The Regional Peace and Order Council-NCR, through its Special Action Committee on Administrative Governance (SAC-AG), held on September 15, 2021, the first in a series of webinars to further capacitate local and regional executives with new tools to support ongoing peace and order efforts in their respective areas of responsibility.
In his keynote statement, RPOC Chairman and Paranaque Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez exhorted the participants to “outsmart not only COVID-19 today, but future challenges as well.” How? The Chairman asks – by mastering the techniques and methodology that Futurists use to bend the future to their will. The clarion call for futuristic thinking was a good starter for the serious learning that was to follow.
On her part, RD Maria Lourdes L. Agustin, CESO III and Regional Director of DILG-NCR, reaffirmed her commitment to continually capacitate local executives with new tools such as courses like “Futures Thinking” to enable them to meet the challenges of the times. Reminding webinar participants that “public office is a public trust,” RD Agustin averred that inherent in that relationship is the responsibility to ensure that the future is safe and peaceful for every Filipino.
The webinar, entitled “Thinking Through Uncertainty: Introduction to Futures Thinking and Foresight as Lens Towards Safer Cities” was held in partnership with the Philippine Society For Public Administration (PSPA), which provided the subject matter experts to expound on the concept of “Futures Thinking” – a strategic tool introduced to analyze and resolve peace and order issues in “futurist” terms.
The webinar featured two subject matter experts, namely, Mr. Shermon O. Cruz, a noted futurist, educator, expert on governance and public policy, and Supervising Fellow of Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), and Dr. Lizan E. Perante-Calina, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School of Public and Development Management of the DAP and President of the Philippine Futures Thinking Society.
According to the experts, “Futures Thinking” is all about looking ahead “with purpose” and “systematically.” Though the future is replete with uncertainties, a futurist thinker can explore how current actions can impact the future, and by so doing, anticipate the possibilities and circumstances that may unfold from there. Dr. Perante-Calina explained that to facilitate the process, actors need to adopt the 5 R’s of futurist thinking: Reframe, Rethink, Retool, Reskill, and Re-energize.
In his lecture, Mr. Cruz listed the four skills that planners and implementers need to acquire and develop to improve the odds of effecting better outcomes and, thus, a better future in the post-pandemic world. These skills are: Anticipation, Futures Thinking, Systems Thinking, and Strategic Foresight.
The webinar was participated in by representatives from the Local Peace and Order Councils, RPOC member agencies, RPOC secretariat, and DILG-NCR field officers.
The next webinar in the series is entitled “Effective and Sound Policy-Making for Peace and Order Councils” and is scheduled for September 21, 2021.
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