Innovation and research
for social good.
We partner with universities across Eastern Africa to turn research and data into localized solutions for social good.
Working with universities across Eastern Africa
Institutions of higher learning in Africa hold the intellectual resources to solve the social problems ailing the continent. We help them turn those resources into meaningful research and tools communities can use.
Building funding pathways for locally led solutions to continental challenges.
We are a non-profit. We build capacity within universities and amplify their initiatives through our networks, so locally led research and innovation can find funding and happen. See how we work.
We nurture.
We help universities activate data and research units, and we grow their chapters' skills in data and engineering for both research and building tools.
For universitiesWe connect.
We link community-based organizations with university data teams for the technical support they need to make data-driven decisions.
For community organizationsWe amplify.
We give universities a platform to shape research and innovation proposals around social issues, and we amplify them through our networks to help them find funding.
InitiativesOur process.
Each step informs the next, from a university's research and innovation arm finding its feet to funded initiatives for social good.
- 01
Nurture the Research & Innovation arm
We visit universities across Africa and help them activate a data and research unit, then grow its skills for both research and solutions development.
- 02
Research and build
Chapters take on real social problems and answer them, whether that means a research study or a tool built for the job.
- 03
Support the community
We connect community organizations with the research teams so that their interventions are built on reliable methodologies and data.
- 04
Amplify and open up
Universities explore and conceive solutions, and we amplify them through funding networks to help them raise research capital. Everything built or published is released under open-source licenses.
What we help build is open source.
The tools and research these initiatives produce are released under open-source licenses. A solution built for one community can be deployed in another, so the work does not stop at a single project.
- Source code and hardware designs, made public
- Datasets and documentation, under open licenses
Research and innovation to come.
We are just getting started with university teams. As they take on research and innovation work, each initiative will appear here with its funding goal and progress.
Tools that support the work and help fund it.
wCollect is our field data collection tool, free and open source for university teams and the organizations they support. Ins8 is our one commercial tool, and its proceeds go back into our training and mentorship work with universities.
Results and outcomes.
Our initiatives are just getting under way. As each one completes, its results and outcomes will be published here, openly, with the data and code behind them.