A Continental Think Tank

Shaping partnerships, policy, and practice for a thriving Africa

African Renaissance Trust envisions a continent where all peoples enjoy healthy, empowered, and dignified lives. We champion, advance, and drum up support for transformational development by shaping partnerships, policy, and practice to build a unified, prosperous, and thriving Africa.

Our Work → Theory of Change

A continental policy actor · Advisory · Convening · Domestication Pillars: Gender Equality · Health Equity · Socio-Economic Justice

Who we are

Operating at the convergence of duty bearers, rights holders, policy, and practice

African Renaissance was established in 2019 and registered as a Trust in 2021. We challenge the ideological, structural, and systemic forces that sustain inequity and injustice across Africa and operate at the convergence of duty bearers, rights holders, policy, and practice.

Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with continent-wide reach, we convene decision-makers, technical experts, and active citizens around the policy choices that shape African lives — fostering transformative change through strategic engagement across regional, sub-regional, and national levels.

2019 Founded

2021 Registered as a Trust

3 pillars Gender · Health · Socio-Economics

Pan-African AU, RECs and national reach

Change starts where power sits.

Change comes from understanding what holds people back — and then shaping the policies, systems, and budgets that move them forward. We operate through a three-stage engagement architecture: Connect. Inform. Activate.

We connect the stakeholders who rarely meet — government decision-makers and grassroots evidence, civil society and continental frameworks, marginalised communities and the platforms where resources are allocated. We inform through decision-ready policy research, legal reviews, and technical briefs shaped for the committees and ministerial desks where they will be read. We activate by converting intelligence into institutional change — driving legislative reform through AU and REC decision-making pipelines, supporting precedent-setting litigation, and equipping communities with the tools to sustain accountability long after the campaign cycle ends.

Anchored in Agenda 2063 — the continent's blueprint for inclusive growth, driven by its own citizens.

Connect

We bring together AU organs, governments, technical experts, and grassroots voices around the policy choices that shape African lives.

Inform

We produce decision-ready policy briefs, legal reviews, and analytics shaped for the committees and ministerial desks where they will be read.

Activate

We convert intelligence into institutional change — legislative reform, domesticated commitments, sustained accountability.

What we do

Three pillars. One mission.

Each pillar is anchored in a continental commitment and translated into national-level reform — through the same Connect · Inform · Activate methodology.

Pillar 01

Gender Equality

Equality is not optional. We advance women's leadership, youth agency, and social inclusion as non-negotiable foundations of African development. Through our GEYSI approach, we embed equality into the policies, budgets, and institutions that shape daily life.

Connect — Coalitions between the ACHPR, national governments, and women's rights organisations, anchored by Canada, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Finland.

Inform — The GEYSI Mainstreaming Toolkit, unveiled at the 39th AU Summit, and SRHR research with Guttmacher Institute through Project 616.

Activate — Domestication of the Maputo Protocol and ACHPR Sanitation Guidelines into enforceable national legislation.

Explore Gender Equality →

Pillar 02

Health Equity

Health is a right. We strengthen primary health care, unlock domestic health financing, and drive the domestication of continental commitments — from the Abuja Declaration to the Maputo Protocol — into country-level action that saves lives.

Connect — Ministers, AU directorates, and DFIs around Africa's unfinished health financing agenda, brokered through Gates Foundation catalytic capital (INV-064048).

Inform — The EAC Sustainable Health Financing Compact and the Health Financing Exemplars Database mapping what works, where, and why.

Activate — Domestication of the Abuja Declaration and Addis Ababa Immunisation Agenda into national budgets.

Explore Health Equity →

Pillar 03

Socio-Economic Justice

Growth that leaves people behind is not development. We champion African leadership on debt sustainability, climate accountability, and social protection — positioning the continent for a dignified role on the global stage, from the G20–Africa table to COP.

Connect — Coalitions across AU organs, RECs and governments — from PSDA regulatory harmonisation to AfCFTA trade corridor engagement.

Inform — The Renaissance Vault of African Maps: data-driven visualisations of inequality, trade flows, and development progress.

Activate — Policy reforms at the G20–Africa table, COP negotiations, and AU Summit processes on debt, climate finance, and social protection.

Explore Socio-Economic Justice →

Featured work

Evidence of delivery.

A live portfolio of policy products and partnerships — organised by pillar, partner, and stage of impact.

Gender Equality

GEYSI Mainstreaming Toolkit

Unveiled at the 39th AU Summit, February 2026. A decision-ready framework for embedding gender, youth, and social inclusion into WASH policies and budgets.

Partners: AU · ACHPR · Bilateral five

Health Equity

Health Financing Exemplars Database

An EAC-anchored evidence base mapping what works in domestic health financing — by country, instrument, and outcome.

Partners: AU · ACHPR · Bilateral five

Socio-Economic Justice

ACHPR Guidelines on the Right to Sanitation

A precedent-setting continental guideline focused on women and girls, developed in partnership with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Partners: AU · ACHPR · Bilateral five