Young people should be able to shape their own future. That is the idea behind the Youth4Foresight (Y4F) toolkit, which was developed by DG International Partnerships (European Commission) to give youth practical methods to think beyond immediate challenges, explore long-term change, and identify concrete ways to act. This approach is closely linked to the EU Youth Action Plan (2022–2027), which aims to empower, engage and connect young people around the world. It also reflects a wider commitment to bringing longer-term and intergenerational perspectives into EU policymaking. By using foresight tools, youth can better understand emerging trends, imagine desirable futures, and translate those reflections into recommendations and action. This is exactly what the EU Delegation in Chile set out to do with “Voces del Futuro”, the EU’s Youth Sounding Board in the country.
Youth looking ahead
Created in 2025, Voces del Futuro brings together 21 young people from 13 regions of Chile, from as far north as Arica and as far south as Aysén. Since its launch, the group has participated in a range of activities with the EU Delegation, including thematic training, capacity-building, and work focused on sustainability, transparency and governance, gender equality, and other priority issues.
As the initiative moved into its second year, members wanted to take a step back and think more strategically about their own role. Which issues are most relevant for young people in Chile in the coming years? Where can the Youth Sounding Board bring the most value? And how can its contributions to the work of the EU in Chile become more structured, targeted and actionable?
The foresight exercise was designed to support precisely this process. Its objective was not only to strengthen futures-thinking skills, but also to help the group define the kind of influence it wants to have in Chile and clarify concrete next steps for collaboration with the EU Delegation.
Training youth to facilitate the process
An important part of the exercise was the preparation phase. Before the main session, a facilitation training was held for a small group of facilitators. This meant that the final workshop was led entirely by YSB members themselves.
This is an important element to the process, as training youth facilitators in partner countries helps build a pool of youth foresight practitioners who can potentially reuse these methods in other local, regional or community settings. It also strengthened participants’ ownership of the process from the outset.
Using the Three Horizons tool
The main workshop took place on 23 June 2026 and used the Three Horizons method from the Youth4Foresight toolkit. This method helps participants move between three perspectives:
- the future they would like to see,
- the current system and what is no longer fit for purpose,
- and the innovations and actions needed to bridge the gap.
Participants reflected on the future of the initiative itself: what role the YSB wants to play, how it wants to influence discussions in Chile, and what practical steps are needed to strengthen its impact and coordination with the EU Delegation.
The workshop took place in a hybrid format, with 7 participants in the room and 4 joining online. This made it the first successful hybrid Youth4Foresight session with a Youth Sounding Board in an EU Delegation. The experience suggests that hybrid delivery can work effectively for foresight exercises when technology, facilitation and participant engagement are strong and well managed.
Furthermore, in a country such as Chile, where events and activities are largely concentrated in the capital, Santiago, and where the country's long and narrow geography results in considerable distances between cities and regions, the hybrid format proved particularly effective in ensuring the broadest possible participation of YSB members from across the country. This approach also contributed to strengthening territorial inclusion by broadening participation beyond the capital and ensuring that the perspectives of young people from Chile's regions were better represented.
What did the workshop achieve?
The workshop aimed to create a structured space for reflection and helped participants move from general aspirations to more concrete thinking.
Several outcomes stood out:
- clearer reflection on influence: participants discussed what kind of role and influence they would like the YSB to have in Chile;
- greater ownership: youth facilitators led different parts of the process themselves, increasing confidence and participation;
- stronger internal coordination: the session helped identify practical steps for moving the initiative forward;
- useful input for the EU Delegation: the discussion clarified how the YSB could be more actively involved in EU activities in Chile.
Feedback from participants was highly positive. They appreciated being able to lead the conversation on the future of their own initiative. The exercise also helped reactivate the group and highlighted the importance of setting sufficiently concrete objectives to move beyond critique and towards action.
Otcomes and next steps
A roadmap for YSB Chile, based on this foresight exercise, represents the next step in the process. It will guide the group’s priorities and support a more strategic and structured relationship with the EU Delegation.
The application of the Y4F toolkit in this case shows the value of foresight as a tool which moves beyond imagining the long term but also functions as a practical tool for strengthening youth participation in the present. By combining structured reflection, youth-led facilitation and concrete follow-up, the workshop helped “Voces del Futuro” group take an important step towards defining its role, voice and influence more clearly.
Check out the Youth4Foresight toolkit and more use cases
