Where have I been all this time??? Part 2 (Future Peace)

It finally happened. Someone thought I had something interesting to say.

My first article has been published in the Journal of Futures Studies.

Future Peace: Breaking Cycles of Violence Through Futures Thinking

The article lays the case for why futures thinking processes should be a part of conflict resolution efforts, particularly when trying to break cycles of violence. Research suggests that people living in violence lack the ability to think about a peaceful future, or any future for that matter. Addressing this inability by providing a space for people living in violence to think systematically about their future—be this for a grassroots community or heads of state embarking on a mediation—may hold a critical key to breaking out of cycles of violence. While there is mounting theory to support this idea, evidence based research is still lacking.

This article is also hopefully a strong foundation I need in order to now go out and find that evidence to support the theory.

My next step and oh so modest goal is to begin working with conflict resolution organizations to create their own scenarios, personal futures, or whatever the foresight maybe so that I can get direct feedback into the processes and learn if futures thinking might be useful in their line of work, and how.

Being a rookie and all, I forgot to thank some important people in the article. I had a lot of help and support along the way from a wide range of people. I’d like to thank my conflict resolution Professor Melissa Labonte, who read through and early draft and supported my efforts from the very beginning. She also pointed me towards John Paul Lederach’s The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace, which has now become my thought bible. Professor Henry Schwalbenberg, Director of the IPED graduate program at Fordham University, allowed me to take in independent study in order to write this article, despite my inability to find an appropriate sponsor at the time. This of course meant that he took the time to read and grade a 7000 word essay during his busy schedule. I’d also like to Geci Karuri-Sebina for taking motivating me and supporting me during a trip to South Africa to work with SA Node. She took the time to read through a very early version before it probably made any sense and gave me some great feedback. I’d also like to make mention of Katinidi Sivi Njonjo, Bob Day, Koffi M. KouaKou, Jake Dunagan, and Kathi Vian, all of whom helped inspire and motivate me along the way.

Where have I been all this time??? Part 1 (Catalysts for Change)

It’s certainly been a while since I have blogged, and so much has happened. 

In honor of the original intent of starting this blog I will begin to blog more regularly about my specific work that is geared towards building the platform and practice around using futures thinking methodology for breaking cycles of violence. So let me begin with a summary of what I have been up to!

Since I last wrote a blog post I graduated from IPED and can now place that much needed M.A. after my name. 

I rejoined IFTF on January 2nd as a Research Manager and have not looked back since. In that short time I have jumped on some great projects. The first of which was the Catalysts for Change: Paths out of Poverty map looking at the future of international development and poverty alleviation. In reality I actually worked on this project throughout my time at Fordham U but the online version of the map was published just a couple of months ago. 

imagining a violent future

Last night as part of my research for my piece on foresight and conflict resolution I was reading The Future: Images and Processes by Elise and Kenneth Boulding. As a long time peace researcher, Elise has found that the world lacks images of peace, and therefore an ability to truly move towards peace.

Working with the SA Node and unexpected happenings

In July and August I had the pleasure of working with the South Africa Node of the Millenium Project (SA Node). While there I worked on a feature for the Foresight for Development (FFD), platform which was designed to help spread futures thinking throughout Africa and elevate the level of foresight coming out of the region.

If youth are our future, what of the future of youth (leaders)?

originally posted in Institute for the Future’s blog

Youth leadership is a hot button issue these days. But I think what we tend to forget—or don’t have the opportunity to understand—is that youth leadership is very different throughout the world. Missing these nuances could lead to potentially ineffective global youth leadership initiatives.

While working in Kenya this year I had a lot of interesting conversations about Kenya’s youth leadership dilemma; the term is an oxymoron. In the traditional setting, youth cannot lead. Until you are married and have moved out of the youth category, you are not considered capable of leading people. Ethnicity, gender, marriage status, and whether you are living in an urban or rural setting all complicate the matter of youth leadership in Kenya.

Kenya Youth Scenarios

Read about my experience with the Kenya Youth Scenarios on Institute for the Future’s Future Now blog.

Interview with Kenyan futurist Katindi Sivi Njonjo

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Katindi, the woman who runs the futures programme at IEA and I have been working on the youth scenarios with, for the Foresight for Development site. See how everything is connected??

You can read the profile here.

The community of African futures seems large and robust. Much like my experience in the US, when people get a chance to learn more about the work African futurists are doing, they almost always want to be a part of it. This alone has to be a good sign for the future of the field.

One big difference between foresight in the US and Europe as compared to Kenya is foresight here needs to very practical. According to Katindi, Kenya does not yet have the luxury of thinking for thinking’s sake, and therefore all foresight needs to be tied to very practical issues and solutions.

Creating foresight together

In my relatively short (about 3 years to date), but profound, time at Institute for the Future I have mostly been involved in providing people with foresight and helping them gleam insight from it. As our slogan goes, Foresight to Insight to Action. We provide the foresight, together we gain insights, and the clients move to action.

This past month working on the the Kenya Youth Scenarios with Institute of Economic Affairs, a Kenyan lead initiative to create regional youth scenarios in an effort to get government to make appropriate policy decisions in order to benefit from the impending youth bulge, I have had the opportunity to help people create their own scenarios and their own foresight.

An atheist’s take on prayer

I remember when I first came to Kenya in 2005 and found myself in a meeting or at a meal and everyone had to pray. The first few times I became so paranoid that somehow the people in the room would know that I was fake praying. To some extent it was paralyzing, I couldn’t take a moment to hear what people were praying about or appreciate the moment. It never occurred to me either that people might not care. I had this totally irrational fear that they would discover I was fake praying and then cast me out of the community.

After a few prayer sessions this irrational fear slowly slipped away and instead I found myself annoyed at the concept of always having to pray. After a much longer time I began to appreciate the meeting or meal or even travel prayers. I discovered that regardless of god being in the mix, prayers were always relevant to the specific event. They allowed the room to take a moment to focus on the task ahead (or reflect on the task behind) and get everyone centered and working together.

a possible future: unity through language

During my recent scenario workshop for Eastern Province in Embu during an after work conversation with the camera crew we got going on one of my favorite topics. Sheng. Sheng is Kenya’s most intriguing slang language. Sheng is a mixture of English, Swahili, and all local languages. Originally designed to allow urban youth to talk about things in front of their parents, Sheng by its nature is always changing and very localized. Sheng from Nairobi is totally different from Sheng on the coast, never mind Sheng from different areas within Nairobi. What is a common phrase one week might be replaced by another the next.

Over time some things have become part of regular Kenyan Swahili. Many greetings are examples of this. Sasa, niaje… I remember learning them as non formal Swahili but I never made the connection that they were once Sheng.