AI for Governance Innovation and Inclusive Local Development

What is the Pamati Fellowship?

The Pamati Fellowship is an 11-month hybrid learning and action program that brings together planners, technologists, civil society leaders, researchers, and public servants from across Mindanao to explore how artificial intelligence, futures thinking, and Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) can transform how we listen, learn, and lead in local development.

Anchored in pamati—the practice of attentive and responsive listening—this fellowship equips participants to use AI not as a shortcut, but as a catalyst for inclusive governance, collaborative sensemaking, and adaptive solutions to complex, real-world problems.

Who is the Fellowship for?

The Pamati Fellowship is designed for local actors from across Mindanao who are actively working within or alongside LGUs, including:

• Municipal/City Planners, IT Officers, LGOOs, and Technical Staff

• CSO and NGO leaders working in governance, climate, health, education, peacebuilding

• Academic researchers, faculty, and extension partners

• Sectoral program implementers in BARMM or national agencies

Fellows are selected for their commitment to systems thinking, ethical leadership, and transformative local action.

Why Pamati? Why AI? Why Now?

Across Mindanao, LGUs are confronting adaptive challenges—climate instability, urban inequality, fragile institutions, digital gaps—that defy easy solutions.

The Pamati Fellowship helps local leaders respond with a new blend of capabilities:

• AI tools, to support planning, analysis, storytelling, and collective decision-making

• Futures thinking, to expand the space of what’s possible and anticipate emerging risks

• PDIA, to break down complex problems and build solutions iteratively with local stakeholders

More than a technical training, the Fellowship is a shared journey of reimagining governance as a participatory, intelligent, and resilient system.

Fellowship Structure

Duration: 11 months (August 2025 – June 2026)
Format: Hybrid (online workshops, in-person immersions, local project implementation)

Program Components

1. Pamati Learning Circles
   Monthly online workshops covering:

   • AI for Local Planning, Budgeting, and M&E

   • Introduction to Futures Thinking and Strategic Foresight

   • Adaptive Leadership, Bridging Leadership, and Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation

   • Systems Mapping, Power Analysis, and Participatory Governance

   • PDIA in Practice: From Framing to Learning Loops

   • Ethics and Inclusion in Local Tech Use
     
     

2. AI and Foresight Clinics
   Hands-on training in:

   • Generative AI tools (ChatGPT, NotebookLM)

   • Prompt engineering and local language adaptation

   • QGIS and spatial intelligence

   • Scenario mapping and backcasting methods
     
     

3. Pamati Dialogues
   Interactive forums with mayors, citizen leaders, planners, and experts from Mindanao and beyond

4. Municipal Futures Labs
   Each Fellow (or team) works on a real development challenge, using PDIA and AI tools to:

   • Reframe the problem

   • Engage stakeholders

   • Test iterations

   • Reflect and adapt over time
     
     

5. Knowledge Commons and Playbook
   Fellows contribute to a co-created library of case studies, methods, tools, and AI prompts tailored to Mindanao LGU realities
   
   

6. Capstone Summit
   Final presentation of projects, learnings, and future commitments—bringing together national and local decision-makers
   
   

What Fellows Will Learn

• How to use AI for planning, policy design, citizen engagement, and evaluation

• How to facilitate participatory foresight and strategic visioning in LGUs

• How to apply PDIA to break down complex, politically sensitive local challenges

• How to lead across sectors and institutional boundaries

• How to nurture adaptive teams and inclusive governance systems

Program Values

• Listen before acting

• Include before prescribing

• Learn before scaling

• Adapt before institutionalizing

• Build relationships as infrastructure

• Use AI to amplify—not replace—human judgment and local wisdom
  
  

Offered by:

Municipal Futures Lab – Asian School of Governance

A transdisciplinary platform advancing systems thinking, foresight, and public innovation for local governments

Adaptive Leadership International

A global network supporting leaders to mobilize people to thrive under conditions of uncertainty and adaptive pressure

Civika Academy for International Development

A practice-based learning hub equipping changemakers in governance, social finance, and sustainable systems

Requirements:

• Completed application form

• Endorsement letter from your LGU, institution, or community partner

• A concept note describing a real local development challenge you want to explore using AI, PDIA, and futures thinking