The Antidote to Ageism: Intergenerational Collaboration in Action
Understanding the importance of generations working together
Young people’s ideas and inputs are the key to shaping an equitable future for all. At UNICEF Innocenti, our Youth Foresight Fellows are a dedicated global team of foresight practitioners, aged 15-25, who input into UNICEF’s research and foresight agenda, globally and within their countries. In November 2023, our team launched the Youth Foresight Playbook – a guide to meaningful youth engagement in foresight processes. We sat down with Bo Viktor Nylund, Director of UNICEF Innocenti, and Nourhan Badr El-Din, Senior Youth Foresight Fellow, to understand their views on the importance and process of intergenerational collaboration.
Interviewer: Bo Viktor, can you share with us why it's important to include young people in decision-making processes at UNICEF Innocenti?
Bo Viktor: Absolutely. Inputs from children and young people in any decision-making process are vastly underestimated. It would be misguided not to involve them when shaping any policy, legal guidance, or framework that impacts their futures. At UNICEF Innocenti, we’ve made it a priority to integrate child and youth participation in our research, foresight, and convening work, as their active participation can lead to equitable outcomes and stronger evidence.
Interviewer: It seems like a real collaborative effort. Can you tell us more about how you work with UNICEF's Youth Foresight Fellows?
Bo Viktor: Our partnership with the Fellows is fundamental to our mission. We work with young visionaries, aged 15-25 for 10 months to co-create foresight research at the global and national level. The projects led by our fellows create safe, forward-looking, and youth-centered experimentation spaces. They are instrumental in developing UNICEF initiatives that pave the way to an inclusive future.
Ageism hurts all of us and prevents us from reaching the future we want. It dismisses children and young people for not knowing better, and it brushes off older generations for being outdated and backwards!
Interviewer: Nourhan, as a Senior Fellow, what is your role in the fellowship?
Nourhan: As a Youth Foresight Fellow Alumni, and as a Senior Fellow who is supporting the new cohort of fellows, my job is to ensure that young people are prepared, present and heard in decision-making spaces. I also get to advocate for issues that I care about. I’m from Egypt. There are very few Arab futurists – who are also young people – in the foresight field. As a young Arab foresight practitioner, I have the pleasure of promoting the value of youth foresight across the Arab world. At the Dubai Future Forum 2023, I spoke on a panel entitled “Strategic Foresight and Intergenerational Fairness.”
There, I shared my professional foresight experiences at the national level and global level, my lessons learned about the importance of creating inclusive spaces for young people, and the various challenges that young people face in the foresight field.
What I love the most about my role here is the mentorship aspect. I am able to help other young leaders flourish and be true partners in UNICEF research and strategy processes.
Interviewer: Bo Viktor, what tangible outcomes have you seen from this close collaboration with young people?
Bo Viktor: One of the first outcomes of our collaboration was the Youth Foresight Playbook, which was launched on the second day of the 2023 Dubai Future Forum. This tool is a practical guide on how to meaningfully engage young people and facilitate intergenerational dialogue from the very beginning of decision-making processes. Input from people of all generations is critical to understanding what has been done, how we can improve, and where we are going.
I have seen first-hand the indisputable value of young people’s perspectives, and attest to how much stronger UNICEF’s work is when we meaningfully include them.
Interviewer: Nourhan, can you expand on the Youth Foresight Playbook and how young people have contributed to its development?
Nourhan: Sure. The Playbook is a case study-based toolkit inspired by UNICEF’s experience co-designing the fellowship with us. It also documents how we fellows designed and led our own foresight workshops.
After working remotely for a year, we fellows finally came together for the first time to share the Youth Foresight Playbook on stage, live streaming to thousands of people around the world. It was an amazing feeling. To open the launch, we shared our experiences from the past year, challenges in development, foresight, and governance, and the emergence of youth foresight as a key mechanism for change.
As the inaugural cohort, we are co-designers of the fellowship program itself, and our presence at the Dubai Future Forum was just the beginning of promoting our youth foresight work to the world.
Interviewer: What happened in the practical sessions following the Playbook's sharing?
Bo Viktor: These sessions are where ideas turn into action. Eight workshop participants shared project ideas wanting to explore how they could better include young people in the design and decision-making process.
The room was separated into small groups led by our Fellows, including Nourhan. Together, futurists of all ages rolled up their sleeves and used the Playbook to develop practical ways to facilitate communication amongst generations and integrate youth foresight in strategic planning.
Interviewer: Could you share an example of how young people’s ideas are taken seriously in these sessions?
Nourhan: These spaces need to be safe for children, informed by consent and willing participation. One group was co-led by Vrishank, a 12-year-old innovator, and Joshua Steib, a 20-year-old Youth Foresight Fellow Alumni. Vrishank proposed a systematized book re-distribution initiative for children in India, to ensure that knowledge can be shared and accessed no matter the circumstances you were born in. After sharing his ideas with the group, foresight practitioners of all ages collaborated using the Youth Foresight Playbook worksheets to think through the logistics and goals of his project.
After the co-creation session, Vrishank shared that he was able to build skills in collaboration, critical thinking, and communication. He said it had been amazing for his journey, as he was able to share his project with so many people and gain new insights.
As children and young people, it can be rare to find spaces where our ideas are heard and valued.
Interviewer: Bo, how do you perceive the impact of these intergenerational collaborations?
Bo Viktor: During my 25 years of service with UNICEF, I have seen first-hand the indisputable value of young people’s perspectives, and attest to how much stronger UNICEF’s work is when we meaningfully include them. By participating in these research sessions, and witnessing intergenerational collaboration in action, we were able to learn from each other and develop projects that will foster equitable outcomes for generations now and those to come.
Although this Playbook is for everyone, I particularly encourage governments to use this resource. This Playbook, and the critical integration of intergenerational collaboration, can help governments adopt well-informed systems that deal with some of the greatest obstacles. and pervasive challenges that we face as a global community.
UNICEF Innocenti will be continuing our youth engagement efforts in our 2024 Leading Minds Conference, which will be co-led and facilitated with young people. We will explore key challenges to the mitigation of compounding climate crises, recognizing that children and young people are essential leaders in achieving climate action.
Interviewer: Finally, can you share your vision for the future of youth foresight at UNICEF Innocenti?
Bo Viktor: We will continue working together, and demonstrating how we can make a difference through youth foresight so that others can be inspired to create more accessible spaces for young people. In 2024, we have several tremendous opportunities to grow in this direction.
In line with the Summit of the Future, we will co-develop and launch UNICEF’S The Future of Childhood (State of the World’s Children 2024) report. This flagship publication will project what the situation of children will be like in 2050, where young people will be at the center of this exciting process and publication.
Nourhan: Ageism hurts all of us and prevents us from reaching the future we want. It dismisses children and young people for not knowing better, and it brushes off older generations for being outdated and backwards! To achieve equitable outcomes, we need intergenerational collaboration. We have so much to learn from each other.
