Charter Signatories
Institutions and organisations that have endorsed the REFA Charter, committing to the shared project of rethinking how Africa’s economies, institutions, and knowledge systems are understood, designed, and governed.
The REFA Charter sets out a shared set of commitments around how we produce knowledge, how we design institutions, and how we ensure that the frameworks shaping life on the continent are grounded in African realities rather than imported wholesale from contexts that do not share those realities. This is not a project confined to any single discipline. It spans economics, education, governance, health, social institutions, and community practice, because the challenges of institutional coherence cut across all of these domains. Signing the Charter is a statement of intent: a recognition that the way we understand and organise our economies, our public systems, and our knowledge production needs to change, and that your institution is willing to be part of that change.
We are currently inviting institutions across Africa and the diaspora to join us as founding signatories. If your organisation works in research, education, policy, community development, or funding and shares the values that underpin this network, we want to hear from you.
Who Should Sign the Charter?
Universities and Research Centres
Departments and research groups working across economics, development studies, public policy, education, governance, health, sociology, and related fields that are committed to producing research grounded in African institutional realities and building curricula that reflect them.
Policy Research Institutes
Think tanks and policy organisations working on institutional reform, legislative design, public administration, and the translation of research into governance practice at national and subnational levels.
Policymakers and Government Bodies
Ministries, agencies, and individual policymakers engaged in economic planning, education, health delivery, institutional development, or public sector reform who are open to co-producing alternatives alongside researchers and communities.
Foundations and Trusts
Philanthropic organisations, both African and international, that are committed to funding developmental research, institutional innovation, and community-led practice. Whether a continental foundation like the Tony Elumelu Foundation or an international trust investing in African-led agendas, funders who share the REFA ethos are essential partners in this work.
Civil Society Organisations
NGOs and community organisations whose applied work in health, education, inclusion, livelihoods, or social development puts them at the frontline of institutional impact. Charter signatory organisations are not joining REFA; they are partnering with it, bringing their communities and practical expertise into a collaborative framework so that research and practice reinforce one another rather than running in parallel.
Professional and Diaspora Networks
Associations of African professionals, academic networks, and diaspora organisations that support knowledge exchange and want to contribute to reshaping how Africa’s institutions and economies are understood and designed.
International Research Partners
Universities and research institutions outside Africa that are committed to equitable partnerships, knowledge co-production, and supporting African-led intellectual agendas rather than imposing external frameworks. The charter establishes the terms on which international collaboration happens: with African scholars and communities leading the agenda.
Why Sign the REFA Charter?
Join a growing network
Connect with scholars, practitioners, funders, and institutions across Africa and the diaspora who are working toward the same goal: institutions and knowledge systems that are coherent with the realities of the people they are meant to serve.
Shape the agenda
Founding signatories will have a voice in setting the direction of the network’s research priorities, institutional pilots, and policy translation pathways across all five of our research domains.
Access collaborative opportunities
Participate in joint research programmes, working paper exchanges, community engagement projects, policy briefings, and capacity building initiatives coordinated through the REFA Hub.
Demonstrate commitment
Signal to your stakeholders, funders, and peers that your institution takes seriously the project of building knowledge systems and institutional frameworks that work for Africa, across disciplines and across borders.
Interested in Becoming a Signatory?
We are building the founding cohort of Charter Signatories. If your institution shares our commitment to rethinking how Africa’s economies, institutions, and knowledge systems are shaped, we would welcome a conversation about how you can join us.
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