WASP takes account of new global events and trends. The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed our world so there will be a need to connect the COVID-19 response and recovery to longer-term adaptation and the building of resilience.
Global warming is becoming increasingly visible and requires the urgent scaling up and acceleration of actions for climate adaptation and resilience. At the same time, new technologies are reshaping lives and livelihoods and creating new opportunities. WASP will seek to anticipate and understand new technologies such as AI and blockchain and adopt regenerative approaches.
There will also be a need to rethink research, action and research-action linkages and sharpen the focus on action-oriented, user-centred research. There will be increasing emphasis on learning-by-doing and learning-while-doing and gearing research to interventions at scale rather than scaling from pilots. All of these developments will influence how WASP develops.