SERVICES
Bespoke Foresight Frameworks
Frontline Futures can create a bespoke foresight framework to guide a client's formal engagement with the future. Based on the Association of Professional Futurist’s Foresight Competency model, the Foresight Framework is helpful for learning about the value of foresight, but also provides a platform for integrating systems thinking, analysis processes, with thinking about the future and where a client envisions being two, five or even ten years out. The Mapping Phase (framing, scanning, and futuring), is about designing a map of the future of the ecosystem in which partners are working. The simple logic is that if you are exploring any new territory, you want a map. The Influencing Phase focuses on creating this map, asking where clients want to go. How? When? With whom? Why? This phase uncovers views of social change, complexity thinking, and fosters the ability to think critically, creatively, and holistically.
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Cross-Cultural Foresight
Does your organisation work across various cultures? Different regions of the world understand time differently, are more communal in their orientation to change, and use language to describe the future in different but equally important terms. Navigating cross-cultural foresight is important to make sure dominant foresight narratives are not marginalising import views of the subaltern.
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Deep Dive Research
Beyond the trends, signals, and drivers, we can conduct an extensive ethnographic study of peoples and communities to capture hidden assets, perspectives, worldviews, and deeply seated myths and mindscapes that can help or hinder development projects, peacebuilding, or humanitarian efforts.
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Foresight Audit
Is your organisation ready for the future? A foresight audit can help future-proof your organisation. Using a S.W.O.T. analysis to capture current realities, additional analysis explores what challenges and opportunities might lay on the horizon and provides a rigorous evaluation of the future readiness of the organisation and offers clear recommendations as anticipatory pathways.
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Horizon and Environment Scanning
Horizon scanning is a systematic process used to identify early signs of potentially important developments through an ongoing examination of trends and disruptions that could affect the future. It focuses on the longer term and aims to uncover emerging issues, technologies, and dynamics before they become mainstream or pose significant challenges. Environmental scanning, on the other hand, is a broader process that involves monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating information from the external environment to identify opportunities and threats. It covers many factors, including political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal aspects (often referred to as PESTEL analysis). Environmental scanning is typically more immediate to short-term in its focus, aiming to keep the organization informed about the current and emerging landscape in which it operates.
Scenario Development
A key component of foresight is developing various scenarios that might occur in the future. A simple two-by-two matrix can provide a powerful illustration of the different ecosystems your organization might face in the coming decade. Frontline Futures has developed a three-dimensional model that incorporates changes across three axes.
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Strategic Foresight and Planning
Focused on informing and enhancing the strategic planning process of organizations or governments, this service identifies emerging trends, potential threats, and opportunities, helping leaders make more informed decisions about the future. Strategic foresight and planning aim to enhance adaptability and resilience, focus on actionable insights, integrate with organizational strategy, and use various analytical tools (scenario planning, trend analysis, and environmental scanning) to gather and analyze data on future possibilities.
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Trauma-Informed, Healing-Centred, and Empowered Futures
Frontline Futures partners with the Green String Network GSN to provide holistic Mental Health and Psychosocial Services for communities and groups that want to process individual, communal, cultural, historical, and/or transgenerational trauma. GSN maintains an array of programming activities that target youth, adolescents, children, security officials (police/military), etc. Research shows that we process the future using the same regions of the brain where we store our past memories. Building flourishing futures often requires engaging with some neuroplasticity to reconcile the past, reenage the present, and reimagine the future.
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Frontline Futures can facilitate dynamic and interactive workshops and/or trainings that introduce foresight and futures thinking across a range of sectors and organisations. We have worked with community- and faith-based organisations, international and national NGOs, humanitarian agencies, government offices, and multi-national corporations.
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