NGFP African Futures
My vote
My voice

African Digital Futures

Stories on the future of digital societies
Explore the stories
A Kenya that's
truly one

African Digital Futures

Stories on the future of digital societies
Meet the storytellers
Two steps
forward,
one step
backwards,
is still one step
backwards

African Digital Futures

Stories on the future of digital societies
Find out about the project

African Digital Futures

Stories on the future of digital societies
Read the blogs

Explore the Stories

These eleven stories imagine different visions of the future of digital in Africa. The values embedded in these stories hold wide-ranging implications for how data is collected, stored, tracked, shared and valued by individuals, communities, governments and businesses. They call on policymakers and technologists to stretch their focus beyond questions of personal privacy and identity and consider collective data and intelligence as a public good used to inform better decision making and benefit the communities who generate it.

Our Future World

Brian WamukotaRoselyne Wanjiru

All Animals are equal

Saraphina AmbaleShem Omasire

Tree of Humanity awarded to African Game Changers once again

Jesse ForresterMarizanne Knoesen

Tribes of Future Past

Mutsa Samuel

Futurica

Rahma Ben Lazreg

Unplug Africa

Nancy MuigeiOluwaseun David

Feminist Future: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD

Gideon OlanrewajuZainab Yunusa

Journey to 2050

Chiagozie UdehFisayo Oyewale

The Green Party of Kenya Manifesto 2030

Frank OgollaIman Bashir

Towards Vision 2050

Fasoranti DamilolaMemunat Ibrahim

Vision: the future of AI and Tech

Charles UmehStephanie Itimi

Meet the storytellers

Our storytellers centered in Kenya, Nigeria and Pan African contexts developed visions and artefacts for African Digital Futures in their communities using a group futures process that involved a combination of different futures techniques and methodologies.

Find out who was involved

About the project

A group futures process exploring data governance in Africa.

African Digital Futures convened twenty two next-generation changemakers together with African futurists and next-generation thinkers in early 2021 to launch provocative conversations on data-driven technology as imagined, developed, and used by communities across the continent.

Through a group process, young Africans imagine healthy digital societies in the future. If a healthy society is like a garden ecosystem, which digital technologies should be bred and planted and watered, which invasive species should be removed, which delicate shoots need protection, and from which menacing threats?

These next-generation changemakers worked alongside leading experts in African history, culture, journalism, storytelling, agriculture, education, civic technology, environmental activism and scenario development who facilitated and informed the conversations. The stories and insights have been shared openly to encourage discussion and debate.

They identified key priorities for change with wide-ranging implications for how data is collected, stored, tracked, shared and valued by individuals, communities, governments and businesses. The project demonstrated that foresight and network weaving are a powerful combination that can be used to unlock transformation. It used a novel process that embraced principles of decolonisation, transformation and afrofuturism.

Learn more about the project

About NGFP

Next Generation Foresight Practitioners. Enabling the next generation of changemakers.

The Next Generation Foresight Practitioners (NGFP) programme exists to accelerate the transformative potential of the next generation of changemakers using foresight as a key tool to envision inclusive and equitable futures globally.

It supports emerging voices by driving their integral role in agenda-setting and connecting them with today’s decision-makers, amplifying their voices and insights. It aims to democratise futures around the world.

The programme is run by the School of International Futures (SOIF) with the support of Omidyar Network, Small Foundation and Humanity United.

Through the NGFP Programme and Annual awards and the programme we are:

  • Catalysing collaboration and network building through the sensing network of over 500 next generation practitioners
  • Enabling communities to come together around sectoral issues to drive participation across new geographies and sectors
  • Supporting the next generation of leaders in Africa through a six-month leadership programme funded by Small Foundation
  • Building demonstrator projects that show the value of NGFP perspectives
  • Activating the potential of the sensing network and wider community through our impact fund, mentoring, and network building activity

Learn more about NGFP

Supported by:

What people say

Don't stop the conversation. It has to be live and continually engaging. It doesn't have to only look at data but also look at other things related to data, technology and the future to come.

Nancy Muigei, Kenya
Storyteller

We often have to remind people that Afria is not a country, but a continent. But this experience revealed to us that Africa isn't just a place or a continent, Africa is a starting point for a new conversation.

Geci Karuri-Sabina, Pan-Africa
Facilitator and Host

Together we can start thinking about getting this work out at the secondary level, university level, policy level, markets level, and how we get more people thinking about futures literacy and data governance from an early stage, and then what would be a practical application.

Jesse Forester, Kenya
Storyteller

Futures studies has enabled us to cross that divide… If you are able to interact with and appreciate this rich past, then the current present is only a slice of time of our future possibilities.

Alinah Segobye, Botswana
Guest

We have come up with different futures which are in alignment with the work I do. I want to see the vision done with my partner becoming a living document, and reality. Moving the visions from the intangible to the tangible by constantly reading, sharing and turning them into reality.

Damilola Fasoranti, Nigeria
Storyteller

Get involved

Join the conversation

The stories shared here are designed to be the start of a converastion. If you’re interested in getting involved, or would like to share your views on the future of data societies then please contact the team, or sign up for news on the NGFP programme and how to get involved.

Are you a next-generation changemaker?

The Next Generation Foresight Practitioner’s (NGFP) programme exists to accelerate the transformation of the next generation of changemakers using foresight as a key tool to envision inclusive and equitable futures globally. To find out more about the programme or how to join the sensing network please email us at team@nextgenforesight.org or visit nextgenforesight.org