Quo vadis? Where are we going? Looking beyond the pandemic, this question takes on a whole new meaning. As human mobility is called into question across the world, the way we move - or do not move - is changing rapidly.
This unprecedented situation offers the ability to reflect upon the impact of current transformative events on different forms of migration - and to look to the future. The Open Think Tank Network members - Agora (UK),foraus (CH), Polis180 (DE) and Ponto(AT) invite you to take part in this collaborative process for which we have partnered with the Youth Cafe from Kenya and will see participation from (among others): The United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs DPPA. By immersing us into the experience of five fictional personas in different situations and with different needs, we will facilitate access into future migration scenarios and open up explorative spaces. In a series of workshops, we will collaboratively explore possible future visions for these personas, taking into account how different drivers and mega trends might influence their journey or situation. Policy Kitchen allows us to refine ideas after each workshop with people from across the globe by using the collaborative text features of our online platform. The objective of this participatory workshop series is to bring together diverse perspectives on the future of migration to generate comprehensive and forward-looking policy recommendations that help organisations and policy makers to gain a long term perspective and shape the future of human mobility in a more equitable manner. Whether you are professionally involved with the topic of migration, or you are an individual looking to increase your expertise of the subject, you are warmly invited to participate in our upcoming workshops. We are looking forward to envisioning the future of human mobility with you!
Join the process for an impactful outcome
What will happen to your ideas afterwards? Using the collaborative online platform Policy Kitchen, as well as a series of online workshops – see below – we aim at bringing together diverse perspectives from as many areas as possible - whether from science, practice or policy-making – to envision the future of human mobility together! Although registration on Eventbrite is required for each individual workshop, all three workshops are part of the process and we strongly recommend participants register to each one in order to maximise the impact of ideas. Participants are invited to collaboratively refine the ideas in between each workshop. Our project team will cluster and refine the results of the first two workshops to develop three scenarios, or as we call them, “Alternative Futures”. These form the basis of our final workshop, aiming at identifying necessary policy actions. The visions will be bundled together and contextualised for a joint publication to inform and inspire policy makers. You retain the ownership of your idea and will be credited in the publication. In parallel, we will develop short, fictitious personal stories of human mobility for our personas. These futures will be clustered and refined by our project team and a podcast production company to become scripts for a podcast series. Each episode will offer the opportunity to immerse oneself in a collaboratively-crafted possible migratory future for one of the five fictitious personas in the year 2050. Both outputs will be widely distributed using the communication channels and networks of all partners in this challenge. You are warmly invited to join the process from the first workshop to the impact phase.
Workshops
Drivers workshop: 2nd of March 2021, from 6 to 9 pm CET
What drivers of change will affect our personas’ mobility? What are the main megatrends? Which are key uncertainties and potential disruptions? What are highly unlikely game-changers? In a collaborative effort, we will use the STEEP approach to rank drivers by likelihood and impact. The results will be uploaded to Policy Kitchen, where they can be refined even afterwards in preparation for the subsequent Scenario Workshop.
Scenario workshop: 31st of March 2021, from 6 to 9 pm CET
This workshop is about challenging the status quo, or getting better at doing so, by asking “What if?”. To stimulate creative and forward thinking, we will create qualitative narratives that emphasize possible structural changes and their consequences for the mobility of your persona of choice. We will be asking ourselves: What is the context of mobility/migration in 2050? How do changes in this context and interactions between individual drivers influence the decisions/choices of my persona of choice? Let your creativity run free in this explorative workshop.
Ideation workshop: 4th of May 2021, from 6 to 9 pm CET
After rehearsing the possibilities of tomorrow in the last workshop, the ideation workshop aims at identifying the necessary action today. Empowered by provocations and insights, we come together to find ways to prevent or increase the likelihood of the visions developed. The objective of this entire participatory, iterative foresight experiment is to generate innovative policy recommendations that help International Organisations and policy makers to become more agile and able to adapt in a proactive rather than a reactive way. Add your voice to this ambitious project and support us in making it fly.