NGFP The Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Fellowship

The fellowship is an opportunity for young professionals to have more support as they begin to explore the futures and foresight field. They know that being a futurist can be a lonely place, and a sort of practice that particularly young people do on the side of their daily jobs, and usually for free. The fellowship is a way to provide the next generation of futures and foresight enthusiasts with a platform to connect with like-minded people from around the world, receive mentorship and build foresight capability, participate in regional and sector-specific hubs, and access funding to develop their foresight projects. Fellows also have the opportunity to participate in highly relevant events in the futures and foresight field, and to be connected with today’s decision-makers at the highest levels.

A valued partner of NGFP, the Dubai Future Foundation lends its support to elevate the voices of young and emerging foresight practitioners from the region. This includes the countries of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Through SOIF’s expertise of doing foresight with impact, its connections with the broader futures and foresight field, and the support of the NGFP team, they offer the members a nurturing environment and enabling conditions for their projects and ideas to flourish and expand their positive impact in the world. This includes providing:

• foresight capacity building
• mentorship
• funding
• safe spaces for collaboration with peers
• participation in relevant events around the world
• visibility in the media, and
• meaningful connections with decision-makers at the highest levels.

The ultimate objective is to democratise the futures and foresight field, so they have diverse voices from younger generations participating equally in the co-creation of better, fairer, and more equitable futures for all.

Objectives

• They will ensure changemakers and community leaders have access to and use contextually appropriate and locally informed futures tools to drive transformation.
• They strive for a world with more foresight and futures tools and frameworks emerging from the Global South and being widely used.
• They aim to achieve fair funding and compensation for foresight practices at all levels.
• They want the next generation of changemakers to challenge and inform policy and funding decisions.

Funding Information

• At the beginning of the journey, each fellow receives a USD 1,000 prize to develop and accelerate their project. By the end of their one-year journey, all fellows have the chance to run for the Fellowship Main Prize, which consists of a more substantial grant (at least USD 10,000) and acknowledges those who made the most of their journey.

Criteria

• Applicants can only make one entry to the Fellowship, either as an individual or as part of a team of up to five individuals with a lead applicant. All team members are considered fellows and will be part of the network, and be invited to participate in most activities. However, there will be only one prize and mentor allocated per group, which the lead applicant will be responsible for managing.
• Anyone between 18 and 35 years old, as well as those who are older, but have less than five years of experience using foresight. They are particularly enthusiastic about applications from those living in the Global South, and those working on the world’s most complex issues, or Foresight Transformation Missions, as they refer to them. Every year, they make sure they have at least two fellows under 25 years old.

For more information, visit School of International Futures.