World Home Economics Day (WHED) was initiated as a public relations event in 1982, and since then each 21 March highlights a home economics theme we feel deserves public attention. The 2024 theme is "Home Economics 3.0.: A critical update".
The world’s enormous waste problem won’t be “solved” by just dumping it. We need to come up with better ideas to minimize waste generation and preserve natural resources. Waste Literacy, the knowledge about waste reduction and sustainable consumption, is an essential building block to achieve a sustainable future. Waste Literacy is a central element of education for sustainable development, to which home economics makes a fundamental contribution..
Whether through solution-based research, education or community outreach, home economics experts impart knowledge on how to responsibly manage resources at household and consumer level. This knowledge plays an important role in changing our everyday behaviour. See the informative position paper of IFHE-Germany on Waste Literacy and the IFHE official announcement for World Home Economics Day 2023.
We also invite you to participate in the Reduce Reuse Regenerate workshop at 21 March at 11am Irish time.
Pamela Turner, webinar expert
Homes are the most important haven & asset in peoples’ lives. More and more, global developments such as climate change, pandemic and war affect the wellbeing of household members. This year's World Home Economics Day (WHED) focus is on our profession’s contribution to make homes safer and more resilient.
IFHE and many home economics association worldwide celebrate WHED with special events. Here, we highlight two of them:
Housing and indoor environment is a home economics discipline spearheading education & research on building resilient households. IFHE housing experts share their expertise on aspects such as environmental health, consumer choice or housing insecure populations (available at the IFHE youtube channel).
The German IFHE organized a competition and awarded projects related to home economics skills that strengthen the resilience of families and households. Winner was an association which creates jobs in the field of care of the elderly and thus provides respite for households through the support services. Another prize wend to a 23-year-old home economist who developed teaching materials for pupils in the 8th and 9th grades.
© Jana Rohlfing
Teaching material (author)
© Jana Rohlfing
teaching material
Member organizations in Asia have been organizing high-level conferences on the occasion of WHED for decades. This was the case again in 2022, when experts from China, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia spoke under the leadership of the Asian Regional Association for Home Economics. Likewise, the Philippine Home Economics Association celebrated with just over 2000 virtual participants (find detailed reports in the Members Area).
© International Federation for Home Economics IFHE