Overview
The EAT (Engage, Anticipate, Transform) project aims to develop and pilot a futures- and participation-focused train-the-trainer course for early- to mid-career actors shaping healthy, sustainable urban futures in Africa. The project brings together African and diaspora partners to co-create, test and refine a curriculum that builds anticipatory and participatory capacity and strengthens agency and leadership among those positioned to influence urban decisions, enabling locally grounded, futures-informed pathways to action.
Project Timeline
Nov 2025-Nov 2026
About
African cities are experiencing rapid urbanisation alongside intensifying health and climate risks. Addressing these challenges requires more than technical solutions; it calls for new ways of framing problems, working with uncertainty and bringing diverse actors together to co-create futures that are healthier, more inclusive and more sustainable. Yet many people who convene others, across civil society, government, research and practice, lack access to structured training in anticipatory and participatory methods that support this kind of work.
The EAT project responds to this gap by developing and piloting a train-the-trainer course that integrates anticipatory practice and transdisciplinary participatory methods. The course is designed to support trainers and conveners in helping groups reframe assumptions, broaden their perspectives, build trusted cross-sector coalitions, and translate collective insights into actionable, futures-informed pathways.
The pilot of the course developed will be delivered as a four-day pre-conference workshop at the 2026 Citizen Science Africa Conference in Lagos. Participants will be competitively selected from across sectors and institutions, with an intentional focus on young adults positioned to influence others. Through the train-the-trainer model, the project will consider how EAT methods can be adapted, applied and cascaded within different contexts. Learning from the pilot will inform refinement of the curriculum and wider knowledge exchange through publications, webinars and communities of practice.
Project Team
Professor Tolullah Oni, UrbanBetter Academy@Cambridge, University of Cambridge
Professor Peter Elias, Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos
Dr Amollo Ambole, Adjunct Lecturer, University of Nairobi
Professor Geci Karuri-Sebina, University of Witwatersrand
Philip Dambisya, University of Cape Town
Dr Kareem Buyana, Makerere University
Partners
Funders
Related Resources
- Fundamentals of Air Quality in African Cities
- EAT: Engage, Anticipate, Transform
- Age-Friendly Public Spaces in African Cities: ISUH Africa Community of Practice Webinar Report
- Urban Health Data in Africa and Latin America: Experiences, Challenges and Opportunities – ISUH Community of Practice Webinar Report
- Urban Health Data in Africa and Latin America: Experiences, Challenges and Opportunities -ISUH Africa Community of Practice webinar
