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4th Quarterly Update October - December 2012
Guns and Roses East Africa Future Day Nairobi, Kenya November 12, 2012 futurechallenges.tumblr.com
Nairobi Future Day (November 11, 2012): The Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Bertelsmann Foundation and Society for International Development, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, hosted the second event of a series of “Future Days”, which serve as forums to debate and prepare for some of the biggest global challenges. The purpose of the event was to discuss East Africa’s future in terms of security, the environment and regional integration. Rockefeller Foundation Associate Director Evan Michelson kicked off the day with information on the Rockefeller Foundation’s Searchlight Initiative. Senior Project Manager Tom Fries and Project Manager Anneliese Guess gave an overview of the Stiftung’s FutureChallenges.org website and the Megatrends project, focusing on the chapters on Security and Biodiversity and Ecology, as they relate to the East African Community (EAC). A video created for the Future Day was then shown. It included interviews from residents living in different areas of the EAC speaking about how the EAC impacts (or does not affect) their lives. Many residents were excited about the opportunities that the EAC offers in terms of open borders, including easier cross-border transit and
One of the afternoon breakout discussions on the future of ecology and the environment in the East Africa Community. (Photo by Nicole Kleimann.)
Following the video, a panel discussion further discussed whether an integrated East Africa better responds to ecological and security challenges. This panel was moderated by Julie Gichuru from Citizen TV and Omar Mohammed from BBC Media Action. Panelists include Abdullahi Boru, an analyst at the International Crisis Group; Patrick Maingi, Chief Economist at the National Environmental Management Agency; and Nanjira Sambula, a New Media Strategist and Consultant. (cont. page 2)
4th Quarterly Update • October-December 2012
Aiden Eyakuze, Programme Director at Society for International Development opened the second half of the day by inviting participants to visualize how East Africa will look in 2030. After this exercise, small breakout groups discussed their ideas about the future of East Africa in the context of either security or the environment. The small groups each presented their main solutions to potential problems the EAC may face in the future. The final panel to sum up the day’s discussions, was moderated by Omar Mohammed of BBC Media Action and included Dr. Ibrahim Farah from the University of Nairobi and Magode Ikuya from Molo Integrated Agrifarming Initiative. Participants’ ideas will be posted on FutureChallenges.org. A live blog from the day is available at futurechallenges.tumblr.com. More than 100 participants from the private and public sector attended the event. The video shown at the East Africa Future Day is available at: http://bit.ly/U8qURw.
“My greatest hope is to have an East African regime integrated through sharing of common ideas, market, currency, policies an even language, where people are bonded by common similarities, where people are judged by their characters and not countries.” Shem Otina, age 22, Kenya
Top Searchlight Posts As part of our cooperation with the Rockefeller Foundation, Future Challenges.org regularly posts content from the Rockefeller Searchlight Process. Here were the most popular Searchlight Posts in 2012: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Looking back at 2012
Here are some of the great accomplishments of the Megatrends team in 2012:
A question and answer session with the morning’s panelists. (Photo by Nicole Kleimann)
4th Quarterly Update • October-December 2012
Economic Globalization
Growth of the Brazilian Middle Class; a Tale of Things to Come Programs to Combat Malnutrition in India Two Innovative Ways of Improving Education: A Nigerian Case Study E-Waste Management in Tier II Cities in India Splitting Dhaka Model or Mistake Moringa for Water Treatment Global
We look forward to reading and posting Searchlight content in 2013! by Anneliese Guess
Demographic Change and Migration
• Won the Hamburg Social Media Week Prize for Internal Communication • Future Day #1 in Berlin, Germany • Future Day #2 in Nairobi, Kenya • Global Economic Symposium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • Publication of Megatrends in Interaction and rollout events including at University of Houston, Galludet University, and the State Department • Increase in FutureChallenges.org traffic by 473 percent • Increase in social media presence • Publication of first Future Challenges Reader (pictured at right)
Governance
Climate Change and Biodiversity
Security
Natural Resources and Biodiversity
4th Quarterly Update • October-December 2012
October-December Site Visitor Stats In the month of October, FutureChallenges.org had 27,665 visitors. November had the highest number of visitors in the site’s history at 28,126 visitors. As of December 6, 2012, there have been 6,614 visitors, indicating it will follow the strong numbers of the two previous months. During the months of October, November and December 2012, the origin of visitors to www.futurechallenges.org was the US (15.6%),followed by India (10.9%), the United Kingdom (6.4%), Germany, (5.0%), the Philippines (4.8%), and Pakistan (3.4%).
The number one search word that brought visitors to this site was “globalization” (or “globalisation”) at 12.7%; 73.9% of visitors were brought to the site through search engines.
For further information on Future Challenges and the Megatrends Project, contact Jonathan Stevens • Director, Global Futures Project • +1 202 384 1994 • jonathan.stevens@bfna.org Anneliese Guess • Project Manager, International Relations • +1 202 384 1995 • anneliese.guess@bfna.org
Visit us online at:
www.futurechallenges.org www.bfna.org