Futures Forward S01EP01: Futures and Public Policy in Asia

Overview:

Futures Forward, an Executive Education Singapore Futures webinar series aims to provide a platform to expand the conversation with a community of practice and network of futures and policy practitioners in Singapore and beyond. The inaugural episode titled “Futures and Public Policy in Asia” was aired on 23 February 2021. We invited three distinguished panelists to share their insights:
(1) Liana Tang, Deputy Director, Centre for Strategic Futures, Singapore;
(2) Susann Roth, Advisor and Chief of Knowledge Advisory Services Center, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, Asian Development Bank;
(3) Duleesha Kulasooriya, Executive Director, Centre for Edge Asia Pacific, Deloitte.
Moderated by Cheryl Chung, Programme Director for Executive Education Singapore Futures at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the session aims to exchange ideas and share insights on how futures is practiced in different policy contexts in Asia.

In this episode we discussed:

The role of foresight in Singapore’s government:
• Singapore started out systematising scenario planning in the 80s and 90s with the Ministry of Defence. However, SARS was a transformative crisis that triggered the need to focus on developing foresight tools across the government ministries and shaping them to becoming a ‘paranoid policymaker’.
• Foresight tool like the Futures Wheel which is used to look at specific events and think about second, third, and forth order effects, helps inform policies and allows the Singapore government to navigate its future and plan ahead.

Is futures thinking only a developed country phenomenon? How can futures thinking be applied in the developing world where public policy capacity might not be as developed?
• Acquiring futures thinking and futures experts used to be a luxury thing specifically for developed world. However, it’s becoming more of a commodity now for the developing world to acquire them.
• Driving public policy changes in developing countries is feasible as they do not have embedded infrastructure to change.

Approaches to communicating foresight:
• Policymakers and foresight agencies should recognize the need for a cultural and emotional framework and approach when making changes. Timor Leste makes a good example for this case.
• Cognitive work and quantitative methods work hand in hand in policymaking. Understanding data with context and supporting the context with data will bridge the gaps that exist in policymaking.
• Different types of mediums in communication are important in disseminating information to convince the hearts and minds of masses when advocating for changes. This can be done using short stories, videos instead of lengthy reports.

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