Learning for Planetary Citizenship and Anticipatory Governance: Futures Literacy Lab

Author: Dr Nsah Mala

On 14 March 2025, UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition, UNESCO Futures Literacy Team, Arizona State University (ASU), School of International Futures (SOIF) and Learning Planet Institute (LPI) jointly organised a Futures Literacy Lab (FLL) in Paris on "Learning for Planetary Citizenship and Anticipatory Governance."

Participants included visiting students from ASU and LPI and members of Je m'engage pour l'Afrique. They were a real manifestation of creativity, determination, passion, and fun!

It was a multispecies setting that included the participation of LPI's Professor Galactic, a visiting professor from another side of the galaxies with profound knowledge of planetary issues.

Some participants creatively re-imagined many desirable futures, among which a reformed UN-like body with no veto powers but taking majority-based, binding decisions and using alternative means of fundraising.

One group identified the metaphor underpinning today's capitalist world as that of a lion versus prey and came up with a new metaphor for #sustainability based on honeybees and flowers, i.e., a give-and-take symbiotic relationship.

This FLL or foresight workshop, like those organised last year and those still to come, fall in line with BRIDGES' commitment to activating the implementation of the historic UN Pact for the Future adopted last year. UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition seeks to contribute to this process in many ways, including such participatory approaches that front youth voices in a spirit of intergenerational fairness.

It was a great pleasure to co-facilitate this FLL alongside brilliant colleagues from UNESCO, ASU, and LPI. I was particularly impressed by how this workshop did almost everything that foresight is supposed to do: challenge assumptions, shock, surprise, liberate, and inspire to transform. Some participants were shocked by utopian visions while others found the FLL inspiring and liberatory.

For instance, Miya Manu Abraham, one of the amazing participants from LPI, confessed how the FLL had liberated her agency and went on to comment about me as follows:

"From wellbeing economics, to circular economy, degrowth, decolonisation, climate justice and so much more, your meta wisdom and insights on so many different topics and ability to capture the thoughts of young people in simple words with the precision without losing the essence of what we are saying while staying so humble and down to earth. UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition is lucky to have you! And the world has so much to learn from you!"

Merci, Miya, for your kind words! FYI, in the Bambili language in Cameroon, Miya also means Thanks!

Miya’s account of the Learning for Planetary Citizenship and Anticipatory Governance: Futures Literacy Lab experience can be accessed here and was first published in full on the Learning Planet Institute blog which can be accessed here. 

Visit the event page here.