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What if children and young people could participate in discussions about the future and share their views on the futures they want? What if minorities could get themselves heard in regional foresight work? What if future generations had a representative at the decision-making table?
It does make a difference who determine the possible and desirable futures or exercise power over the future. Our perceptions of the future shape the decisions we make today, which is why it matters how we view the future.
The more diverse the group of people who can participate in discussions about the future, the better our chances are to build futures that are as good as possible for as many people as possible. Expanding power over the future can also strengthen people’s belief in a better future and in their own influence, thus creating the conditions for a stronger democracy.
Sitra will launch a call for funding (in Finnish, summary in English) applications for projects that strengthen participation in foresight related to decision-making and expand power to define futures. With the funding, Sitra aims to strengthen the many voices of the socially significant futures discussions in Finland.
The call for funding applications is preceded by the Power to define futures experiments supported by Sitra in 2024–2025. The experiments have brought power to define futures to the immigrant mothers who are out of working life, children and young people and people living in rural villages. Experiments have shown that it is possible to expand power over the future in very different contexts.
“One of the lessons learned from the experiments is that it is not easy to link the expansion of power over the future to socially significant decision-making. Decision-making practices and patterns of thought are often strongly established. Changing them is complicated, even if you wanted to take better account of different views about the future and create conditions for broader participation. That is why the funding call being launched now, particularly focuses on corridors of power and operating models,” says Terhi Ylikoski, specialist in foresight and training at Sitra and responsible for the funding call.
What types of projects are funded in the call?
Among others, the projects to be funded can develop and implement new operating models promoting the expansion of power over the future, strengthen the participation of marginalised groups in foresight processes linked to decision-making, or scale up good practices expanding power over the future to the operation of a particular actor or group of actors.
“We have not wanted to set too strict preconditions for the projects to be funded. Expanding power over the future can take various forms, and we look forward to seeing in which different contexts and structures the applicants operate,” says Sanna Rekola, specialist in foresight.
The maximum amount of funding awarded is EUR 400,000, divided between 2–5 projects. All organisations interested in expanding power to define futures can apply for the funding.
Applications must be submitted through Sitra’s e-service by Monday 9 June 12:00 at the latest. The e-service form must be completed in Finnish, but the project plan can be completed in English.
Application clinics will be arranged in Teams (in Finnish) for applicants and those interested in applying. The schedule of the clinics will be published in connection with the call announcement on 1 April.