In part one of this two-part series, we’ll initially explore the idea of using the future in our efforts at advancing positive social change in the communities we work alongside. Through dialogue with some of the leading voices in Futures work and strategic forecasting, we’ll look at what it means to use the future in our strategic, collaborative work, why we might want to adapt some of these Futures approaches and tools that have emerged from the private sector, and what a community-centric version of futuring might look like for broad-based coalitions and theme-specific collaboratives engaged in systems change.
If you are planning or are currently involved in collaborative, shared work with communities and have questions about how we might envision a longer-term, sustainable and transformative way to map and navigate our complex, entangled world, this webinar will introduce some new and exciting ways of thinking and interacting with our shared futures.
Speakers
Riel Miller, leading author, thinker, and strategist in the field of Foresight and Futures
For over forty years, Riel has been co-creating innovation, leadership, and transformation in both the public and private sectors around the world. He has pioneered the 'discipline of anticipation' and one of the leading tools for engaging in both research and capacity building around futures literacy. He is a highly experienced designer of processes for thinking about the future. Currently, Riel is working with universities, governments, companies, and think tanks from around the world to introduce an anticipatory systems and processes approach to understanding the attributes and role of the future. He has been appointed a Senior Fellow at: Ecole des Ponts Business School (France); U. New Brunswick (Canada); NIFU (Norway); U. Witwatersrand (South Africa); Future Africa at U. Pretoria (South Africa), and East China Normal U. (China).
He was formerly Head of Foresight and Futures Literacy at UNESCO in Paris, from 2012-2022. In the 1980s and 1990s he worked in Ontario, Canada for a range of institutions, including the legislature, trade unions, and the public service (Ministries of Finance; Universities; and Industry). In 1995 he joined the OECD in Paris to work in the International Futures Programme. In 2005 he founded an independent consultancy – xperidox (which means knowledge through experience) to advise clients on how to use the future more effectively.
Daren Okafo, Consulting Director of Collective Leadership, Tamarack Institute Learning Centre 
Daren Okafo is the Consulting Director of Collective Leadership at The Tamarack Institute Learning Centre. Originally hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Daren has spent his entire 30-year career working in community development and engagement, learning alongside communities throughout Canada, Europe and Africa.
A veteran community adult educator, for 16 years Daren honed his popular education and facilitation skills at The Coady International Institute, drawing directly from the storied Antigonish Movement. He founded and led The Coady’s Innovations and Technology work and has pioneered a number of critical methodologies for community-led technology education and co-design. More recently, he has evolved his critical pedagogy leading to a community-centric, collective leadership practice that centers dialogue and participation with a crucial focus on collective futures, power, race and coloniality. In his spare time, Daren is an award-winning Afrofuturist artist and is always on the lookout for a decent cup of tea and a good, heartwarming chat.