Pakistan-Afghan Community Building using Foresight
by: Umar Sheraz and Hiba Umar, 31 Aug 2023
I had the tremendous opportunity to facilitate a session on “Pakistan-Afghan Community building using Foresight”. The participants were young Afghan students enrolled in Pakistani universities and brought together by Pak-Afghan Youth Forum and Hanns Seidel Foundation, Pakistan. We had an amazing and energetic time, thinking about emerging issues, closed-eye visioning of preferred futures and then translating those visions into drawings.
Some emerging issues (which could either be an opportunity or a disruption) which the Afghan students identified for Pak-Afghan community building over the next 10 years included
⭕ Trans boundary tensions on resource sharing especially water resources.
⭕ Afghan mineral resources and a possible Indo-China proxy conflict in Afghanistan
⭕ A regional effort to mitigate the effects of climate change
⭕ Filling the vacuum left by poppy crops with diversification of agriculture
⭕ Transport corridors especially railway connections with Afghan neighbors
Many participants had children playing in the lobby. The participants were asked to imagine an infant/child whom they really love and try to explore the future of that child using a closed-eye vision of the future. Using meditation and close eyed visioning, the participants were taken on a journey 30 years into the future. They were encourage to explore the future with the person who is now thirty years old. Most participants imagined a peaceful and prosperous future for their children.
I have recently started to use drawing as a medium of expression. This takes away the limitations of words and expressions in the English language. The participants were invited to use drawing as a medium to express the prevalent situation in Afghanistan. Then they were invited to express the preferred future which they wanted, using drawing. This resulted in beautiful collages, which expressed the desires and yearning for peace and stability of the Afghan students.
I have been working with Afghan youth for the past 10 years and I have always been amazed by their resilience, never-say-die attitude and hope for a better future. On a personal level, during this workshop, I realized the power of scenarios (storytelling). Two years ago, in a similar workshop, the participants visualized a future where they could grow mangoes in Afghanistan; but this vision was hampered by poppy growth. Today as poppy is being systematically wiped out in Afghanistan, there is hope that mango production could be a reality in Afghanistan. One of the drawings indicates diversification of agriculture.
In our part of the world, there is a saying that “A flower blooms twice; once in the mind of the gardener and secondly in the flower pot”. End of the day it is all a matter of our paucity of images of the future.
