Civic Participation Through Creative Ecosystems
Leveraging Africa’s Creative Economy as a Catalyst for Civic Participation, Inclusion, and Ecosystem Collaboration
Overview
Africa Creatives Alliance (ACA) is pleased to announce a two-year initiative focused on strengthening the role of Africa’s cultural and creative ecosystems in civic participation, inclusive governance, and ecosystem coordination.
Through this initiative, ACA will expand and deepen its ongoing work on intermediary ecosystem leadership, creative economy governance, and Pan-African coordination. ACA continues its long-term positioning around strengthening the institutional and relational infrastructure required for Africa’s cultural and creative sectors / industries (CCSIs) to contribute more effectively to economic opportunity, civic participation, democratic dialogue, and cross-sector collaboration.
Over the two-year period, ACA will implement a connected scope of work across three interrelated dimensions:
- 1
Developing and piloting arts- and design-based civic collaboration methodologies that strengthen structured collaboration between creatives, civic actors and intermediary organisations, while demonstrating how creative ecosystems can contribute to inclusive participation and democratic engagement.
- 2
Strengthening intermediary ecosystem leadership through capacity building, ecosystem role-taking, peer learning and the development of a Pan-African Community of Practice bringing together creative hubs, incubators, makerspaces and ecosystem support organisations across Africa.
- 3
Implementing Relational Stakeholder Frameworks in selected ecosystems to strengthen coordination between public institutions, intermediaries, civil society actors and market stakeholders in areas such as intellectual property, trade integration, investment readiness and creative economy governance.
A key component of this scope of work focuses on strengthening intermediary organisations as ecosystem connectors that facilitate collaboration between creative communities, institutions, civic actors, and broader ecosystem stakeholders. In this context, ACA is expanding its intermediary ecosystem leadership and civic participation practice through methodologies that strengthen coordination, representation, and participation.
Ecosystem Coordination & Inclusion
The inclusion dimension of this strategic initiative is approached as a cross-cutting ecosystem priority. Particular attention will be given to strengthening inclusive participation pathways and expanding access to opportunities for displaced communities living in urban contexts, particularly women and youth, through intermediary support structures, creative collaboration processes, and civic participation initiatives.
The strategic workstream will also support the development of a Pan-African coordination and representation mechanism connecting ecosystem organisations, intermediaries and practitioners across African regions. Through strategic convenings, policy dialogue and engagement with Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and African Union-aligned processes, ACA aims to strengthen the visibility, coordination and representation of African creative ecosystem expertise within continental and international discussions.
Activities will be implemented in collaboration with intermediary organisations, civic actors, creative professionals, institutional stakeholders and regional ecosystem partners across East and Southern Africa, while contributing to broader Pan-African exchange and coordination.
Uganda Pilot:Arts & Design-Based Civic Collaboration & Ecosystem Anchoring
The Uganda pilot will function as the initiative’s primary methodology and ecosystem testbed, focusing on the development and implementation of arts- and design-based collaboration approaches that strengthen civic participation, dialogue, and inclusive engagement processes.
Implemented in collaboration with intermediary organisations, civic actors, artists, designers, and representatives from displaced communities living in urban contexts, the pilot will explore how cultural and creative practices can contribute to more accessible, participatory, and community-driven forms of engagement. Particular attention will be given to refugee and displaced communities from the Horn of Africa, especially women and youth.
The pilot will combine:
Training and awareness-building around arts- and design-based collaboration practices
Capacity building for creative intermediaries and civic actors
Co-design of collaboration methodologies and facilitation frameworks
Development of practical toolkits, collaboration charters and learning resources
Testing of methodologies through a real-world civic engagement campaign
Reflection, evaluation, and ecosystem anchoring of successful practices
At the centre of the pilot is the recognition that collaboration between civic organisations and creatives (artists & designers) often remains informal and insufficiently structured. The Uganda Pilot, therefore, focuses on developing practical methodologies that enable more effective collaboration between artists, designers, intermediaries, campaign organisations, and community actors.
The pilot will also strengthen the role of intermediary organisations, including creative hubs and ecosystem support organisations, as long-term facilitators of civic-creative collaboration, embracing also broader arts & design-based collaboration. Participating intermediaries will receive training and practical experience enabling them to integrate these approaches into their future programmes and business models.
A major applied component of the pilot will be the co-development of a civic engagement campaign addressing themes identified together with participating refugee communities and local partners. Through storytelling, visual expression, participatory design, and creative facilitation practices, the campaign will contribute to strengthening visibility, participation, and public dialogue around refugee inclusion, youth participation, and women’s representation within Uganda’s social and creative ecosystems.
The Uganda pilot is designed not only as a local intervention, but as a learning and methodology development process capable of informing broader ecosystem practice across Africa. Experiences, tools, and methodologies emerging from the pilot will therefore be documented and disseminated through the Africa Creatives Alliance network, intermediary Community of Practice, and Pan-African ecosystem dialogues.
Through this approach, the pilot contributes simultaneously to:
- Strengthening inclusive participation pathways for refugee, youth, and women communities;
- Developing new models for civic and creative collaboration;
- Reinforcing intermediary ecosystem leadership;
- Business model diversification for participating creative hubs, artists and designers
- Generating transferable methodologies for wider adoption across African creative ecosystems.
About Africa Creatives Alliance
Africa Creatives Alliance (ACA) is a pan-African umbrella network advancing the development, integration, and global competitiveness of Africa’s cultural and creative industries through a coalition of ecosystem partners and members. ACA works across government, development, investment, and ecosystem institutions to position the creative economy as a driver of economic growth, job creation, trade, innovation, and cultural influence across the continent.
Supporting the Missing Middle
Translating | Connecting
Enabling | Coordinating
Partnership and Collaboration
For partnership and collaboration opportunities, stakeholders may engage through Africa Creatives Alliance programme coordination structures:
Contact
Amanda Gowa
Director, Partnerships and Ecosystem Engagement
Africa Creatives Alliance
[email protected]