World Futures Studies Federation

The World Futures Studies Federation, (WFSF) is a global network of practicing futurists, researchers, teachers, scholars, policy analysts, activists and others. It was established in 1967.

The current Executive board has Fabienne Goux-Baudiment from France as President and Marianne Rugård Järvstråt as Secretary-General. The Secretariat is located in Trollhättan, Sweden.

Mission

The mission of the federation is to promote futures education and research. According to the Federation, WFSF "is a forum where the stimulation, exchange, and examination of ideas, visions, and plans for alternative, long-term futures can take place. The Federation promotes and encourages futures studies as well as innovative interdisciplinary analysis and critique by:

* Promoting a higher level of futures consciousness in general
* Stimulating cooperative research activities in all fields of futures studies
* Planning and holding regional and global futures studies conferences and courses
* Expanding anticipatory thinking and democratization of futures techniques.
* Stimulating awareness of the urgent need for futures studies in governments and international organizations, as well as other decision making and educational groups and institutions, to resolve problems at local, national, regional, and global levels.
* Assisting local and global futures research activities; encouraging responsibility for future generations."

A Brief History of the World Futures Studies Federation

The WFSF emerged from the ideas and pioneering work of such persons as Igor Bestuzhev-Lada, Bertrand de Jouvenel, Johan Galtung, Robert Jungk, John McHale and others who in the 1960s conceived of the concept of futures studies at the global level.

This resulted in the organization of the first International Futures Research Conference in Oslo, Norway, in September 1967, for which Mankind 2000 was responsible in cooperation with the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, and the Institut für Zukunftsfragen. A Continuing Committee was created, with headquarters in Paris. The principal work of this Committee was the convening of the International Futures Research Conference in Kyoto, Japan, in April 1970, in cooperation with the Japanese Association for Future Studies, under the leadership of Hayashi Yujiro and Hidetoshi Kato. During this conference, the Continuing Committee was requested to make preparations for the establishment of a permanent worldwide organization. The draft of a charter was subsequently written and submitted to the Third World Conference, held in Bucharest, Romania, September 1972. The ensuing debate resulted in a declaration of the basic aims of the Federation.

The founding conference which created the Federation was held in Paris, France, 26 May 1973. The meeting ratified the charter and registered the WFSF in France, with its official headquarters at the Maison Internationale Futuribles. The Federation has thus legally existed since that date, and was hosted at Futuribles until 1974, with Bertrand de Jouvenel as its first President.

The NGO status

The WFSF is classified as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with the United Nations and has formal consultative status with UNESCO.

Partnerships

The federations has many partnership programs with many academic institutions like University of Hawaii, Turku School of Economics, Queensland University of Technology as well as a few other international groups like Futuribles, Club of Rome, Mankind 2000 and others.

External links

* [http://www.wfsf.org/ WFSF official website]
* [http://www.wfs.org/ World Future Society]