A reinterview with Peter Bishop and a chance to meet two of the Teach the Futures Young Voices winners.
Interviewed by: Peter Hayward
Listen to Peter’s other FuturePod interview
Episode 9 - A Life of Teaching the Future
Episode 43 - Foresight in a time of Coronavirus
Episode 68 - Futurepod Conversation with Peter Hayward
More about the Young Voices and Teach the Future
MundoDebates Website https://mundodebates.com
MundoDebates Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mundo_debates/
Amna Habiba https://amnahabiba.bio.link
Janine Nel Director https://www.linkedin.com/in/janine-nel-791aba21/
More on TTF and the YV
If you liked this discussion and would like to continue, please join our online community at https://www.teachthefuture.org/
We are also collecting views of the future from our Young Voices. Those 25 and under may share their ideas about the future in https://www.teachthefuture.org/futures-times-newspaper The results will be aggregated, analyzed and reported over time.
https://www.teachthefuture.org/post/follow-live-world-futures-day-young-voices-2022
Providing young voices with a platform to connect, learn, and grow. Join the Teach the Future Discord server for all interested in learning about future thinking and how young people can bring change in the world. Join the server today: https://discord.gg/KhkDP95fPQ
Audio Transcript
Peter Hayward: Hello and welcome to Futurepod I'm Peter Hayward. Futurepod gathers voices from the international field of Futures and Foresight. Through a series of interviews, the founders of the field and the emerging leaders share their stories, tools, and experiences. Please visit futurepod.org for further information about this podcast series. As it's almost three years, since we launched Futurepod, we thought it would be interesting to check in with our previous guests and see how their work and thinking may have changed since we last spoke to them.
So we created a futurepod series called the re interviews. Today we are re interviewing Peter Bishop. We first met Peter in podcast nine, A Life of Teaching the Future. And then we had Peter in podcast 43 as part of the coronavirus series. And then finally in 68, where Peter, I had a conversation about preferable futures for the United States of America, with the upcoming election.
Of course Peter's biggest passion is to Teach the Future, which he started in 2014. And today's reinterview is a bit different because we're going to talk about Teach the Future, and also meet some of their Young Voices. Welcome back to futurepod Peter.
Peter Bishop: Oh, it's always great to be with you too Peter.
Peter Hayward: So Teach the Future and Young Voices. Do you want to maybe just talk a little bit briefly about that?
Peter Bishop: It's my pleasure to introduce these fine young women that you're going to be talking to .The Teach the Future for those who may be living under a rock in the futures world. I don't think I've touched everybody yet. Is a global movement to bring future thinking to young people throughout the world in school and out of school. However, that can be. Obviously we believe that the field is growing, but you, and I know that for the most part, we talk almost primarily to adults. And so we need to include young people in this conversation. So that they also have an opportunity to to talk about the future and to understand it as well, not just to be schooled in it, but to actually participate in the future's conversation. It's our pleasure and our pleasure last summer to partner with the School of International Futures, which began in the UK, more or less as a training program, a retreat for people to go off into futures. And since Katrina Tulley has taken that over, I would say that they're more policy oriented and also more intergenerational than they used to be.
They're very dedicated to, in fact, they even have a commission in the UK on intergenerational policies and how policies affect generations. They approached us last year. To partner with them on something called the Next Generation Foresight Practitioners, which was a competition, literally to identify young people, and in the first version of that, was 35 years or under. And I was a judge in that and have been a judge for them. And they identified a number of people, young people who were doing wonderful foresight things, a lot more action-oriented than just foresight professionals, but really a terrific group.
So they're basically identifying people all over the world doing that. After two years they created a second competitive category, which were called Walkabouts. I guess you got to be British to know what, why they called them Walkabouts but those were young people in the 18 to 25 year category.
And last year they approached Teach the Future and said, we'd like to do the very youngest, foresight practitioners. And they asked us to partner with them and indeed manage the competition for the 12 to 17 year olds. Basically secondary school, middle school, high school students. We ran that competition over the summer. They had to be identifying a sustainable development goal that they were working on or wanted it to work on. So we're really trying to maintain what a Cat and the rest of the people at the School mentions in terms of Intergenerational Dialogue. Let's have generations talking to each other, not just young people expressing themselves, which is wonderful, but also talking across generations so that we can get a fuller view of how things go. I I believe that you're going to get a great interview from these are just two fine, absolutely fine, young women. And I think you'll have a great time and I will come back at the end to to conclude the conversation.
Peter Hayward: Thanks Pete.
Peter Hayward: Welcome back into futurepod now, a couple of new guests, Lisa Giuliani, and Janine Nel from Teach the Future. Welcome to futurepod
Janine Nel: Thanks Peter
Lisa Guiliani: Hi Peter. Thank you.
Peter Hayward: The Hub and the Young Voices program. What you want to tell the listeners about that?
Janine Nel: Peter I started the South African hub with a colleague Zanne Horrell in 2019. After many discussions with Peter and the hub really is a country specific organization also a nonprofit that takes futures thinking to students and to high school learners predominantly, or I think what the quote in the U S secondary schools. And so it's a highly condensed version of future studies programs , and it's really just to give youngsters a glimpse into, how change happens in the world. Change that comes at us .Change that we can create ourselves. How we can influence that? How we have agency? How we understand impacts? Understand how change happens and how we can look out for it.
So we started the South African hub and we got quite a bit of traction and then literally less a year later after training several facilitators in country, COVID hit and everything shut down. So it was absolutely heartbreaking to a certain extent. And we dabbled with some online training. But at the moment, we are quite happy with progress in that we've done several high school courses, we've done university students.
And we are fortunate in the material is of such a nature that it can be adapted. So we also have dedicated programs for accounting students and honors accounting students that go on to be CAs. When we talk about ethical leadership of the future and what does that mean and how do they make those crucial decisions in their careers that brings about the required governance and compliance and how important that work is and how important it is to make the correct decisions.
So we're very fortunate in South Africa, that we are able to be at the place we are right now. Foresight is still not a really very well known thing. Although we, as a country, you have quite a bit of a history with scenario development, especially with the political dispensation and the the transition into democracy in 1994. But other than that, it's very much we're a little bit behind the rest of the world where they are very much aware of the benefits and where futures also influence policy regulations and things like that. But it's, the program is adaptable and we were adapting it all the time.
Even for younger kids, nine to 13, et cetera. They are, by the way, also, the more interesting groups to work with their imagination is still quite unbounded. And they come up with fantastical futures where the high school learners I found out the 13 to 18 year olds, you have to give them permission to be creative because they've been forced into these narrow little thinking models. So it's sometimes they forget that they have agency and that they actually have an influence on what happens in life, in their world because they can make a difference. And that's exactly where the Young Voices competition came from is that we realized that there were so many young people already so dedicated to their communities and the environment that they were already doing incredible things that adults haven't been doing and haven't realized that they could do, but the youngsters were doing it
Peter Hayward: they're not waiting for us.
Janine Nel: And that's, I think that's probably a hallmark of this younger generation the Zs and the Alphas that will be coming up is that they are so aware of what's happening in their communities and the challenges and they're just getting involved. And we wanted to, first of all, acknowledge that and to say we have these wonderful examples and how do we inspire the rest of the young people around them.
Peter Hayward: So is this the first year of Young Voices?
Janine Nel: Yes, it's the first time we were approached by SOIF and they said we've got these competitions, but how about we expand them to a younger audience? And we said, absolutely. So the competition was for the 12 to 17 year olds. It was the first one, but we will do this now with SOIF on an annual basis. And let me tell you, just because they were 12 to 17 year olds, and it wasn't just send your entry in your project and then you go, and it was quite a vigorous process because they had to make they had to write an essay about the project of a certain number of words. And then they had to submit a video of a few minutes explaining the impact and what the project was about.
And after all of that was received, but of course, Complications in that you need parental permissions, et cetera, because they are under 18. So it was a little bit more cumbersome accepting the applications. Then we had futurists from around the world, literally who were judges and every judge evaluated four applications. And they scored them on a predetermined rubric and the evaluation sheet, and then of course, complicated calculations. And that's how we identified the winners. So it was quite vigorous. It wasn't just a question of, we'll give you a break because you might only be 13 or 14 .
Peter Hayward: Yeah. And it wasn't necessarily, they had to have a good idea. They actually had to implement their idea or be in the process of actually doing the thing that I wish to do.
Janine Nel: I think I topped in but all have projects that have already started. They're already implementing and it's already had impact. And that's the wonderful thing and that's where youngsters we find, especially in our workshops, we sometimes they come up and they say, oh, maybe one day when I'm older and I'm going to have a lot of money, I can make a difference. Cause it's only the people like Elon Musk's who can make a difference. And you have to take them back to the realization that one single act can have an impact positive on someone else's life. And you almost have to remind them that you are never too young. Never have too little money. Anyone anyway can make a difference.
Peter Hayward: So Lisa, Teach the Future had a number of winners of Young Voices. Didn't they?
Lisa Guiliani: Yes, we had over 130 entrants. And then from there we had about 26 qualified complete applications. And then from there, the number of continues to deduct. And then we ended up with did I mention 26? Yes. And then we ended up with the top 10.
Peter Hayward: And what did the actual winners receive?
Lisa Guiliani: Yes, there was a cash prize or an award for first place and then a cash prize award for first place. Then there was a smaller cash prize award for the three runner-ups and the rest of the youth were recognized.
Peter Hayward: Okay. So we have with us a couple of your winners. So do you want to maybe just introduce who the people that the listeners are going to hear from?
Lisa Guiliani: Yes. And actually I'll start with Amna. She is the founder of Global Creative Hub. She is an international speaker with more than 50,000 views. STEM enthusiast and an advocate for girls education and digital literacy. Amna's also the recipient of Young Achiever award and runner up for the Young Voices award, which is what we're speaking about today. She was featured in the UN and Malala Fund, spoken at World Bank, UNESCO, IFC, and she's passionate about the UN SDGs.
Peter Hayward: Great. The other person we're going to hear from?
Lisa Guiliani: And our other youth is Alice. She is passionate about education, music, theater, and debate. She actively participates in innovative educational projects and activism. Both her and a colleague founded international debate championship Mundo, and it's an online debate championship for youth focusing on solutions to contemporary and global challenges.
Peter Hayward: Wow. Thanks Lisa. So welcome to Futurepod Amna.
Amna Habiba: Thank you for the amazing introduction Lisa and for having me at the futurepod.
Peter Hayward: So Amna, one of the questions we ask at futurepod is for people to tell their story of how they got to where they are right now. So what's the Amna Habiba story?
Amna Habiba: Yeah. So my story actually starts from when I was really young. So I'm still young, but at an age around, I would say five or six. When my mom, she used to take me with her to, wherever she used to study or any conferences she used to attend. Or while she was working voluntarily and I would be going with her, looking at how, she'd be giving back to her community, giving back her time or efforts.
And that really spiked this interest of a working for my community and voluntarily giving back to my community. Going forward the digital world really opened up a whole new world for me. So getting access to online learning, which would have been impossible for me to do so in the offline world. So my first experience with digital learning was where I got to learn about coding and different concepts, really. But that was like totally free. At that time, we did not have that digital revolution here in my country. So this was in 2016, fast forward to the pandemic, which was, like a turning point in my life. And this was the point where I just was able to understand and see the world of digital learning and how many opportunities I could gain by connecting to the online world.
And as a girl in my community, it's meant that you cannot go into fields like STEM mainly technology, because these fields that are often considered only for boys and as a girl, the only two options available are to become a teacher or a doctor if you are fluent enough. So we have so many different stereotypes that surround these mindsets, around girls that, you should get married early and not continue even basic education, but even such basic things are not available. And these opportunities are not there for young girls in than my community. This online learning reading was like so amazing and so inspirational for me because I was able to gain the skills, which would have been impossible for me to gain as a girl in my community, in the offline world.
Skills from Program Management, Organizing, learning about coding and different fields and different topics. So that led me to compete around 80 online courses. Accumulating lots of online learning based on financial aid scholarships, of course, to these courses. But they really helped me to gain the knowledge that would later on, I used to launch my own initiative, which goes by the name of Global Creative Hub and the main reason why I have launched this initiative is mainly because of the reason that girls don't have access to equal opportunities. And what Global Creative have done is that we're basically a social development initiative working towards building the next generation of female changemakers in Pakistan. So we do this by changing the narrative and supporting girls to break stereotypes and continue their journey in education, digital transformation.
I came across the NGFP of Young Voices awards, and I was really passionate about the topic that these awards were about. So supporting and empowering young people into thinking about their own future. Then the main concept of Global Creative Hub really surrounds around building sustainablity and giving girls an option to create their own independent future. So when I applied for the award, this was my main you could say motive and the main reason why I applied and become a runner up for the award.
Peter Hayward: Obviously, you're a very independent young woman, but do you have support for what you are doing?
Amna Habiba: Yes. So I would say my mom is my biggest role model and my support, so I wouldn't have been able to explore the digital world if it hadn't been for her. And it's like really important to support, but it's very important for those around you, especially your parents to support you when you're, learning new things and doing things that are unconventional.
So as compared to other girls who are not using and not doing such courses, my mom supported me in such a way that I have been able to launch this initiative and, organize so many training events from hackathons to one-on-one mentorship programs and training programs and all of this stuff. All possible because my mom believed in me and she believed that I have the power to bring change in my community.
Peter Hayward: Fantastic. Now I'm part of a community that taught and learned and practiced as what we call futurist or foresight practitioners. And I would have imagined that you have now been introduced to some of the people who kind of work in this space. What do you think of the futures and foresight discipline and community?
Amna Habiba: I think it's really amazing. So after receiving the award, I've been invited by lots of different program that sort of different speaking opportunities where I go and share why it's important for young voices to be included in future thinking. Just like this podcast that we are doing right here. And I believe that this community is like really supportive and will, it's really stemming up on this new term but just new for me, which is futures literacy. And the future that I envision is a world where we'll be, talking and conversing and taking action more about securing our future. Even the UN SDG, which I'm passionate about, they're all to build a better future for our upcoming generation. So I really believe that the future literacy community and the foresight practitioners are really doing an amazing job and we should, keep on continuing
Peter Hayward: You might've heard Janine in her introduction and talked about her observation that this is these younger generations we have with us now and the generations that are coming after you are not prepared to wait for change, but actually want to drive and create change. What do you want to say to that?
Amna Habiba: Yes. I totally believe in that statement because the digital world has really connected us in so many ways that we're aware of what's happening all over the world from, raising our voices for issues like climate change, for issues like getting access to equal education for girls and so many different issues that are going on. And so many young people who are advocating and bringing change by campaigning in their respective communities. So I believe that, when we are together and when the voices of young people are heard, we can bring radical change.
Peter Hayward: For the listeners. Can they actually reach out to you through your website if they're interested in actually, what you are doing and supporting it or modeling it?
Amna Habiba: I have a link which will lead you to all of the work that I'm doing. It's amnahabiba.bio.link so feel free to go visit. I'm really active on LinkedIn and I use my platform to advocate for what really matters to me. So yeah, definitely. I love to connect with all of the listeners who are listening to our podcast today.
Peter Hayward: Fantastic. I might invite Janine and Lisa back in. What do you want to tell the listeners about Amna and her project?
Janine Nel: I think, I just want to say that I feel quite in awe of what you're doing and I think it is absolutely incredible. And I think you've said something which touches me as well, is that you said your mom was your biggest supporter and role model. And I think for most of us and myself included, mum's are just those people who just seem to push us to all sorts of levels. When they believe in us and they sometimes believe in us, we don't even believe in ourselves. And I think Amna it's the same for many of us women around the world. And those were the first role models we have and had, and still have, and, I want to ask you a question though. You've done this and I know the in Pakistan, the gender equality is probably a much larger issue than in many other countries in the world. Although we see it in South Africa quite a lot as well. We also for instance, have an incredible incidents of gender based violence, et cetera, where, women and girls are meant to supposedly know their place. And often initiatives come up against resistance. So I wanted to know from you, how has your project and your initiatives, how are they received in Pakistan? Do you find any community resistance or do you find more support considering that you are obviously doing this? I would assume predominantly for girls?
Amna Habiba: Yeah, so really good question. Our initiatives are, my initiative is focused mainly for girls, but what's really good about it is that we're empowering them to be more confident and to, just pursue a new field. And I really agree with the point that there is some resistance because we can't just go on and change the mindset of everyone in just a single day. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of impact to bring change in the thinking of people. So for that matter, we've created safeguarding policies for our girls. Having things like consent forms, media release forms, and just keeping a safe environment. So all of our events are 100% female. So from the organizers to the mentors, the speakers, then even the girls and even the tech team that is behind. By keeping such an environment, actually giving them the confidence that you're in a safe space and whatever you are sharing or here stays in this safe space.
And one more issue that I've sometimes faced is that of, my age. So I'm not 18 yet. I'm just exceed 16 today. And some of our programs have participants who are above my age. And what happens is that when they don't know what my age is. And, we're just communicating and just giving out instructions and all, they believe that I'm someone who's really old maybe.
And I had that overall because they don't know my age yet, but when they do know my age, so let's say a speaker comes in and says that Amna really good work you're doing at this age. And they're like, oh, so she's this age. Yeah. Sometimes in start, I saw a really big drop of, attendance from our programs when my age was revealed earlier on. So what we've done in to, mitigate this is we don't, I don't announce my age until at the end of the program and I don't do it myself. Then and a speaker congratulates, I usually tell them to not, and if it's like the end of the day of the program, then it's okay. So yeah, this is an issue that we have because people here believe that you can only learn from someone who is older than you.
So let's say who's doing their PhD or masters, but not someone who has the same age as you or someone who is even, smaller than you or younger than you. So these two issues are really something that we're trying to take care and we can go forward. It's really important to raise more awareness and say that, despite not having a degree I am still able to take part and impact these girls. So just helping them to believe in themselves as well, because when they are not believing that I can do this, then they're even considering the same thing for themselves. So one of their main competency is empowering them and giving them the confidence so this is like one of the ways that we help them to, just gain those skills.
Peter Hayward: Awesome. It's a fantastic initiative. So congratulations to both Lisa and Janine for getting this off the ground and Amna, it's been an absolute privilege to hear from you. I'm very excited. And thank you for taking some time out to talk to the future pod community, and I'll look forward to catching up with you in the future. When you can tell us about more marvelous things you've done.
Amna Habiba: Thank you so much. It really means a lot.
Janine Nel: Oh, well done Amna again really well done.
Lisa Guiliani: Peter, let me just jump in here and say how humbled I am to be working with Amna, to be learning from Amna and all of the project that she's involved with. From the moment I met Amna, her heart has always been giving back to her community and very much working hand in hand with her mother, and that, I think that is the sweetest thing. And when Amna joined Teach the Future Young Voices network she became a leader. She is one of our ambassadors, our student leaders. Yeah, we're very lucky to have her,
Peter Hayward: She's a gift and a congratulations.
Amna Habiba: Thank you.
Peter Hayward: Welcome to Futurepod Alice
Alice Machado: Yes Hello .Thank you for having me here today.
Peter Hayward: It's very exciting for me Alice. So what is the Alice Machado story? How did you finish up where you are? In other words, how did you finish up becoming a Young Voice in the Teach the Future program?
Alice Machado: Yes. Since I was very little, I had a lot of interest in education, especially in a different and innovative spectrum of it. I never really identified with the school system. And that really bothered me for a long time. And since I was little, I was very uncomfortable because of that and wanted to do something, but I never really knew what it was. And I just complained . I think that the time passed and I was being more and more sad about it and not really fulfilling it.
And I wanted to change that. So I started to go online mostly and see what I could do about it. And I found an organization that really took me in and showed me a lot of things about innovative education. And that's basically how I started with education activism and activities to, to put myself out of the system, and that allowed me to see that were some things that didn't really need to be the way they were. And we can do some things to change that. So that's how I think I opened the door to that kind of place, where we are discussing, where we are imagining how things could be, and we are also fighting for it.
And then inside that organization, I got to know Ruhan, which is a friend of mine and we had the opportunity of creating a project together that aligned to our desires to change the scenario we'll live in, and to change a little bit to reality surrounding education. And that's basically how I entered the world of projects, of activism a little bit more, and especially knowing and getting to know all of those people who were also doing similar projects and were striving to change education through innovation.
So then I got the opportunity of doing that by myself. And that was really exciting, at first, and very much, , an open door, like I said, to a whole new world of things that could be done. And that's how I started with the project with Mundo that have been awarded with the Teach the Future prize.
Peter Hayward: So I was going to say, do you want to explain a bit about what the project it's not just the project it's actually happening. Isn't it? It's actually gone from the idea to something that actually has.
Alice Machado: So we got together and we decided that we wanted to do something that really interested us both. I have a lot of interests, so that was really hard at the beginning for us to what it matched, where we wanted to really do something, because there's just so many things and education is such a broad spectrum. So we, then we kept on talking and realized that, something that we both had in common was the passion for debate.
And debate is also a place where you can tackle all of these other interests you have, because it's pretty much an open discussion that you can have. And we decided that we wanted to do that. But not the thing that we are used to. Because we know that a lot of schools around the world and a lot of people already do practice debate, but we wanted to also put the little thing of innovation on it and wanted to bring a twist to the act of debating.. So in Mundo, we create that space for young people to debate and to discuss the SDGs, which are the Sustainable Development Goals. Choosen by the UN and a thing that we really like about it, it's that we are not debating locally, but we are debating it globally with young people from all over the world.
So that's where we really get some different points of view going on and we can get all of these different minds and different voices as well to get together and make new friends from other parts of the world to discover new things they didn't know about. And one thing that we love about it and that we wanted to really make happen was not only debate this things the subjects that we are used to, but try to see it with a different eye. I'd say look at it as a problem that can be solved and that we are not only debating and going over it and seeing what laws already are there or seeing what measures are already being taken. But we can look at it as like how us young people can go up to it and can do something about it too.
So we are not only discussing this with a global community. We are trying to solve it with a global community. And then put some things into action, even if at a small level, we know we're not going to immediately be tackling the problem, go globally and solve everything, but we are already have taught you to see in our small reality or with a small thing we can do where we can post online, or we can just create from it. We are already helping and moving one step closer to where we believe is the place we should go as a society. Even though there is not only one direction. So you're also discussing those that are actions and then seeing how we can move on together.
Peter Hayward: Can you maybe just to to explain this a bit more, maybe can you pick a very exciting and challenging aspect of, the global sustainability objectives that you debated just recently just to give people an idea of, how challenging some of these questions are?
Alice Machado: Yes, we have the debated mental health the stigmatization of it. We have also debated Capitalism and the UBI, so the Universal Basic Income. Also the healthcare system being free and easily available to all citizens. There is also this from the last year we did Mundo 20 21. We also debated Period Leave for women being a necessity. So there, there is a wide variety. And one time we debated education and public schools and private schools as well.
And our most recent project was giving school supplies to a school in India. So we got together and organized with two participants who were close in India and they decided that we wanted to do the project in their locality. So we got together and got some donations and where we were able to do also with the money we won from the prize of Teach the Future, we can do this project to close last year's championship. Which was really nice too, to be able to award back to the community which these two participants came from and were excited to do the project about.
Peter Hayward: They're very meaty questions you've been debating. I'm interested who've been the people that have most inspired and supported you to think this way into and to act this way?
Alice Machado: Yes. So I'd say personally it was my family, since I was very little, they had this the same ideas of freedom, especially and independence. So I was always inspired to think outside the box and to try to see things with a different eye. Not only I'm putting my head down and just following what everyone was following. So I'd say that for me, this was very important to know even when I was little, that not everything that we hear in school is true. And it isn't always the adults that know everything. They pretty much know a lot of important things and we should definitely hear and have that exchange with them. It's really important, but we are also part of the conversation. So we young people, we also deserve to have a seat at the table and to be able to express our thoughts and feelings and hear them back it's a two-way street. And that, I think that was really what made me think this way.
And then for the project, I'd say several adults as well. And in several young people inspired us. I can say for me Ruhan because that's the thing about when you realize that you have a seat at the table and you can talk to all of these people and you were part of it, you were part of the change in education and everything.
You get to know some really amazing people that are very welcoming of you and want to have this conversations and one to offer some support. So we met a lot of amazing adults along the way. That we're really excited about the project and really wanting to help. And some of them are also on the TTF, which is really amazing because they support us and they are, they're offering us as well, a seat at the table, which is really important.
Peter Hayward: Futurepod is a very modest podcast. It's listened to in quite a few countries by certainly, many hundreds of people. You've had a chance through Teach the Future to learn about this thing, that is the futures and foresight community, these practitioners and activists and researchers who work in this space of imagining and actively trying to create preferred futures for all of us. Have you got any sort of message or thing you'd like to say to the futures community, to the people who are listening to you about what futures matter to you?
Alice Machado: I think it matters a lot to everyone and it should also because we get a chance to be more prepared and we also get a chance to imagine, and to develop creativity in so many other things, which are very much important. But one thing that I would really like to say is that the debate is a great ally in that the decision of creating scenarios of studying the future. It is something that we've been trying to get together and create an easier bond with it. But it is something that's pretty much already there.
And it's a new road that we can discover together. And I would like only to invite you to think about that as well, and to see how this is structured, that it's been already used several times can be rediscovered and also be put into that scenario of imagining new scenarios and foresight and everything. But I think it's something that young people should have more contact. It's something that I recently heard about. I haven't known it for a long time, but it gets more interesting every time. And when I learn more about it, I get more interested. Then I can see how valuable it is and how we could have this context when we were younger, because it makes a lot of sense.
Peter Hayward: Okay. If anyone listening wants to know more or reach out to you is that something that you would encourage?
Alice Machado: Of course, we have a website which is called Mundodebates.com There you can learn more about our project and see what's happening currently. And for me, I'm always open to talking more with the debate community but it would be more interesting to get in contact with the team because we all work together and you can see that on the website and sending emails to us, which is also there on the website, all of the details. You can also look at our Instagram, which is at Mundo_debates on Instagram. There, you can see some pictures of the projects I've been talking about, and also the current team things we are debating or what is happening in our community and get in contact with all of the amazing young people who are together with us, debating or organizing.
Peter Hayward: It's been fantastic. I'd like to congratulate you for your win in the Young Voices. I can see why you were successful. And your project sounds fantastic. And I love the fact that you are encouraging young people and people my age, even to debate and discuss and create the futures that we want.
Alice Machado: I'm really happy to hear that. And thank you for inviting me to come today and have this little talk with you. It has been really nice.
Lisa Guiliani: Yes. Thank you so much Alice. It's always nice hearing from the youth and learning what they're up to and how really starting pioneering their own projects. How much experience and exposure and meeting new people and network opportunities and everything that comes from this. And so it was just really nice to speak with Alice and her Muno debate team to learn what they did with the NGFP award money. They used the money and they donated educational resources for the youth in India. And they did some workshops on debate while they were there. And what I really appreciate about Teach the Future is it, as Alice mentioned, it allows youth, a seat at the table. A seat at the table after all it is their own future.
I will say that we just wrapped up World Future's Day. Which is one of the largest events that Teach the Future has partnered and hosted. This took place on March 1st, 2022. We had global coverage coverage all the way from Japan, Tokyo starting at noon, all the way to Honolulu Hawaii ending at around 1:00 PM. And Mundo debates did participate in this event. And we thank Alice and her team for their continuous support and partnership and for the many opportunities, the limitless possibilities that lie ahead. Thank you. Thank you again, Peter, for having us and allowing us to share our journey.
Peter Hayward:
Pedro sideways. We're at the end of the interview. We've heard from we've heard from your two marvelous winners and we've heard from Janine and Lisa so how do you want to wrap up this first New Voices podcast?
Peter Bishop: Well, Peter, it's a pleasure to be with you. And now, you know, why it's a pleasure to work in Teach the Future. Working with young people like, Amna and Alice, working with the volunteers and staff like Janine and Lisa, it really gives life tremendous meaning. You know, we both have our roots in the university and we've also had the privilege of working with wonderful faculty members and wonderful students. But this is truly a one great opportunity to get to know the younger people in our world and how they are going to start dealing with the future right away, in fact, they're dealing with them right now. I listened to the podcast and it was terrific in that it was first of all, very inspiring. I was struck by the fact that Amna and Alice both started their journeys at such an early age with the help and the support and the encouragement of their parents.
I think that's a wonderful statement. And these days when we fret and we wonder about who's raising our kids and how they're growing up and things like that. In fact, I even know, Amna's mother who was, on her session at World Future Day. And we we've talked, she's actually a teacher of pre-service teachers, and I hope someday to be working with her to bring some futures thinking to their university in Karachi.
And the other thing that struck me is that we have a lot of discouragement, anxiety and despair in our world today. And there's good reason to be. So we know that the challenges are great and the movement towards solving those challenges is slow. And yet these two women are taking it upon themselves to do what they can either as individuals or in small group. And it's a heartening to see young people say, well, okay, there are big problems, but I have agency. I can use my time and my talent to make a difference in the world. And our job as adults is to continue to encourage that, to find those people as we do and teach the future.
And so, that's a great interview and I want to thank you for the opportunity to share this. There are two ways that people can follow up on this. If you are a young voice, we're now talking about 12 to 25 year olds, Amna and Lisa are starting a channel on Discord, which is a social media app, very much like Slack, and we're having some meetings later this afternoon and then tomorrow. But if you would like to join the community, the Young Voices Network, please do that. I'll ask Peter to put that in the show notes. And anyone of any age as old as we are can join our community at www.teachthefuture.org.
It's great to be part of your session, Peter. And it's great to be part of Teach the Future and the futures community as we both have been for so long. We're building something new or building something important. And I'm delighted to have these young people to join us and help it because in fact, it's their future more than it is ours as we probably notice every single day.
Peter Hayward: Yeah, look, it's been great for me Peter. The thing that struck me listening to the two of them, and this was again, plaudits to you, but also acknowledging people that I think like yourself and Kat have actually spotted it is that these generational conversations are not altruistic in the sense of us being charitable is this is actually, how will we ourselves learn to think better about the future? Because these generational conversations are unique learning opportunities for people like you and I, and our field to really understand what's going on in the world, better in a more deep fashion.
Peter Bishop: I think that's one of the things that we as foresight professionals realize with the general public doesn't. And a lot of people think that knowing about the future and acting on the future, you have to wait for 10 or 20 years for it to come about. No, the effect is immediate. It's about learning about change. And about understanding how the world works as it relates to the future, but also in the present. And as you said, these young people are giving us a view of the present even, and their future, which we don't have, can not have, because we're not their age. We didn't wake up in the world at their time.
So it is a pleasure to have these intergenerational conversations. I don't know if Lisa told you, but we made a point to recruit two moderators for each of our World Future Day sessions. One was a young person under 26 and another was an older person over 25. We wanted them both to be involved and I think it, it resulted in a little bit more voice, still adults tend to dominate the conversation, we have to own our own generation. But there was more concentration on the young voices and their issues and their perspective on the future than I think I've almost ever heard. Particularly in a conversation where adults were involved. So it was a great pleasure and, we're all about trying to bring the intergenerational aspect to Teach the Future together.
Peter Hayward: Yep. Thanks, Peter. Great always to catch up and, all strength to teach the future in the future.
Peter Bishop: Great, Peter, thank you very much.
Peter Hayward: This has been another production from Futurepod. Futurepod is a not-for-profit venture. We exist through the generosity of our supporters. If you would like to support Futurepod, go to the Patreon link on our website (www.Futurepod.org). Thank you for listening. Remember to follow us on Instagram and Facebook. This has been Peter Hayward saying goodbye for now.