Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/03/2026 - 12/03/2026
0:00
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Three Horizons: Seeing, thinking, planning and evaluating differently for an aspirational future – and building the agency to get there
Facilitated by Ian Kendrick and Zenda Ofir
- Date(s): 10th & 12th March, 2026
- Time (CET): 14h00 – 16h00 each day
- Duration: 4 hours (plus breaks) split over two days to allow for participant internalisation between sessions
- Price: €180 for EES Members, **€230 for Non-Members
- Special rate for groups – contact secretariat@europeanevaluation.org
Workshop Description
Are you looking for an effective, inspiring way to make your strategies, programmes and portfolios, as well as your learning opportunities and evaluations more future-ready?
The Three Horizons framework has become a go-to tool for many leaders navigating our current polycrisis. It explores and reveals how change and transformation unfolds by mapping the dynamic tension between declining systems (as we are experiencing today), emerging possibilities, and the critical transition space where breakthrough innovations either flourish or fail.
The 3H framing and process can be used to confirm or think anew about strategies, programmes and portfolios; strengthen theories of (transformative) change; and inform different types and stages of monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL). Examples of recent users include Kate Raworth of Doughnut Economics fame, the Scottish Government and UNICEF Innocenti seeking 100 youth-led climate solutions.
What makes the 3H process particularly powerful is its participatory nature – bringing diverse stakeholders together to collectively consider future possibilities and how they can be realised. It reveals shared patterns and opportunities that no single perspective can capture alone. This makes it especially invaluable for planning, implementing and evaluating cross-programme, cross-organisation or cross-sector initiatives. It helps us to integrate abstract foresight into concrete processes and steps that diverse partners can undertake together.
This workshop will introduce the 3H framework, and with a hands-on actual example demonstrate how to use it in practice to plan, strengthen theories of change, learn and evaluate. Of particular interest will be how to select and prioritise pathways and initiatives that have the best chance of success.
Workshop Agenda
Day 1, Tuesday 10th March, 2026
14h00 – 14h15 (15 min). Introductions; why this workshop, why now?
14h15 – 15h00 (45 min). Exploring the value of foresight and in particular the Three Horizons (3H) framework and process for strategy, theories of change and MEL: Why is 3H important, useful and “different”?
15h00-15h10 Break
15h10-15h50 (40 min). Show and engage with practical and relevant examples of its use for strategy design, theories of (systemic) change development, implementation and MEL.
15h50-16h00 Checkout and close
Overnight: Familiarise with background for example to be co-created on Day 2.
Day 2, Thursday 12th March, 2026
14h00 – 14h30 (30 min). Reflections on Day 1 and 3H generally.
14h30 – 15h30 (60 min). Building confidence by using 3H to co-create, prioritise and select pathways and initiatives for action and evaluation towards an aspirational future, in an area familiar to the participants.
15h30-16h00 (60 min). Inspiration for the future: A “What now?” conversation, and final reflections.
Post-Workshop coffee: 22th April 2026 (date to be confirmed)
1 hour on-line ‘shared coffee’ will be arranged to enable participants to reflect on the potential and/or actual use of 3H in their work, and what further steps might help to advance their application of the framework and technique.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the workshop participants will have had an opportunity to:
- Understand the value and use in their day-to-day practice of the Three Horizons framework and process, and how it differs from other foresight techniques;
- Know how to apply Three Horizons at different stages and spaces in their planning, ToC and MEL work;
- Have confidence to test and implement 3H in their practice.
Workshop Structure and Activities
Day One
On Day One, we will share the origin, history, theory and practice of Three Horizons and how it can help to develop a group view of three key questions: “Where are we?”, “Where are we trying to get to?” and, most importantly, “How are we going to get there?” and the implications for design, learning and evaluation. These will be illustrated using examples from smaller group work, through to larger initiatives that help address challenges across geographic and sector boundaries. The sessions will explore the spaces in design, learning and evaluation where the application of Three Horizons can be valuable.
Day Two
Overnight, the participants will be asked to review a completed set of Three Horizon maps for a current initiative. These will be used for an interactive, facilitated working session to help participants experience using Three Horizons in practice to build and implement a strategy for transformational change. This will be done using interactive plenary and group work using visual thinking approaches to help build shared insights and to learn from diverse perspectives.
Day Two will close with a reflection on the learning and what might be needed to include this learning in their practice.
Post-Workshop:
A 1 hour on-line ‘shared coffee’ will be arranged to enable participants to reflect on the potential and/or actual use of 3H in their work, and what further steps might help to advance their application of the framework and technique.
Target Audience:
Target audience: Evaluation commissioners, managers, facilitators and evaluators, as well as anyone with a shared interest in how strategy or programme planning and/or theory of change development, MEL and foresight can work together to increase the chance of transformative impact.
Level of understanding: Working knowledge and experience of developing strategies, programmes and/or theories of change as well as MEL in practice, with a very basic understanding of the value of foresight.
Short Bios of Workshop Facilitators
Ian Kendrick
A long-term futures thinker, strategist and co-founder of H3Uni, Ian has deployed Three Horizons since its inception. Using it as a foundation for transformation action, he has integrated 3H with complimentary approaches such as the Viable Systems Model, Transformations Systems and Catalysts, Systems thinking and mapping, all often using cognitive kinetics /visual thinking to build multi-discipline ways to address complex situations with clarity.
He has taught these subjects at masters level and held senior positions in organisations, facilitating them through difficult periods of transition as a hands-on C Suite executive, including CEO, VP of Strategy and being a specialist in complex problem solving and dilemma resolution.
Ian is a Friend of the IEAc, a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and of The Schumacher Institute, Secretary of The Cybernetics Society.
Dr Zenda Ofir
Zenda is an independent South African evaluation and transformation specialist. She works across the world from local to global level with a special focus on Africa, Asia and the Global South more broadly. She continues to advise international initiatives and organisations, most recently as member of the High-Level Evaluation Advisory Committee of the IEO of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB). She is a former AfrEA President, IOCE and IDEAS Vice-President and AEA Board member. With a PhD in Ecological Chemistry, she has held several senior academic positions and advised four evaluation journals. She also holds a prestigious Richard von Weizsäcker fellowship at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin. Zenda is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Registration details to follow shortly, in the meantime please do save the date.