Our Work
The Future is Co-Created
Too many people are shut out of the decisions that shape their futures. Top-down policymaking ignores lived realities, fueling public mistrust, weakening democracy, and creating policies that fail to meet real needs. At i4Policy, we believe policy shouldn’t be done to communities, but co-authored with them. We exist to put people back at the center of governance. When citizens become active co-authors rather than passive beneficiaries, the outcomes are smarter, more legitimate, and widely supported. Together, we are transforming governance to build resilient societies where everyone can thrive.
Our Unique Approach
Connecting Top-Down with Bottom-Up
Our approach stands out because we focus on real stewardship and implementation:
We catalyze iterative decision-thinking through ADDIS, replacing rigid top-down models with an adaptable framework built on public participation and deliberation. It is a way of thinking that invites communities to help shape the laws that govern them. For more information, see decisionthinking.org.
We recognize that not everyone is digitally connected. We proactively combine in-person, decentralized consultations with digital innovation, like our Shiriki Platform, to engage communities efficiently and at scale.
We build the conditions for continuity through establishing new or improved institutions, for example technical working groups consisting of local experts and government officials who take over the stewardship of the policy process long after our direct involvement ends.
Theory of Change
Change Areas
Output
Impact
Moonshot
Policies set the rules of the game for entire societies. Because of this, policy inherently means scale. When governance frameworks are co-created with the community and implemented effectively, a single inclusive reform doesn’t just solve an isolated problem; it positively affects millions of lives.
Our Three Pillars
How We Drive Change
To achieve this vision and transform ideas into practical, lasting solutions, our work is structured around three interconnected pillars. We design new innovations, test them in the real world, and share proven methods to empower others.
Our Initiatives
Research & Development
We conduct research to design new tools, methods, and technologies that drive real change. For example, we developed the ADDIS – Decision Thinking approach to help citizens and decision-makers work together toward meaningful change. We’ve launched and coordinated projects like the Global Assembly, the Governance Vocabularies Initiative, and the Citizen Engagement Platform. These initiatives rethink how we make decisions together at both national and international levels.
Strategic Advisory
We help governments, international organizations, and communities of practice adopt more inclusive ways of creating policies. For example, in Rwanda, we worked with young people, civil society, and government officials to design a national entrepreneurship policy together. We’ve also supported open policy discussions in countries like Senegal, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, leading to important reforms in innovation and digital economies.
Knowledge Sharing
We scale our impact by empowering change-makers to take control of their own futures. Through programs like the Entrepreneurship Policy Learning Series and Decision Thinking, we have provided training to hundreds of change-makers across the globe. These programs help them use participatory methods for different topics, promoting a more collaborative and informed way of making decisions.
The co>gov lab is i4Policy’s dedicated space for researching, experimenting, innovating, and implementing methods and frameworks in our own unique way, aiming to empower decision-makers, communities, and individuals with the tools needed to drive lasting, meaningful governance change.
Our Products
Ecosystem.build
Ecosystem.build is a collaborative platform that consolidates resources, methodologies, and expertise to foster better decision-making and grow entrepreneurial ecosystems across the continent.
Ecosystem.build products
- Ecosystem.build (Main Site)
- Entrepreneurship Policy Learning Series
- Entrepreneurship Policy Toolkit
- Policy Library of Startup Acts and SBAs
- Benchmarking Study of Entrepreneurship laws in Africa
- Pan-African Policy Taskforce
- Feminist African Manifesto for Entrepreneurship
- Africa Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index
The Decision Thinking website was created to guide users in influencing policy and fostering effective participatory processes. It serves as a tool for accessing and exploring participatory practices from around the world, encouraging users to engage with and contribute to a project aimed at rethinking global governance. The website offers a framework, along with guides and tools, to support these efforts.
The Citizen Engagement Platform is a collaborative space where the voices of African citizens shape the future of the continent. Developed in partnership with AUDA-NEPAD and GIZ, the platform empowers individuals to engage with the African Union’s initiative by learning, sharing ideas, and contributing their perspectives.
Our Projects
- Projects
In Ghana, i4Policy is driving a transformative shift in agricultural policy through the application of our signature, participatory ADDIS methodology....
i4Policy, in partnership with Miranda & Associados, is currently spearheading a transformative phase for Cabo Verde’s entrepreneurial landscape. This strategic...
In early October 2024, we supported the Burundi Policy Hackathon in Bujumbura, an event that brought together over 100 diverse...
We partnered with Participedia and seven other universities and organizations to launch the School on Transnational Democratic Innovations. This initiative...
We partnered with Participedia and the UM6P School of Collective Intelligence to launch the Governance Vocabularies Initiative at a conference...
We partnered with UNESCO and launched the #Don’tGoViral campaign to address the problem of misinformation on the African continent. Working...
We supported UNESCO in optimizing audience engagement with more than 5,000 people from 134 countries in order to draft the...
We partnered with AUDA-NEPAD to develop the Citizen Engagement Platform (CEP), an ambitious project aimed at empowering African citizens to...
A guide for entrepreneurship policy-making processes, developed in collaboration with Smart Africa. The Guide offers a comprehensive series of steps...