Author Description

This toolkit supplements the Lifting Our Sights research which investigates key trends and their potential for impact on Armed Forces leavers and their families in the future. It has been designed to assist a variety of organisations and stakeholders to work with the LOS findings, apply them in different settings and strengthen the conversation onsupporting UK veterans. Whilst the focus is on what the future might look like, the whole LOS project is based upon how different that future will be to the present, on which most of our daily attention is spent.The term ‘toolkit’ although widely used has many different meanings. In our case, the stakeholder toolkit lists a series of activities, including outline topic areas, questions and assessments, that organisations can use to stimulate and framediscussions which we anticipate will help shape strategies and operational approaches and lead to greater shared understanding and hence collaboration over the coming decade. All of these would benefit the Armed Forces Community.We encourage organisations to use this toolkit to further build upon the Lifting Our Sights findings and to unpack how these trends will more specifically affect their work with and for Armed Forces leavers. In particular, it is envisaged that this will assist with ongoing dialogue in the Armed Forces Community, Local Government, National Government, Charities and in various media and communications teams, in how each can continue to lift their sights as they work to better serve veterans and their families over the next decade and beyond. A more ambitious aim though is that the dialogue then serves to develop or refine strategies, identify priorities, align programmes or secure funding.