PhilForesightX: Anticipating Emergence from the World After
The unprecedented magnitude and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have reshaped society in dramatic ways. It has caused a surreal shift in human behavior – stockpiling food, sanitary tissues, face mask, hand sanitizers, social distancing, embracing compliance and risks, sharing, and care. This crisis has tremendously changed the way we think, connect, communicate, perceive, and imagine possibilities, opportunities, and risks.
While the global outbreak has plunged us into staying indoors and focusing on survival, the value of anticipatory thinking – the future – is now more critical than ever before. This crisis has prompted leaders and organizations to employ Futures thinking to help them imagine alternatives and create preferred post-pandemic future worlds. Futures thinking, the art, and the capability of anticipation have remained as urgent as ever.
What are the possible, direct, and indirect (positive and negative) outcomes of COVID-19 to US-Philippines relations and crisis preparedness? What is the full impact (near-term, medium-term, long-term) of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Philippines (i.e., idea, nature, society, politics, economics, culture, technology)? What could the Philippines’ new normal look like?
What are the emerging issues of Philippines-US relations, and crisis preparedness in a post-pandemic world?
The US Embassy of Manila, the East-West Center, and the Center for Engaged Foresight collaborated in creating the #PhilForesightX Futures Thinking Virtual Series to introduce and immerse Young Filipino Professionals/Experts in International Relations, Strategic Communications, and Journalism.
Sharing here the visual report of the 3 2-hour futures thinking training sprint sessions that explored the futures of IR, Crisis Management, and Strategic Communications in a post-Covid19 world.
We just love it when you get to have feedback from participants like:
“It was a really good introduction to Futures thinking basics. I appreciated the way we took things slowly for everyone to sit back and savor the brainstorming moment,”
“I like how the design and the flow of the workshop session were done. The speaker too did a great job in introducing the context of the session.”
“The design was not too overwhelming for beginners in futures thinking.”
But futures thinking virtual workshops are even better when you have incredibly amazing designers doodling from California, the Tofucreatives.com
Here are the visual reports harvested from the three futures thinking sessions we’ve had to explore the near-term and long-term futures of Philippine-US relations, Crisis Management, and Strategic Communications in a post-pandemic world. Participants learned and employed the Polak Game to identify and make obvious their attitude and behavior toward the Futures, Futures Wheel to discern the direct and indirect consequences of COVID-19, and Emerging Issues Analysis to identify barely visible ideas or weak signals that may impact PH-US relations, crisis management, and strategic communications. Looking forward to the next PhilForesightX.
Looking forward to the next PhilForesightX.