OECD: a toolkit for governments that want to look ahead

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What the OECD did

Countries committed to future-oriented governance often hit the same barrier: limited capability to turn long-term ambition into actionable policy. Governments frequently lack structured methods for anticipating disruptions such as climate tipping points, technological breakthroughs or systemic crises. In January 2025, the OECD published the Strategic Foresight Toolkit for Resilient Public Policy, followed by further OECD work in 2025 on building anticipatory capacity in government.

How it Delivered

The Toolkit offers a structured five-step methodology, together with facilitation aids, scenario-building guidance and real-world case studies that help leaders put anticipation into practice. It does this partly by exploring 25 evidence-based disruptions that could reshape the policy landscape between 2030 and 2050, from climate tipping points to technological shocks. Piloting with five government partners, including Indonesia and Lithuania, allowed governments to test and refine the approach and showed that it adapts to very different contexts. Further OECD work extended this, advising public organisations on how to embed strategic foresight into their everyday functioning.

What Made it Work?

Practicality. The value lay in tools, guides and worked examples that policymakers could pick up and use, rather than principles alone. Piloting with real governments before publication meant the methodology arrived already road-tested, and situating it within the wider push for future-oriented governance aligned ambition with capability.

Future Generations Takeaway

Willing governments still need workable methods. The OECD's toolkit closes the gap between wanting to think long-term and knowing how, making resilient policy a craft that can be taught. Keeping the future open is a skill, and skills can be shared.

This case study is based on one kindly shared with us by the us by School of International Futures (SOIF) and can be found in their digital implementation handbook: 'One Year in Practice: Stories of Global Action for Future Generations'.  We have updated and expanded some case studies with more recent developments and additional sources where relevant.