World Futures Day 2021

World Future Day is held every year on March 1st to spark a global conversation on the future. We want to make sure young people are also part of the conversation. In the end, it is their future we are all talking about. Teach the Future & Millennium Project, together with partners and friends, therefore initiated the young edition in 2021. Live events on Zoom were hosted around the world with young people. They brought in sparking ideas, interesting perspectives and had great conversations addressing hope and bringing in energy for beautiful futures. Read on for a recap of the Young Voices sessions and get insight into future visions of young people across the world. 👇🏼 YOUNG VOICES BRASIL This session hosted by Teach the Future Hub Brasil focused on the future of education from the perspectives of four young people concentrating their efforts on technology, science, mathematics, and entrepreneurship. The teens discussed the past, present and future of education. The event was also watched by students, as part of their teaching, live in the classroom. The event was guided by three core questions:

• What is happening today in education?

• What do you think may happen in the next ten years?

• What do you want to happen and what are you already doing to make that future happen?

Here are some quotes from the young Brasilians::

"Today, one of the main problems is the lack of connection in the classroom between the teacher and the student." ~ Micaele 17 yr old

"The educator also got tired of this current system." ~ Guilherme 17 yr old

The participants were listening with a lot of attention to the young voices and enjoyed hearing the feelings and thoughts of the next generation.

Guys, I fell in love with these masterful students. They filled my heart with hope for a more humane and incredible future! ~ Desiree (Audience Member)

YOUNG VOICES EUROPE We enjoyed an insightful discussion on World Futures Day Young Voices in Europe, with youngsters from the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Germany and Romania, aged 11 to 24. The session was hosted by Teach the Future Hubs Belgium, Netherlands and Spain. You can watch the full session on Youtube:

During the session, we learned about the Dutch project “KinderTrendrede” and the different demands of young people for the future of cities. For example the desire to integrate more nature in the city, start a no-more-bully group and to include more young voices in the decision-making process, collaborating and working together.

“I think that the future can be happy but it can be really bad if we don’t treat it right so we must make it right. [Adults] need our help because it's our future.” ~ Arlynn 12 yr old

We also heard young voices from Seville, from the San Francisco de Paula school, where they are currently follow future classes. They shared interesting thoughts about new innovative technologies applied to their city, like flying taxis that are already being tested in Spain and other countries.

“We need to understand what is going to happen in the future. I imagine flying cars in the future, helping with better mobilization and transportation.” ~ Nicolás 11 yr old

The bachelor students from VIVES University of Applied Sciences in Belgium shared their website project www.unforeseeable.org which has the objective to be a tool for young people to learn and reflect about the future. The conversations of Young European Voices made quite an impressions on the adult audience members:

World Future day shed the light on the importance of empowering young people who will definitely build a better world, by allowing them to think critically and creatively about the future. ~ Rim Jalloul, ISESCO (Audience Member)

YOUNG VOICES MEXICO What a delightful conversation listening to Latin American children imagining their future in the year 2030. The Mexican Teach the Future hub gathered youth ranging from 6 - 25 years old and they broadcasted all the way from Mexico to Columbia and Peru! We were able to appreciate interesting points of views on topics such as climate change, economic entrepreneurship and social inclusion.

"All of us build the future; children, young people, adults you and me!” ~ Andres 13yr old

The takeaway advice given by the youth is that they all care about the future and their relationships with others, in turn it is everyone's duty to take care of the environment we share and live in.

“All of us children come into the world to make a change on the planet." ~ Miranda 6yr old

The participants expressed ideas on how to achieve positive changes in the future. Something that could stimulate the development of activities like this would be the realization of creative visualization workshops as well as divergent thinking.

“These conversations are illuminating, the most important thing I am hearing the youth panel speak of is about quality education, to incorporate future thinking into our schools at an early age and it must reach everyone!” ~ A student’s mother (Audience Member)

YOUNG VOICES USA This session hosted by Teach the Future Hub USA and Future Problem Solving Program International involved young people from the Eastern and Central time zones of the U.S. and Canada. Each student brought in their topic of the future, how they think they can help shape this future themselves and which influential person could help them.

“Pave the way for a new generation of citizen scientists.” ~ Kate 17 yr old

Topics ranged from education, health, hunger, the environment, governance, and technology, all revolving around the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The young panelists wrote letters to an influential person of choice with their future requests. If you would like to read the letters of the eleven panelists and their discussions, click here. Here are some quotes from the session:

“We are still experiencing the backlash of virtual learning unpreparedness.” ~ Miranda 14 yr old

“Empathy itself is really just knowledge with a little imagination.” ~ Anmar 15 yr old

“This was the first formal introduction I’ve ever had into how I can become a positive spokesperson for a better future.” ~ Edward (Audience Member)

YOUNG VOICES 2022 Let’s imagine the future together and talk about different ideas from different locations with young minds from all over the world. We are designing a full program for World Future Day Young Voices 2022. Are you interested to participate in the next edition, feel free to reach out.