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The UNDP Egypt Accelerator Lab is equipping young female students with future-thinking skills to address environmental challenges. Through the Futures Literacy Lab initiative, Imaginers, in partnership with Refuturism, the programme encourages students to envision and prepare for a sustainable future.
Teaching Future Thinking to Foster Green Behavior
Research highlights cultural barriers as a key challenge in encouraging women-led households to adopt green practices. To drive change, sustainability awareness must begin at the school level.
Our workshops, designed for girls aged 13–16, use creative activities such as storytelling, gaming, and visual media. By exploring different future scenarios, students develop a stronger connection to environmental responsibility and sustainable living.
Teaching Future Thinking to Drive Green Behavior
Research highlights cultural barriers as a key challenge in encouraging women-led households to adopt green practices. To drive change, sustainability awareness must begin at the school level.
Our workshops, designed for girls aged 13–16, use creative activities such as storytelling, gaming, and visual media. By exploring different future scenarios, students develop a stronger connection to environmental responsibility and sustainable living
On the first day, students imagined their lives in 2050—what jobs they might have, how they might look, and how technology would shape their daily routines. They then worked in teams to design two versions of the future:
- A possible future, based on current trends.
- A desired future, where they envisioned a world, they would want to live in.
Through this process, students explored key areas such as housing, environment, food, technology, and social life, deepening their understanding of sustainability.
What Happens When Resources Run Out?
On the second day, students faced a challenge: imagining a world in 2050 where essential resources—like water, electricity, and seasonal changes—were scarce or nonexistent. Using storytelling and drawing, they created scenarios about how life might look without these necessities.
By the end of the workshop, students wrote messages to future generations about the importance of conserving resources.
Six months later, they reflected on how their perspectives had changed. Many students reported becoming more aware of resource consumption and felt inspired to adopt more sustainable habits.
Expanding Future Literacy for Greater Impact
The initiative was showcased at COP28, in partnership with Refuturism and UNICEF GCC, where youth organizations and experts validated its impact.
Participants tested an enhanced version of the experience using virtual reality (VR), immersing themselves in different future scenarios to better understand the consequences of resource scarcity.
Key recommendations for scaling up the initiative include:
- Creating Greenish Clubs to expand the “Imaginers” experiment.
- Introducing future literacy in vocational education.
- Making it an extracurricular activity in schools.
- Engaging teachers and parents in sustainability education through Future Literacy Labs.
By equipping young women with future-thinking skills, this initiative is not just promoting environmental responsibility—it is empowering the next generation of women leaders in sustainability.
Through creative and immersive learning, we can all help shape a more sustainable future, one young mind at a time.
