Dr. Nsah Mala: Strategic Foresight Retreat as a milestone in my futures journey
Guest post by Dr Nsah Mala
I am Dr Nsah Mala (born Kenneth Nsah), a #SOIF2024 Strategic Foresight Retreat participant, a 2023 Next Generation Foresight Practitioner (NGFP) Fellow (Judges’ Choice) at the School of International Futures (SOIF), and the Coordinator of the University of Cologne’s Hub for Planetary Wellbeing within the UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition. My participation in the retreat, which took place from 29 July to 02 August 2024 at Lainston House, Winchester, UK, was made possible by Small Foundation. Accordingly, this blog post is an avenue for me to share my experience and extend my gratitude to Small Foundation, SOIF and others.
The Retreat in Summary
The retreat started with lots of excitement and positive feelings as we were settling down and getting to know each other. I was impressed by the diversity of the cohort, both from the SOIF training team and cohort members/participants, in terms of gender, nationality, skin colour, professional background, areas of interest, etc. It was evident to me that the rich diversity in the room would lead to enriching and fruitful discussions and interactions. And I was very right!
On day two we did many fabulous and exciting things amongst which four stood out for me:
(a) We had a session on the four-stage model for foresight work at SOIF, a method I had first encountered in the NGFP foresight course taught by Daniel Riveong. At the retreat we tested the scoping stage, which I really enjoyed given we had a live challenge on long-term decisions relating to geoengineering. We did this by interviewing the client (ICFG) to find out what they needed and establish the direction the work should take.
(b) During a breakout session, our group discussed the then forthcoming UN Summit of the Future (SOTF) 2024. This was an opportunity to share the different ways we were engaging our countries as well as regional and global entities in the summit process. We heard inspiring stories from Kenya, Cameroon, some Caribbean countries, and more. I talked about my engagements with the Cameroonian government which led to a Pre-Summit National Consultation in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in which Cat Tully and I took part.
(c) We heard a very inspiring Pecha Kucha session with deeply touching stories on various projects by participants, and how they would like to invite collaboration.
(d) We closed the day with a wonderfully inspiring speech from Jane Davidson, former minister in Wales and one of the architects behind the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act which led Wales to appoint its first Commissioner for Future Generations. The Welsh experiment was the second attempt in the world after the short-lived experience of the Israeli Commission for Future Generations.
On day three many things also stood out for me. We explored different tools for creating scenarios, many of which I was already familiar with or using. I was particularly happy to apply the Three Horizons tool which I was aware of but had not yet used. In fact, the retreat changed my initial reluctance to engage with Three Horizons, and since then I have read widely on the tool and developed more appreciation for it.
We had a walk-and-talk lunch with our learning partners, and that gave me the golden opportunity to have a long chat with Kenyan Senator Ledama Olekina, whom I had already met earlier in Cardiff and Nairobi. Our chat was an opportunity to learn from his political experience as a senator and discuss issues of mutual concern about our different countries – Kenya and Cameroon – and Africa, given that both of us are pan-Africanists. We discussed our ambitions and ways to draw on foresight in advancing the development of our countries and of Africa. Another interesting foresight activity that day involved us interviewing people in the future, thus bringing in more creativity, dramatization and playfulness to our foresight work.
On day four we listened to inspiring talks from a legislator and people working for the United Nations and philanthropies. We continued with our live challenge as we drew out possible implications, and we worked on the STAR method to develop strategies and recommendations.
On the final day we discussed how to create communities of practice, given that foresight requires ecosystems with diversity of expertise to lead to a diversity of visions, imaginaries, working methods, perspectives, and expectations. We also considered how to engage with different communities such as organisations or grassroots communities. I believe our cohort started evolving into our own community given the networks and friendships initiated at #SOIF2024. This will surely help us as we explore ways to deal with uncertainties and create better futures, including through the SOTF.
Expectations, Takeaways, Networks, Memories…
My expectations prior to the retreat were high and revolved mainly around acquiring additional knowledge in foresight and creating useful networks. Unsurprisingly, I not only met but exceeded all my expectations. In terms of learning, I will always look back to the retreat as that moment that changed my relationship with Three Horizons thinking, before I would go on to read books by Bill Sharpe and Graham Leicester. Thanks to the retreat I also learned about the method of mixing participants from various groups to provide feedback on scenarios/outcomes and minimise group-think bias.
I created new connections with people from various domains such as military foresight and philanthropy, and of course climate action which has been and remains one of my main thematic areas of passion. Some of these connections (e.g., Olga Tarasov) were already very helpful in my process of sorting out paperwork to attend the SOTF in New York. Some of us are also are developing work around climate action in tropical basins of the world, including the Congo Basin on which much of my work is focused, ahead of #COP30 in Brazil. I am sure other connections will be helpful in various ways going forward.
Without any doubt, this retreat has contributed immensely to my career in education, research, foresight, governance, and international development, especially through the insights and connections it provided to me. While I was already a foresight practitioner, the retreat was a timely opportunity to further learn, apply and consolidate my knowledge in the domain. This experience added to the toolbox and connections needed in my journey of creating positive local and global impact in this world for present and future generations.
Some of the personal memories I will take with me include our moments of delight and night chats during which participants opened up even more, sometimes sparking wonderful ideas for collaboration. My advice to others is to embrace the whole retreat and remember that the magic can happen anywhere between the formal and informal activities. Finally, I would like to reiterate my gratitude to Small Foundation for enabling my participation, to SOIF for organising the retreat and also for my NGFP experience, and to the participants for their insightful, inspiring ideas, and enduring friendships.
Dr Nsah Mala is one of two NGFP Africa members Small Foundation supported to attend the 2024 SOIF foresight retreat.
