Our NGFP community of Fellows and the wider NGFP Sensing Network has grown exponentially since its launch three years ago. It was set up to connect young future-focused activists across the globe. The network now numbers almost 350 members across 69 countries. Despite the challenges of 2020, this virtual network of young future-alert visionaries and activists has been busy working towards building better futures in their communities and across the world.
The year ended with a collaboration with BBC Future which helped to imagine a time capsule for 2020. Among the 37 objects: a home-made weight for keeping fit, to a delivery bag, to one of the year’s many toppled statues.
But that was only the culmination of a very busy 2020. Over the year, the Next Generation Foresight Programme’s collective contribution included:
- The Futures Manifesto, produced by 12 NGFP fellows in response to the panic and uncertainty of the early days of the pandemic. This was the network’s first collaborative artifact.
- NGFPers spoke as a group at some of the most significant futures conferences this year, including Asia Pacific Futures Network (APFN) 2020 Conference, OECD Government Foresight Community meeting, Futures Festival, and the UNESCO Futures Literacy Summit.
- The new NGFP Asia Regional Network was launched with a project with WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO). This imagined what young people in the region think life will be like in the next 10-15 years.
- Omidyar Network’s Exploration & Future Sensing (ExFS) team invited NGFP-ers for an interactive session on the post-pandemic world The session involved leading philanthropic organizations, such as Omidyar, Luminate, Humanity United, Mastercard Foundation, and Gates Foundation.
- Omidyar Network also highlighted the NGFP network’s impact in their blog on the need to ‘listen to the future’, identifying “partners and collaborators who embody a new wave of future thinking for social change”. It noted: “It’s never been more critical to support and partner with people who are thinking more courageously and hopefully about the future”.
- Finally, we were able to announce a number of new collaborations at the end of 2020:
- Small Foundation will be supporting SOIF to catalyse an NGFP leadership network in Africa. Planning for this project is in full swing.
- Our strategic partnership with Enquire (the world’s first real-time expert network) will connect our NGFP fellows to global business leaders and foster collaborations around the future of work and knowledge.
It is a thrill for SOIF to have the privilege of convening this network of brilliant emerging change-makers. You can read about the most recent group of NGFP2020 Fellows here. If you want to apply for the 2021 NGFP awards, do register your interest here to be kept up to date.
To find out more about the 2021 NGFP awards, including how to become a supporter, judge or collaborator, please use this link. None of this would be possible without the generosity of our NGFP judges, who have dedicated their time and expertise to building this diverse community.