are two people in the transaction? The person you are buying it for, and the person you are buying it from - the producer, farmer or worker.

“I grew up in Conway in St Lucia, and I had the most wonderful childhood - growing up in the Caribbean - playing ‘Ticky Tock’ with these nice little stones, going on the boats and by the beach."

A record number of online delegates joined the recent Cardiff Business School Breakfast Briefing to hear how the Well-being of Future Generations Act provides an opportunity to transform the way procurement is delivered in Wales. By moving towards an outcomes-based approach, we can ensure the £6 billion spent annually delivers the best outcomes across all four elements of well-being and helps to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being for current and future generations.

We have the opportunity to create a better Wales for current and future generations.

People working for the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales will be able to receive cash support to escape an abusive relationship, it is announced today.

Involvement is at the heart of the Well-being of Future Generations Act. Since the creation of the Future Generations Commissioner in 2016, our office has involved thousands of people to support and inform our work. Some of the involvement projects we have undertaken to date include

The purpose of our work is to estimate the total funding needed for the decarbonisation of homes in Wales, identify funding gaps and suggest approaches to addressing these gaps.

I am calling on the Welsh Government to launch a shorter working week trial.

Resources that can help you think in the longer-term and act today for a better tomorrow.

Following recent debate around the Cardiff Local Development Plans, Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner has explained the advice that she

More than two thirds of the public want the Government to consider future generations in policy-making – according to new research - and the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales is backing a campaign for a UK-wide law that protects tomorrow from the actions of today.

During Fairtrade Fortnight, we, sixth form pupils from Llanfyllin High School were the audience of a Fairtrade assembly ran by Ffion Storer Jones of Montgomeryshire Federation of Young Farmers Club (YFC) and Nimrod Wambette; a Fairtrade coffee farmer from Uganda.

People making a positive difference to Wales’ present and future are being spotlighted by the first Future Generations Commissioner, Sophie Howe, as she comes to the end of her seven-year term.

After the success of the 2020 pilot academy, the Future Generations Leadership Academy has returned in 2021 to inspire the next generation of Welsh leaders.

“All my life I have wanted to become a doctor, however in my second year of studies, when I started plugging myself in to different communities and meeting different people through networking, I realised there was so much to do. And impacts to be made in so many ways."

Should robots speak Welsh?

The Future Generations Commissioner role, was established by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 - a pioneering piece of legislation which is unique to Wales

Guest blog on planning

We will make it our mission to reinforce the positive impact of cultural well-being. As a result, public bodies are making the urgent changes needed to promote culture and creativity, enhance the fabric of communities and promote multi-culturalism and the Welsh language.

What I’ve learnt about climate change since becoming Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, earlier this year, is quite simply frightening. There is no doubt that it’s the greatest challenge facing future generations and action is urgently needed across the public sector to reduce our emissions and its impacts.

Given the unprecedented challenges we’ve faced over the past couple of years, I want to acknowledge the commitment Public Services Boards (PSBs) have demonstrated in working together to prepare their 2022 well-being assessments.

In my role as the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, I have found an increasing interest over the last 6 months, from different sectors and indeed different countries to the Well-being of Future Generations Act and the work of our Office.

Proposals to build a £1.1bn road to ease congestion on the M4 fail to set out how it will meet the needs of our future generations who will be burdened with paying for it,” says Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

The world’s first Commissioner whose role it is to act as guardian for future generations, Sophie Howe (Future Generations Commissioner for Wales) will be highlighting how Wales’ is leading the way on safeguarding the interests of future generations when she addresses the United Nations High Level Political Forum in New York this week.

Commissioner urges Government create a system focused on well-being by investing in preventative care

“Public services, as the largest employer in Wales, have a huge contribution to make in developing and enhancing cultural well-being. Culture is the lifeblood of a vibrant society, expressed in the many ways we tell our stories, celebrate, remember the past, entertain ourselves, and imagine the future. Our creative expression helps define who we are, and helps us see the world through the eyes of others."

People in Wales should be able to access nature four minutes from where they live, the Future Generations Commissioner is announcing during National Tree Week.

Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has written to Natural Resources Wales to ask them demonstrate how the Well-being of Future Generations Act is being applied the during the environmental permitting process.

Over the last few months, we have been collecting good case studies of how the Act is being implemented on the ground across Wales.

Here, he explains the next steps and why he believes Cymru Can use the Well-being of Future Generations Act to make Wales a better place to live for now and future generations.

During the Summer, we hosted our first event at the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff Bay. The subject of debate was, 'Should robots speak Welsh?' Here are the reflections of Meilys and Indeg who sat on the panel. 

Art is good for mental well-being

As a country not only have we led the way by becoming the first Fair Trade nation the Well-being of Future Generations Act make us the first nation to legislate and place the sustainable development principle at the heart of decision-making to improve our economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being. 

We are very pleased to see the Welsh Government publish this important report today accepting the recommendations of the Roads Review Panel which we supported. We thank them and Dr Lyn Sloman for their evident commitment to transforming the way we will move around Wales.  

Thousands of new ‘future-fit' jobs could be created if the new Welsh Government embraces a radical vision for Wales, according to the Future Generations Commissioner.

Refugee Ali joins Wales’ leaders of tomorrow as he graduates from Future Generations Leadership Academy   A former asylum seeker will become one of Wales’ leaders of tomorrow after graduating from a transformative programme run by the Future Generations Commissioner.   Ali Al-Anbaki, 27, from Cardiff, said he wants to raise awareness of the mental health struggles of people seeking sanctuary, after completing the Future Generations Leadership Academy, which supports young people to bring about lasting social change under the Well-being of Future Generations Act.  

The Future Generations Commissioner for Wales is pleased to announce the names of the first cohort of young people to participate in the Future Generations Leadership Academy.

Since April 2017, councils, health boards, national parks, fire and rescue services, Welsh Government and national organisations, such as Natural Resources Wales and Sport Wales, have been working towards a collective 345 objectives.

In response to the Welsh Government’s detailed draft budget published today, Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales said:

Over the last few months, the leaders of public services across Wales have been using the recently published local well-being assessments to understand how they can contribute to the social, environmental, economic and cultural well-being of people in their areas. 

Recently the Future Generations Commissioner called for the Welsh Government to instil the value of “kindness” at every level of government and public policy in order to meet the requirements of the Well-being and Future Generations Act.

The Commissioner has also published advice to Welsh Government with 10 recommendations for they should build on the progress they have made in the draft budget this time around to take more ambitious and transformational steps from 2019 onwards.

Wales’ Future Generations Commissioner is visiting Dublin, Ireland, this week as both countries share learnings on protecting future generations by law.

Cardiff is a really exciting place at the moment. We have a young and fast-growing city, with jobs being created, houses being built and a billion pounds worth of regional rail infrastructure on its way. There’s a real buzz about the capital city.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed deep structural inequalities in our economy and society including wage poverty, health inequalities, racial disparities, food poverty, job insecurity and imbalances in quality of housing. At the same time climate and ecological breakdown is escalating, and we risk exacerbating all of these challenges if we go back to the way things were.

Wales urgently needs a Universal Basic Income to help the country deal with the effects of COVID-19, Future Generations Commissioner Sophie Howe says.

How do public services support people and keep them well at home?

Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has welcomed the new Planning Policy Wales, which she along with her team worked with the Welsh Government to ensure that the policy embodies the Well-being of Future Generations Act and contributes to each of the seven well-being.

The Cardiff based social enterprise coffee shop that provides employment opportunities to the homeless has been chosen by the team members of the office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales first official annual charity.

Cymru Can: Here's why we think it will... Rob Ashelford, Head of Nesta Cymru, on why 2024 might be the year Wales shifts towards real change that benefits people now and protects the future.

A new easy-to-use guide will help public bodies to think and plan better for the long-term, by keeping a clear vision and taking future trends into account.

To nurture a tree, is to nurture your own sense of environmental responsibility, whilst reconnecting us to our immediate natural environment, wildlife, nature, and to all future generations.

Having spent over 40 years as a local government planner, I am now a planning director in my own consultancy practice.

The Commissioner is required to monitor and assess the extent to which such public bodies are meeting their well-being objectives are being met. This duty seeks to ensure public bodies are moving closer to their objectives and contributing to the national well-being goals. Every five years, the Commissioner must publish an overall assessment and recommendations for improvement in a Future Generations Report.

The links between tackling our housing crisis and the nation's health are growing.

Wales’ political parties must act now on the urgent priorities of the nation’s young people, the world’s first Future Generations Commissioner has warned.

Can you help the Commissioner review and develop her communications approach to fit with her forward looking agenda?

The interconnections of people and planet: health depends on nature.

A catalyst for wellbeing of future generations in Wales - a special report by Wildlife Trusts Wales

This paper is one of a series of reports being launched as part of the IWA’s ‘Re-energising Wales’ project, which in early 2019 will deliver a plan to enable Wales to meet its projected energy demands entirely from renewable sources by 2035. The report highlights a number of practical steps that can be taken to overcome Wales’ challenges.

A new easy-to-use guide will help public bodies to think and plan better for the long-term, by keeping a clear vision and taking future trends into account.

Wales’ new champion for the future of the nation is using his first day in the job to call for “urgent and transformational change” to improve people’s lives now and in the future.

Young leaders from all over the world will come together in London this week to discuss some of the biggest global issues facing future generations. From climate change to education inequalities, the future of work and media freedom.

Sophie Howe, will join Prince William, Pope Francis, Al Gore, and over 50 notable speakers at the first ever free TED conference this Saturday.

In 2018/19, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales trialled a method of monitoring and assessing progress towards the well-being objectives set by public bodies – one of her duties according to the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

I recognise the significant challenges that the Welsh Government has faced in the past year, and it is positive that the draft budget for 2021-22, published in December 2020, emphasises the importance of a green and just recovery.

We provide advice, assistance and support to people on the Well-being of Future Generations Act in a variety of ways.

We will make it our mission to facilitate a transformation in the way we keep people healthy, with a greater focus on prevention and the long term. As a result, public bodies are working together to tackle the root causes of ill health and addressing health inequalities.

We will make it our mission to help transition Wales to an economy that puts people and planet first. As a result, governments at all levels, communities and business are making this happen.

We will make it our mission to ensure the Well-being of Future Generations Act is applied effectively and with ambition in a way that improves the lives of the people of Wales now and in the future.

The announcement back in March this year that the UK was going into lockdown was a shock to us all and created significant challenges as we navigated a new world which largely required us to stay at home.

In response to Cardiff Council's Transport Green Paper, published Wednesday, 21 March and the start of a city-wide conversation on big ideas that could shape the future of Cardiff's transport system.

This report sets out my assessment of progress made in implementing the Act within the first reporting period, i.e. the last three years

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act (2015) requires Public Services Boards to publish a local assessment of economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being.

This Sunday my daughter and I will be taking part in something significant. We will be joining thousands of women across the country marching to commemorate the brave women who came before us 100 years ago who marched, campaigned, starved and even died to get us the vote. 

From farm to fork, food is critical to achieving Wales’ well-being goals for the health of our people and our planet.

As the First Minister highlights, this is an opportunity to take a new approach. I am encouraged the Welsh Government recognises the need for new ways of working to make the most of its contribution to improving the wellbeing of people – today and in the longer term

Sophie Howe says we have  a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to reset Wales’ economy and is calling for “visionary ideas and transformative investment” in the nation’s recovery plan. 

Currently in Wales we have a major skills gap. This is only going to widen as we move to green technologies and green jobs. We know that if Wales is to be prosperous, we need our workers to have the skills for the jobs of the future.

Imagine a person born 50 or 100 years into the future - how is their life going to be made worse or better by what you do today?

For centuries we have learnt and understood the world around us through the ancient art of storytelling.

On a sunny day in June 2018, I was privileged to be invited to attend the Inaugural EU Cities Fair and Ethical Trade Award Ceremony, in Brussels along with representatives from 15 other EU countries.

Our younger generations are calling out the failures of past decisions, and sadly, often decisions in the continuing present that fail to take into account their futures – embarrassing, perhaps, but necessary.

Should your organisation do it and, if yes, how?

The work we do in Wales continues to inspire organisations and governments internationally.

In response to a BBC Wales story on the numbers of Welsh women in prison for non-violent offences, Sophie Howe commented on how the impact on children and young people and contributes to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

Stronger, more focused action is needed to protect communities in Wales from the risks of Climate Change, says Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

Public bodies in Wales spend over £6 billion each year procuring a range of goods, services and works; this represents nearly a third of total devolved Welsh annual expenditure, and it is estimated that over the next decade Welsh public services will spend over £60 billion.

We will make it our mission to ensure all Welsh public bodies achieve their net zero and nature positive goals by 2030. As a result, public bodies are leading action on climate change including adaptation, in a way that reduces inequalities and maximises the benefits to people and communities across Wales.

Friends of the Earth Cymru, Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales and other environment, development and trade union groups are calling on all public sector bodies in Wales to stop investing in climate-wrecking fossil fuel companies. 

To mark International Women’s Day, Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has announced a new staff policy that provides support and paid leave to staff who are victims of domestic abuse so that they can leave the abuse and secure safe accommodation.