March 2008 News
Scenarios and the difficulties in creating the axes of uncertainty
A few weeks ago, I attended a strategic futures coaching event as a FAN (Future Analysts Network) club member and we spent the day developing our own scenarios about cultural and religious futures. I have developed scenarios before, but never right from start to finish. I found it an interesting process which gave me loads of new ideas about the future but also very challenging, especially in a group of people who work in different areas and have very different ideas about what they think...
How ICT is shaping the future design and delivery of public services
The fourth in our series of ICT Foresight reports is now available. As a taster, here is the summary of the report (with thanks to David Wilcox who wrote the summary for me!)
This report presents a challenging picture of the future for voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) aiming to deliver public services in new ways, using ICT. On the one hand users will have increasingly high expectations of how information and services should be available online, based in part on their retail...
Shift happens
A couple of weeks ago, I spent a day developing scenarios with other budding futurists at a FAN (Future Analysts Network) club strategic futures coaching event run by the Government’s Foresight programme. To get us all in a future-focused and creative frame of mind, they showed us this great slide show 'Shift Happens' which contains lots of suprising demographic, economic and technological facts and stats about the present and future. I thought I’d share it with you all as I think it’s a...
Globalisation: 'value sets' and 'policy paradigms'
Last week I attended a Tomorrow Project event on their new book, Going Global: key questions for the 21st century. It was an interesting session, particularly Jan-Aart Scholte's response to the book. Whilst full of academic jargon (see the title of this post!), Jan-Aart talked compellingly about the different challenges ('value sets') presented by globalisation and the different political responses ('policy paradigms').
So, first the value sets through which people view the challenges of...
The future of citizenship – free seminar report
The seminar report from our last seminar on the future of citizenship for the VCS is now available to read. The seminar explored how notions and definitions of citizenship might change in the future. The background to the seminar, and the subject of an excellent presentation by Michelle Harrison from the Henley Centre Headlight Vision, was a report produced for the DCA on the future of citizenship. The report also contains four potential scenarios (see pages 15- 26) for how notions of...
How is local democracy changing – new Future Focus pocket guide
What are the trends affecting how local power relationships and decision-making might change in the next five years? Turnout at elections and membership of political parties have fallen significantly. Concern over this, what this means for local decision making and increasing pressure on public finances have all resulted in a consensus that more decisions should be made locally and that citizens should play a greater role in that decision-making. The latest of our Future Focus guides...
How do sector leaders feel about the future?
Yesterday NCVO launched its first Charity Forecast report which reveals the confidence levels and plans of sector leaders. As future change is partly based on present intentions, the report provides valuable information to inform strategic plans; revealing trends in collaboration and competition and how VCOs are feeling about the funding environment and the economy.
A positive outlook
62 per cent of respondents to the survey expected their organisation’s general situation to improve over the...
We are recruiting
We are currently looking for two people to join our team as Third Sector Foresight Officers. The advert went into the Society Guardian today:
Explore the trends shaping the future of civil society, managing projects which focus on a range of specific subsectors. You’ll communicate your findings through reports, short guides, events, and the Internet. You’ll also develop tools, including training sessions and capacity building workshops, to increase understanding of social change.
With superb...
The changing size and scope of civil society
The latest edition of the annual UK Civil Society Almanac is now available. This annual digest using GuideStar UK data presents statistics and analysis on the size and scope of the VCS. This year, for the first time, the Almanac has expanded to contain information on all UK civil society organisations, such as co-operatives, housing associations, universities, trade unions and political parties, not only ‘general charities’.
Below are some of the key findings and trends affecting UK civil...
