The ‘African Futures’ Campaign - African Ideas Building Africa’s Future
“Ideas are powerful - They are the essence of creativity, the spark to innovation and the call to research.”
Author: Kari Mugo
Africa Day, commemorated today on May 25th, offers a chance to recognise all things Africa(n) and forms the basis of a larger trend that celebrates the month of May as #AfricaMonth. From music to sports to technology and science, Africans continue to make their mark on the global stage and there is no shortage of achievements to be recognised or celebrated during this period. As a research institution, the Mawazo Institute takes special notice of the crucial role that Africa’s researchers are playing in the telling of the African story.
Despite the constraints African researchers face in terms of a shortage of adequate mentorship, training, and research funding (Beaudry et al., 2018) as well as fewer opportunities for educational and career mobility (Prozesky & Beaudry, 2019), Africa’s researchers have long helped us not only to understand ourselves better, but are also engaged in knowledge production that centres African solutions to African problems. Our researchers are an engine for the big ideas that our future needs. This is why we are excited to announce Mawazo’s new campaign focussing on African Futures.
Launching in June 2022, the African Futures campaign will showcase the work of researchers and subject-matter experts working within the larger East African region whose area of expertise addresses development needs across six areas; the future of education, the need for curiosity driven science on the continent, the future of food and its security, the future of African cities, the future of health, and lastly, approaches to climate change adaptation.
As Africa’s knowledge systems grow, vital and innovative work is being developed in institutions of learning across the continent, and yet largely remains separate from public conversations. For us, research that does not make its way out of the shelves of a university library or the rooms of a lecture hall remains one of the most underutilised resources. All too often, the failure of this research to permeate outside of the ivory tower also results in low understanding of developmental challenges and the solutions needed to address these challenges. African Futures is about prioritising African expertise for long-term structural transformation on the continent.
Drawing from Mawazo’s network of early-career female researchers, that includes 40 Mawazo Learning Exchange Fellows and 10 PhD Scholars Alumni, African Futures will amplify the voices of African thinkers, researchers, experts, and other practitioners whose ongoing work advances or investigates new paradigms and approaches to development that can help guarantee a more resilient and equitable future for us all. Through our approach, Mawazo hopes to help popularise research, analysis, and policy tools that are available to policy makers, civic actors, and individuals seeking to make progress under our six agenda areas.
With African Futures, Mawazo is reimagining and reframing the role of research on the continent because we believe that with the right support, we can help African researchers turn their ideas into solutions for the continent’s pressing needs. Subscribe now to our newsletter and follow us on Mawazo’s social media platforms for podcasts, articles, live events, and in-depth conversations that nurture spaces for ideas on what an African research-centred future looks like.
Activities under this project are supported by funding from the Open Society Foundation and the COVID-19 Africa Rapid Grant Fund.