The Futures Literacy Laboratory
A participatory method — adapted from UNESCO's Futures Literacy Laboratory framework — for surfacing assumptions and building the "capacity to aspire" in rural communities.
A compass, not a crystal ball
Futures Literacy (FL) is the ability to imagine multiple futures in order to act with greater awareness in the present. It does not predict — it is generative, helping people question assumptions and explore possibilities beyond their current horizon.
Paired with Arjun Appadurai's concept of the "capacity to aspire" — a navigational skill nurtured through practice — Futures Literacy gives people both a map and the freedom to choose where to travel on it.
Causal Layered Analysis
Click a ring to see how each layer of a community's "future headline" gets unpacked — from the surface story to the deep myths underneath it.
Litany — the surface story
What participants say is happening today: "We have high milk yields but no cheese production." The visible, reported reality.
A two-day journey, four stages
Probable Futures
Groups map the current dairy system, then ask: based on what we know, what will 2050 realistically look like?
Preferred Futures
Unconstrained by current limits: if you had the power and resources, what future would you choose for women in dairy?
Reframed Futures
An unsettling AI-driven scenario — robots running dairy farms — dramatised as a story told to a grandchild, surfacing hidden assumptions.
Backcasting & Vision
Working backward from 2050 in 10- and 5-year steps, groups identify what must shift — then co-create one shared community vision.
Robots, dignity, and a pizza shop
"As robots are feeding the cows, I can rest my back and see my grandchildren more."
— From a dramatised 2050 scenario, Kinangop group
A women-led goat-milk venture, backed by AI-driven health analysis and a capacity-building programme for new technology adoption.
— Preferred futures group, Ol Kalou
Better milk quality and quantity opens a new business: a community pizza shop, made possible by surplus cheese production.
— Backcasting exercise outcome
Bring a Futures Literacy Lab to your community
Whether you're a cooperative, a county government office, or a research partner — we can design a lab around your context and language.
Request a Lab