Founded by field researchers, built with communities
AFA emerged from a conversation between two community leaders and a researcher about why local cheese production didn't exist despite high milk yields — and grew into a Pan-African platform for community-led knowledge.
A research-informed African organisation
Awakening Futures Africa (AFA) is a Kenyan-founded, Pan-African research, capacity-building and conservation organisation. We work at the intersection of biodiversity conservation, futures literacy, citizen science and cooperative knowledge creation.
Our work is grounded in peer-reviewed research conducted directly with smallholder farmers — predominantly women — in Nyandarua County, and published in international journals including the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities and Postdigital Science and Education.
To strengthen community capacity, promote biodiversity conservation, and advance locally-driven research and innovation across Africa.
Thriving communities living in harmony with nature through knowledge, cooperation and sustainable development.
- — Community ownership over extraction
- — Local language & vernacular knowledge
- — Evidence before assumption
- — Women and youth at the centre
Four methods, one philosophy: design with, not for
Cooperative Science
Communities and researchers building knowledge together as equal partners, not subject and observer.
Citizen Science
Local people collect, validate and interpret ecological and social data from their own landscapes.
Futures Literacy
UNESCO's Futures Literacy Laboratory method, adapted and run in Gĩkũyũ for accessibility and trust.
Indigenous Knowledge
Traditional ecological knowledge treated as rigorous evidence, not anecdote — combined with science.
The people behind the research
Mary Warui
CO-FOUNDER · BIODIVERSITY SPECIALIST
PhD in agroecosystems & environment. Biodiversity specialist at Kipeto Energy PLC; works with Friends of Kinangop and Olerai Conservancy.
Dominic Kimani
CO-FOUNDER · HEAD OF BIODIVERSITY
MSc Wildlife Management; PhD candidate, Environmental Biology at Karatina University. Heads Biodiversity at Kipeto Energy.
Caroline Kuhn
RESEARCH PARTNER · BATH SPA UNIVERSITY
Researches the intersection of education, sociology and digital technology, with an emphasis on critical pedagogy and social justice.
Fisayo Oyewale
FORESIGHT CONSULTANT · UNICEF
Agriculturist and futurist working at the intersection of agriculture, technology, youth and foresight. UNICEF Youth Foresight Senior Fellow.
Working alongside institutions that share our standard of rigour
Annual reports & strategic documents
Impact reporting, monitoring summaries and strategic plans — available for partners, donors and the public.