Please wait while loading your Bulletin

Newsletter CONTINUOUS INFORMATIONExploring how futures are imagined and used: unleashing the potential of Foresight and Futures Literacy

CONTINUOUS INFORMATION Posted on 2022-05-02 22:57:47

Exploring how futures are imagined and used: unleashing the potential of Foresight and Futures Literacy

Read

Font size - A A A +

An article by the World Economic Forum published in 2020 states that four skills are required to make a better world after COVID-19: 1) futures literacy, 2) systems thinking, 3) anticipation and 4) strategic foresight.

The beginnings of the OIE’s futures literacy

In January 2020, the OIE began its foresight and futures thinking journey, creating the position of Foresight Advisor to counsel OIE Direction. Over the past two years, this Advisor has focused on understanding the foresight and futures thinking methods currently at hand, notably by engaging with colleagues in other intergovernmental organisations, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), both of which offer these ‘services’ to their members. In addition, the OIE’s Foresight Advisor attended the Natural Foresight® Framework immersive training programme given by The Futures School with the aim of integrating this foresight and futures thinking into the OIE’s working framework, along with pertinent tips and techniques shared by other attending futurists. Ultimately, the OIE would like to have a foresight framework running as part of its own working methods. This would allow us to explore uncertain futures when developing or implementing strategies, and/or dealing with disruption and culture change. It would also be relevant for staff development by nurturing a futures thinking culture across the Organisation.

Taking animal health along for the ride on the foresight and futures journey

The OIE was invited as a ‘client’ to the EmLyon Business School’s course on disrupted futures. Here, students developed scenarios on possible futures that the OIE could face which were then published in a LinkedIn article by Joshua Polchar, Foresight Lead at OECD, entitled ‘The Future of Animal Health is the Future of Human Health’.  Some of the scenarios presented are quite unusual, difficult to imagine, and even improbable. But that is the point of scenarios, they are designed to provoke reaction by – even if a blank stare is what results, the scenario has done its job. Moving from reaction to thoughtful response is the objective here, particularly in looking at our current work and exploring how the strategies, frameworks or other actions would fare in these futures.  

It is not about questioning whether these futures will happen, but rather leaning into the idea that they could happen. Is what we are doing today setting us up for success in these futures? 

As fanciful as some scenarios can seem, there is always something that rings true about them in the present. 

OIE collaborates with UNESCO on the co-design of Futures Literacy Laboratories

The OIE’s foresight and futures thinking journey, had been a bit of a solo expedition until beginning discussions with UNESCO in September 2020 on the co-design of Futures Literacy Laboratories (FLLs). For the OIE, the FLLs present opportunities for its staff to be introduced to some foresight methodologies, but more importantly, for OIE staff to hone the skill of imagining multiple futures, including the provocatively preposterous ones, therefore opening them up to looking at the present differently. Furthermore, the labs are designed to identify the biases and assumptions we have in using futures that are designed or mapped through foresight methodologies for planning or preparing, as well as to encourage participants to be more open to the unexpected, even to the possibility of novelty. 

The futures are just as volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous as the present. It is tempting to use foresight methodologies in a manner that seeks to predict the future or that sees futures as an extension of the present – futures literacy helps us extricate ourselves from that slippery slope.

The OIE holds its first FLL session

In November 2021, the first FLL held by the OIE took place over three 3-hour sessions, during which participants experimented with the topic of ‘Climate Response in 2040’. They were asked first to describe ‘probable futures’, or what is most likely to happen in 2040 in terms of responding to climate change. Next, they were asked for ‘desirable futures’, what they would like to see happen in 2040. Lastly, they were presented with an improbable future scenario or a ‘reframe scenario’, where humans are tamed by animals who are conscious of humans’ impact on the environment and who are concerned for human survival.

 This scenario produced a variety of reactions from outright rejection to curiosity. However, the point of the reframe scenario is to release ourselves from the constraints of what we think will be the most likely events in the future to allow us to look more closely at other possibilities, those that we had not considered or that appeared less relevant or less important. With this reframe scenario, the participants viewed the OIE’s work in a different light, including the Organisation’s corporate social responsibility to minimise its carbon footprint, the need to increase engagement with its Members on priorities and actions around climate change, and the need to undertake a more holistic approach to standards that considers impacts on ecosystems, to name a few. 

Futures literacy can often be overlooked when using foresight methodologies, but it is an essential skill that allows us to fully appreciate the complexity of the world around us and the futures before us if we’re willing to imagine them.

 

Contact: Tianna Brand, Foresight Advisor (t.brand@oie.int)

Related informations to article

  • 19min

    Members Experience the PVS Information System for the First Time

  • 22min

    Guidelines for Community Animal Health Workers

  • 8min

    Barriers and Solutions to Mass Dog Vaccination for Rabies

  • 20min

    Private Sector Collaboration for Animal Health and Welfare Standards

  • 16min

    PVS Information System Hits Key Training Milestone on Path to Global Launch

  • 30min

    Exploring Changes: Crafting Compelling Future Stories

  • 7min

    OFFLU-AIM Project Facilitates Effective Avian Influenza Vaccination Programmes

  • 17min

    Engagement, Collaboration, Cooperation and Transparency to Protect Animal Health Worldwide

  • 19min

    One Health Collaboration, Sustainability of Veterinary Services and Regional Investment

  • 15min

    Launch of the 100th Anniversary Participatory Foresight Project!

  • 28min

    The STAR-IDAZ Research Community Grows

  • 1min

    Announcement from the WOAH Director General

  • 18min

    The Performance of Veterinary Services Information System Enters its Next Phase of Development

  • 8min

    Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Surveillance Guidelines: Now Available Online

  • 5min

    A Tribute to Dr Christianne Bruschke

  • 45min

    Identifying Priorities Related to Gender in the Animal Health Sector

  • 22min

    Number of Women Veterinarians in South-East Asia Continues to Grow

  • 17min

    We Asked and They Shared: WOAH’s Resource Partners on Working with WOAH

  • 45min

    A Word from Our New Reference Centres

  • 34min

    How is the Future Going? Monitoring Future Scenarios in Animal Health

  • 7min

    UNESCO's Futures Literacy Laboratory Playbook Highlights WOAH

  • 12min

    Easier Access to Previous Editions of WOAH Codes

  • 42min

    Immersing WOAH’s New Delegates in their Roles

  • 9min

    Self-Declarations: Improved Templates and Data Presentation

  • 18min

    Thinking About the Futures of Emergency Management

  • 25min

    Embracing Uncertainty - Using Strategic Foresight Methods to Support Decision-Making

  • 16min

    The Power of Public-Private Partnerships – an Australian Example

  • 30min

    First Oral Rabies Vaccine for Dogs

  • 7min

    China Establishes an Equine Disease Free Zone for the Upcoming 19th Asian Games

  • 11min

    Animal Health and the Transformation of Food Systems

  • 17min

    A Record Year in Review for the WOAH World Fund

  • 15min

    The Futures of Climate Responses, 2040

  • 22min

    Exploring the Futures of Collaboration, Partnerships and Multilateralism

  • 15min

    A Risk-Based Insurance Model for Transboundary Animal Diseases

  • 20min

    A Multi-Agency Simulation Exercise: Building Biological Threat Reduction Capacities

  • 14min

    Tracking Antimicrobial Resistance Control on a Global Scale Through Country Self-Assessment Surveys—TrACSS

  • 10min

    New access point to previous editions of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code

  • 23min

    Nature for Health Trust Fund Seeks Country Partners

  • 13min

    Multidisciplinary Project Examines Australia’s One Health Pandemic Governance

  • 20min

    Better understanding and defining the role of community animal health workers as part of strengthening frontline Veterinary Services

  • 31min

    What is the Observatory?

  • 47min

    Destination 2040 - there and back through the OIE Futures Literacy Laboratory

  • 17min

    The OIE holds its 16th annual World Fund Advisory Committee Meeting

  • 11min

    The World Organisation for Animal Health launches a database on public—private partnerships in the veterinary domain

  • 20min

    Competent and well-equipped Veterinary Services in support of national health systems: the OIE contribution

  • 24min

    Exploring how futures are imagined and used: unleashing the potential of Foresight and Futures Literacy

  • 10min

    OIE Tool for the Evaluation of Performance of Aquatic Animal Health Services (PVS Tool - Aquatic), 2nd edition

  • 6min

    New suppliers selected for the OIE Rabies Vaccine Bank

  • 9min

    New suppliers selected for the OIE PPR Vaccine Bank

  • 13min

    Lessons learnt series on veterinary paraprofessionals

  • 14min

    Keeping our institutional meetings despite the virtual environment

  • 13min

    Electronic sanitary certificates for safe international trade in animals and animal products

  • 6min

    Discover the new OIE Documentary Portal

  • 12min

    Moving forward on the Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) Programme

  • 28min

    Virtual interviews as an alternative to field missions? Lessons learnt from a pilot experience

  • 29min

    Enhancing veterinary laboratory capacity in COVID-19’s wake through the first-ever virtual OIE PVS mission

  • 14min

    The third OIE Animal Welfare Global Forum

  • 26min

    Current state and future of small companion animal practice in Africa

  • 24min

    The OIE World Fund: 2020 financial performance

  • 15min

    A Standard Operating Procedure to improve notification of emerging diseases of terrestrial animals

  • 15min

    The OIE Aquatic Animals Commission furthers aquatic animal health globally and delivers substantial achievements during its last term

  • 23min

    The digital archive of the OIE Bulletin from 1927 to 1982 is now available on the Documentary Portal

  • 23min

    Global report indicates decreasing trend in antimicrobials intended for use in the animal sector

  • 35min

    How disease control and animal health services can impact antimicrobial resistance. A retrospective country case study of Sweden

  • 34min

    Reflections on the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Epidemic of 2001: a United Kingdom Perspective

  • 46min

    Reflections on the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Epidemic of 2001: an Irish Perspective

  • 7min

    Safe Trade and FMD Control Training Course

  • 15min

    STAR-IDAZ International Research Consortium on Animal Health Releases a State-of-the-Art Report on Priority Animal Diseases

  • 17min

    OIE PVS Pathway missions go virtual!

  • 31min

    100-year anniversary of the origin of the OIE at the 1921 Paris International Conference

  • 23min

    First workshop of the OIE Twinning Network on Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers in West and Central Africa

  • 14min

    Taking a closer look at the 15th OIE World Fund Advisory Committee Meeting

  • 13min

    The OIE and the University of Liverpool host the launch of the Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) Programme

  • 13min

    Global leaders meet to elevate sustainable political support for antimicrobial resistance issue

  • 24min

    News from the OIE Laboratory Twinning Programme

  • 49min

    Veterinary workforce development: the relevance of skill qualification, education and occupational frameworks

  • 12min

    Assessing the risks of zoonotic diseases under the One Health approach: a new tripartite operational tool

  • 4min

    G20 statement

  • 112min

    Overcoming the impact of COVID-19 on animal welfare:
    COVID-19 Thematic Platform on Animal Welfare

  • 34min

    Twinning is winning

  • 42min

    Global Burden of Animal Diseases – building a community of practice for animal health economics

  • 7min

    Identifying and testing suitable and safe aircraft disinfectants for use on cargo planes that transport animals

  • 6min

    FAO and OIE Directors General exchange views on the cooperation between their two organisations

  • 15min

    Applying Big Data solutions to One Health challenges in the Mediterranean region

  • 8min

    Namibia’s demonstration of freedom from bovine tuberculosis

  • 2min

    OIE PPP e-learning course

  • 21min

    Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030

  • 22min

    OIE rabies international standards: towards ‘Zero by 30’

  • 22min

    OIE rabies international standards: towards ‘Zero by 30’

  • 21min

    Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030

  • 21min

    Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030

  • 21min

    Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030

  • 10min

    Triage in the trenches, for the love of animals

  • 21min

    Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030

  • 21min

    Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030

  • 22min

    OIE rabies international standards: towards ‘Zero by 30’

  • 21min

    Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030

  • 22min

    OIE rabies international standards: towards ‘Zero by 30’

  • 22min

    OIE rabies international standards: towards ‘Zero by 30’

  • 18min

    The OIE Rabies Vaccine Bank: a possible tool for outbreak response

  • 22min

    OIE rabies international standards: towards ‘Zero by 30’

  • 18min

    The OIE Rabies Vaccine Bank: a possible tool for outbreak response

  • 18min

    The OIE Rabies Vaccine Bank: a possible tool for outbreak response

  • 18min

    The OIE Rabies Vaccine Bank: a possible tool for outbreak response

  • 18min

    The OIE Rabies Vaccine Bank: a possible tool for outbreak response

  • 22min

    OIE rabies international standards: towards ‘Zero by 30’

  • 21min

    Global Strategic Plan to end human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030

  • 8min

    Epidemiological survey of bovine viral diarrhoea in dairy cattle in Nepal

  • 3min

    LSD: a new challenge to the Veterinary Services of Central Asian countries

  • 15min

    Improving sustainability to avoid laboratory disasters

  • 6min

    On the frontlines of rabies eradication