The purpose was to engage young people from around the world in a foresight process to identify and support youth-led climate breakthroughs.
Summary of Use:
Lead Organization/Sponsor: UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, co-led by Italy and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Purpose: The purpose was to engage young people from around the world in a foresight process to identify and support youth-led climate breakthroughs. This initiative aimed to foster a collaborative environment where youth participants could envision future climate solutions and strategies through the Three Horizons framework.
Participants: Participants included 100 young climate innovators from 63 countries, comprising young negotiators, innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs, and agents of change. These participants collaborated with facilitators from UNICEF.
Context: The workshop took place during the Youth4Climate event in Rome in October 2023. The Three Horizons framework was used to structure the dialogue, enabling participants to map current systems (Horizon 1), envision desired futures (Horizon 3), and identify innovations and disruptions that could be harnessed to maintain the current system or leveraged to bring us closer to the preferred future.(Horizon 2). The insights from this workshop directly contributed to the design of the Leading Minds Conference 2024 on climate breakthroughs to ensure the conference was better suited to elevating youth perspectives and looking ahead to changes on the horizon.
Use Experience:
The Three Horizons framework facilitated a structured and engaging dialogue among participants, allowing them to systematically explore current climate challenges, envision desired future scenarios, and identify the necessary innovations and disruptions to bridge the gap. This structured approach was instrumental in helping participants articulate their visions and strategies for a sustainable future.
Participants found the framework particularly beneficial for risk management and anxiety reduction. Gunjan, a workshop participant from Nepal, highlighted the framework’s effectiveness in providing tools to anticipate potential challenges and opportunities: “The three scenarios provide tools that helped us, at the time of the workshop, to assess what could go wrong or right. Anticipation of that could help us mitigate a lot of the anxiety with planning for our individual actions. I think the workshop provided the tool to combat that for a lot of the participants.”
The collaborative nature of the workshop was also a significant positive aspect. Andriamorovavy, a participant from Madagascar, emphasised the value of enriching exchanges with peers: “[The workshop] made me realise that through enriching exchanges with young people engaged in the same battle, multitudes of solutions can emerge and that, thanks to these innovative ideas, we can hope that we still have much hope of saving our planet.”
Overall, the Three Horizons framework proved to be an effective tool in fostering a collaborative and forward-thinking environment, where young people could share and develop innovative solutions for climate action. The positive feedback from participants underscores its potential in helping reduce anxiety and enhance preparedness for future challenges.
Impact:
The application of the Three Horizons Framework during the Youth4Climate workshops had several impacts:
- Enhanced Strategic Thinking: The framework facilitated a structured exploration of current systems and future possibilities. This helped participants develop a nuanced understanding of climate challenges and potential solutions, enabling them to anticipate future disruptions and opportunities more effectively.
- Empowerment and Agency: By envisioning a desired future and strategizing how to achieve it, participants felt more empowered and capable of driving change. The collaborative and participatory nature of the workshop reinforced their sense of agency.
- Research Topics and Conference Agenda: The insights and ideas generated during the workshop informed several key research areas. These areas helped shape the Leading Minds Conference 2024 on climate breakthroughs.
- Building Networks and Collaboration: The workshop facilitated connections among young climate leaders from diverse backgrounds, fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas.
Link to full report: https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/media/8286/file/UNICEF-Innocenti-Emerging-Horizons-2024.pdf
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