Little things making a big difference around the world

TOGETHERNESS

• Okinawa, Japan Home to some of the healthiest people in the world, where many live to an age of more than 100. Some suggest it has to do with moai, which means to “come together in a common purpose”. It is a solid part of Okinawan tradition to create small, secure social networks in which members commit to each other for life.

Moai is created when a child is born and helps to integrate the child into a lifelong community. Whether you face serious problems in life, economic struggle, sickness or grief over the loss of a loved one, the moai will be there.

• Perth, Australia Shani, a young Canadian woman, turned a street in a suburb of Perth into a community by introducing pizza nights, movie nights, herb gardens and goats, through asking people to dream of what kind of street they would like to live in. Knocking on a neighbour’s door for the first time may be terrifying for some, but the rewards can be big.

• The Netherlands Since 2006, the Dutch have celebrated National Neighbour’s Day on the last Friday of May. Initiated by the coffee company Douwe Egberts, the Dutch notion that a good neighbour is better than a distant friend has turned an initiative to get neighbours together over a cup of coffee into a nationwide event that is celebrated in 2,000 districts.

• Mexico The Day of the Dead celebrations take place between Oct 28 and Nov 2 each year. The belief is that, on this day, the deceased have divine permission to visit friends and relatives on earth. People visit the graves of families and friends, taking food and drink with them. The events are a celebration of life rather than a sober mourning of its passing and create a sense of togetherness even with lost ones.

• Western Africa The proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” exists in many different African languages, but is sometimes said to have originated among the Igbo and Yoruba people of western Africa. Our language shapes our behaviour — and the proverb is a reminder that if we honour the notion that we are each other’s keepers, we all become happier.

MONEY

• United States The Giving Pledge is a philanthropic initiative started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates which encourages the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to donate the majority of their wealth to help address society’s biggest issues. Today, more than 150 billionaires from more than 15 countries have signed the pledge.

• Pabna, Bangladesh The development organisation BRAC helps people out of poverty by bringing them together and having them pool their resources to start their own businesses and to resolve problems in the community.

• Spain Established by the charity Mensajeros de la Paz, the Robin Hood Restaurant in Madrid is a typical restaurant by day but, at night, it transforms into a pioneering place where homeless people can dine at tables set with flowers and with proper cutlery and glasses, free of charge. The restaurant uses the money from paying customers at breakfast and lunch to fund free evening meals.

• Vietnam Reaching Out Vietnam provides opportunities for people with disabilities to learn skills and gain meaningful employment so that they are able to integrate fully into their communities and lead independent and fulfilling lives. Fairtrade gift shops sell items made by disabled people in Vietnam and the profits are fed back into the business to assist disabled people by giving them training and finding them jobs.

HEALTH

• Denmark In Copenhagen, 45 per cent of all commutes for work or education are by bike. This is part of the reason why Danes get more exercise than most people — without hitting the gym.

• Finland The country’s cherished sauna culture is best expressed by the public facilities found in towns and cities. True Vikings adore the healthy, invigorating combination of heat and icy water.

• Japan Shinrin-yoku literally translates as “forest bathing” and refers to soaking up the sights, smells and sounds of a natural setting to promote physiological and psychological health. The term was first coined in 1982, but today millions of Japanese walk along 48 “forest therapy” trails to get their dose of what I guess could be labelled “outdoorphins”.

• Bhutan In some Bhutanese schools, students and teachers start and finish their day with a silent moment of “brain brushing”, a short mindfulness exercise. Because the Bhutanese focus on Gross National Happiness instead of Gross National Product, the country is almost a laboratory testing out different approaches to improve well-being. A study found that the GNH curriculum significantly increased student well-being and improved performance.

• Iceland The television show Lazy Town uses an athletic protagonist, Sportacus, who lives on a diet consisting of fruit and vegetables to encourage children to take part in physical activities outdoors and eat healthily. The hero is contrasted with the show’s lazy, junk-food-eating villain and antagonist. In co-operation with a major supermarket chain in Iceland, healthy greens were branded as “sports candy” (as in the TV show), resulting in a 22 per cent increase in sales of fruit and vegetables.

FREEDOM

• Portugal The happiest parents seem to be found in Portugal. According to a comprehensive study that was initiated in 2005, Portuguese grandparents play a key role in the day-to-day life of families and help with the daily routine of looking after their grandchildren. When six grown-ups instead of two take an active part in and responsibility for accompanying children to school, supervising homework, taking them to sports and other clubs and doing other chores like cooking, it provides the parents with more freedom — and, as it turns out, greater levels of happiness.

• United States The Live Near Your Work Program in Maryland gives monetary rewards of up to $3,000 (£2,277) towards the purchase, down-payments on or final costs of new homes for people who move to within five miles of their workplace. Participants consequently spend less time commuting and a substantial number have switched their mode of transport from driving to walking.

• Germany In 2011, Volkswagen stopped its BlackBerry servers sending emails to a proportion of its employees when they are off shift. The staff can still use their devices to make calls, but the servers stop routing emails 30 minutes after the end of employees’ shifts, and start again 30 minutes before they return to work.

• Sweden Public employers and private companies are experimenting with shorter working days and weeks. One of them is the SEO company Brath, which reports: “Today we get more done in six hours than comparable companies do in eight. We believe it brings with it the high level of creativity demanded in this line of work. We believe nobody can be creative and productive for eight hours straight. Six hours is more reasonable, even though we, too, of course, check Facebook or the news at times.”

TRUST

• Israel and Palestine The Parents’ Circle Families Forum is a grass roots organisation of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members in the conflict. A process called the Parallel Narrative Experience aims to help each side of the conflict understand the personal and national narratives of the other. The members meet one another on a regular basis to forge mutual understanding and respect between the communities.

• Denmark Østerskov high school uses role-playing games throughout the school year to teach children. Pupils spend a week at a time “living” in ancient Rome or on Wall Street, for example. The teachers find that, for instance, children with Asperger’s learn social skills and how to handle social situations by playing different characters in the games.

• Singapore The Singapore Prison Service has changed its jails into schools for life by focusing on co-operation and rehabilitation. Prison officers have been assigned to manage all matters relating to the inmates in a particular housing unit, and they take on the role of mentor and counsellor. The inmates are given the power to make decisions, as long as these serve to help them make a change for the better. By any measure, the results have been impressive, ranging from improved staff morale and safety, better social connections between prisons and the rest of society and a drop in recidivism from 44 to 27 per cent over a 10-year period. • Brazil In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, artists have created a small, but significant, revolution. And their main weapons are a brush and some colourful paint. In an open, collaborative and inclusive process, they paint the favela houses in the colours of the rainbow — and a lot of local young people help with the project, making it theirs. They choose the colours together, paint together and play together. Today, it is a new world that greets the locals and the tourists. It is bright, colourful and proud. These are not just houses, these are homes. And the people who live here are now proud to show that they have more to offer the world than the world might have expected.

KINDNESS

• India In Hyderabad, the Gift Compassion Project pairs up children from rich and poor schools, who exchange gifts they have made themselves in order to break down social barriers.

• Poland In a pillar-like chest of drawers in the middle of a Warsaw square, homeless individuals have their own box, on which they write down the things they need the most. Caring passers-by can then drop the necessary items in the box.

• Turkey To keep homeless dogs from starvation in Istanbul, the Turkish company Pugedon has invented a vending machine that dispenses dog food in exchange for bottles. When someone deposits a bottle at the top, food is released at the bottom. The Smart Recycling Boxes operate at no charge to the city and the recycled bottles cover the cost of the food.