Strategic foresight is a structured, systematic way of using ideas about the future to anticipate and better prepare for change. It is about exploring different plausible futures that could arise, and the opportunities and challenges they could present, which will guide us to use those ideas to make better decisions and act now. The Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) has conducted a series of strategic foresight- and scenario-based planning training sessions for various national public agencies over the past few years. Seeing it as a key driver of long-term productivity, the DAP is helping public agencies to move from traditional planning to prospective analysis to promote good governance, innovation, and strategic evaluation.

To support the DAP in this effort, the APO Secretariat facilitated digital in-country expert services to assist Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) working groups in the Philippines to use foresight and scenario-based planning, 21 and 25–30 April. The core of the project involved developing scenarios for how a transition to full devolution might look. It included an overview of strategic foresight and elaboration of the different steps in the scenario planning process such as framing challenges, determining driving forces, defining building blocks, formulating scenario frameworks, deepening scenarios, identifying options and implications, analyzing indicators and signposts, and communicating scenarios.

The project was conducted using a hybrid modality for onsite participants in Tagaytay and observers on Zoom. A total of 41 participants from the DILG attended the seven-day course, with an expert from the USA who gave presentations and led group work and discussions.