Sensing what is emerging: from reporting on the past to stewarding the future

Nov 3, 2026 • 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Adaptive Leadership, Equity & Inclusion • Free Event, Virtual Event

Imagine trying to navigate an uncertain future using only evidence from the past. Traditional evaluation and MEL practices provide insights into what has happened, but today's social and ecological challenges also require us to pay attention to what is emerging and what futures are becoming possible.

This session explores why bringing evaluation, regeneration and foresight together can be valuable, and what this could look like in practice. Drawing on insights from our four-part Collective Learning Lab: Sensing What Is Emerging, we share reflections on the changing role of evaluators, the skills needed to enable both regeneration and foresight, and the wider paradigm shift required to support regenerative and future-first evaluation.

Together, we will explore how evaluation might evolve from a practice focused primarily on assessing the past to one that also helps communities, organisations, and institutions shape more regenerative and desirable futures.

The session is structured across two connected arcs:

First 60 Minutes | Bringing Regenerative Evaluation and Foresight together: Reflections around the value of bringing regenerative evaluation and foresight together, and some of the practices, methodologies and tools at the intersection of both.
Extended 30 Minutes | the role, skills and mental models of a future-first regenerative evaluator: A deep-dive dialogue exploring the evolving identity and strategic positioning of our field as measurement shifts from backward-looking accountability into real-time navigation for systems, communities, and funders.

In this session, you will gain both practical entry points and strategic perspectives for your practice:

Principles of future-first regenerative evaluation: An introduction to emerging ideas and practices that combine foresight and regenerative evaluation.
Approaches for working with emergence and uncertainty: Tools and mindsets for noticing what is emerging, navigating complexity, and holding ambiguity.
New perspectives on value, accountability, and learning: Insights into how evaluation can shift from being a mechanism for accountability, to becoming a practice of collective inquiry, future-sensing, and change-making.

No cost associated.