Featured Theme

Building capacities and skills for the next era

Digital training and hard skills alone don’t allow organisations to unlock their transformative potential. What’s missing is a focus on cultivating self-leadership, inner development, and the ability to navigate transitions with confidence and purpose.

We observe a capacity gap leading to slow innovation, fragmented strategies, and a reactive mindset in the face of systemic challenges like climate change and societal inequality. But what if leaders, civil servants, and workers could drive not only technological change but also cultural and environmental transitions?

Organisations are about people. Building capacities in emotional intelligence, strategic foresight, and sustainability-focused skills empowers individuals to lead with clarity, embrace systems thinking, and break silos—freeing organisations from outdated approaches and preparing them for a more adaptive and inclusive future.

On the agenda

How can we create capacity-building policies and programs that not only scale across regions but also inspire global replication and impact?

What kinds of frameworks can equip organisations with the adaptive capacities needed to thrive in the face of complex societal and technological transitions?

How can capacity-building initiatives move beyond narrow metrics like efficiency and productivity to prioritise societal value and systemic transformation?

How we can help you

Browse through some of our most recent support streams helping:

public administrations,
private companies,
professional networks,
and workers' unions.

Capacities for leading societal transformations

Equip public administration leaders to confidently drive organisational and systemic change.

Anticipatory leadership for long-term impact
Government leaders are under pressure to deliver immediate results, but sustainable governance requires thinking beyond electoral cycles. Learn to embed anticipatory policymaking and align short-term actions with long-term visions.
Rethink systems, not just policies
Many current practices are legacies of outdated systems. Leadership training helps you challenge these industrial-era forms and craft forward-looking approaches to governance, driving necessary systemic transformation.
Experimentation as a governance tool
Policy experimentation isn’t a luxury—it’s an essential skill for building adaptive governments. Learn how to embrace uncertainty and design experimental approaches to test, refine, and scale impactful policies and interventions.
Cross-sector collaboration to dismantle silos
Governments often struggle with fragmented systems. Gain the skills to lead cross-sector collaborations, ensuring cohesive and inclusive action across diverse stakeholders.

Green leadership and green skills

Based on two decades working with public and private actors to create meaningful routes to impact, we have identified key elements that organisations and leaders need to be able to act in green transitions, as well as ways they can push them into action and continually navigate a world in transition.

Connect the everyday with long-term aims
Empower mid-to-senior management to align daily practices with bold future visions. Long-term thinking must become part of the organisation's mindset at every level, not just in leadership.
Build a transformative and inquisitive culture
Culture shapes actions. Organisations must adopt an experimentalist approach, embracing uncertainty and fostering continuous learning and iteration rather than fearing the unknown.
Create coalitions for change
Systemic change requires collective action. Building coalitions that go beyond collaboration to reimagine industries and act together is key to driving transformative progress.

Looking for new ways to thrive in a future that requires new mindsets and thinking?

Every day, we work with brave people who want to make change. Sometimes, priorities are not clear—or there are just too many of them.

Get in touch and we'll figure it out together. ->

Or get the latest insights around public-sector capacity building and skills & work. ->

Featured examples of our work

Foresight capacities for the future of South Sudan

Demos Helsinki facilitated a week-long foresight workshop series for approximately 270 South Sudanese director generals, undersecretaries and UNDP experts, contributing to a more future-oriented public administration. The workshop series succeeded in elevating the foresight capabilities of the Government of South Sudan and UNDP Country office in policymaking and strategy.

UNDP Bahrain - Innovation Advocates Programme

Demos Helsinki developed and led a comprehensive programme to mainstream innovation and build capabilities within the Bahraini Government in collaboration with the Bahrain Institute for Public Administration and UNDP Bahrain. In the Innovation Programme, participants learned through capacity training modules and hands-on innovation projects to try new capabilities acquired in practice.

Anticipatory Migration Governance in North Macedonia

Demos Helsinki initiated a project with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Population Fund offices in North Macedonia to build capacities and systems for innovative, participatory and forward-looking migration management in North Macedonia.

DAP Agile Leadership Training

Demos Helsinki developed a tailor-made capacity building training for the senior leadership of the Philippine government for strengthening agile leadership in collaboration with Development Academy of the Philippines. The aim of the training was to develop the participants’ leadership skills by strengthening vision-drivenness, flexibility and the ability to build agency.

Työ 2.0 Lab: Ecosystem school

Demos Helsinki conducted two trainings for the Finnish Ministry of Finance in conjunction with Työ 2.0 Lab, the state administration space dedicated to fostering cross-administrative cooperation. The trainings strengthened the participants’ capabilities in network-based collaboration through exploring ecosystem activities and a collaborative approach to solving problems.

ABC of Foresight Capacity Building Training, HAUS - Finnish Institute of Public Management

Together with the Finnish Institute of Public Management, Demos Helsinki organised a capacity-building training “The ABC of Foresight” aimed at civil servants from all administrative branches. The course trained participants in the basics and benefits of foresight and the use of key foresight methods.

Digital Transformation Academy in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Demos Helsinki together with its partner Aspiro designed and organised a large capacity building training for public officials in Bosnia & Herzegovina under the topic of digital transformation. The goal was to raise awareness of the current and past successes of utilising digitalisation in government functions and keys to success.

Policy Design training of trainers

Demos Helsinki was commissioned by the Latvian School of Public Administration to design and implement a training for Latvian civil servants. The goal was to learn innovative design methods for policy planning and legal drafting. Demos Helsinki organised the training fully online for 20 Latvian civil servants from different ministries and different positions.

Futures Masterclass: Anticipatory Policy Innovation and Decision Making, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

In November 2023, Demos Helsinki and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy hosted a 4-day Futures Masterclass: Anticipatory Policy Innovation and Decision Making for policymakers, government innovators and civil servants. This training helped participants to explore how globally leading practitioners develop anticipatory governance and lead future-oriented policymaking.

Interested in making a change?
Drop us a line and we’ll get back to you.

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Building capacities and skills for the next era

On the agenda

How can we create capacity-building policies and programs that not only scale across regions but also inspire global replication and impact?

What kinds of frameworks can equip organisations with the adaptive capacities needed to thrive in the face of complex societal and technological transitions?

How can capacity-building initiatives move beyond narrow metrics like efficiency and productivity to prioritise societal value and systemic transformation?

How we can help you

Featured examples of our work

Foresight capacities for the future of South Sudan

UNDP Bahrain - Innovation Advocates Programme

Anticipatory Migration Governance in North Macedonia

DAP Agile Leadership Training

Työ 2.0 Lab: Ecosystem school

ABC of Foresight Capacity Building Training, HAUS - Finnish Institute of Public Management

Digital Transformation Academy in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Policy Design training of trainers

Futures Masterclass: Anticipatory Policy Innovation and Decision Making, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

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Interested in making a change?
Drop us a line and we’ll get back to you.