Check-in activity At the beginning of the DIY² Lab, after the participants had been welcomed and the speakers had introduced themselves, Anita Silva started with a check-in activity about how people relate on a personal level to the future. The question was: What is one thing, big or tiny, that currently gives you energy or hope about the future?
Answers that were given: community spirit, solidarity, family, engaged youth, friends and colleagues, sports- and women’s communities, conversations, my plans in the future with loved ones…
The follow-up question was: If you could take a single snapshot of your personal life five years from now (2030), what moment would you love to capture in that photo – and why? The participants mentioned all their lovely plans for the future being already successfully implemented, for example: PhDs, travels, projects with young people, a construction camp in Ukraine, planning the next future, a more peaceful Europe and much more.
“Start a conversation about the future” Anita Silva sums up participant’s answers, noting that this is just a way to start a conversation about the future, but it is also a way to “set the tone” about the future: Futures Thinking sometimes feels like looking at something difficult or looking at uncertainty, at the unknown. But sometimes Futures Thinking can also be about just starting to imagine, what is possible by activating our hope as a way for action. Sonja Mitter adds that Futures Thinking often starts like this: Having a conversation about the future and about now.
Intro-capture: Futures Thinking in Youth Work
Youth work already provides young people with tools and methods for orientation, agency and meaning and support for identity, participation and belonging.
Futures Thinking adds the crucial missing elements. It is: • exploring possible futures • understanding uncertainty • linking present actions to future impact • strengthening hope, agency and imagination
Youth work then becomes a bridge between personal futures and collective futures.
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