i. Aim
To use pan-African, progressive, feminist and people-centred approaches and methods in order to
generate, build, share and democratise knowledge in various forms towards a liberated Africa based
on the needs and input of African social movements.
ii. Approach
The Tuliwaza’s approach will be based on the principle that Amilcar Cabral articulated as the “Theory
of Practice”. It says:
“(…) every practice produces a theory, and though it is true that a revolution can fail even though it be
based on perfectly conceived theories, nobody has yet made a successful revolution without a revolutionary theory.” Amilcar Cabral, The Weapon of Theory, 1966.
Seeking to bridge the gap between the wealth of contemporary African intellectual thought and the
practice of people-led struggles for social justice through community organising and movement
building, Tuliwaza will seek to create an interface between emerging African academics, leaders and
activists, ensuring that knowledge generation will be in the service of African people. Further,
Tuliwaza will seek to build knowledge that arises from the experience of movements in particular
those working for and with young people while democratising the process of knowledge generation
and sharing.
Research carried out by Tuliwaza will, wherever feasible, seek to be participatory and collaborative in
its conceptualisation – in particular with the communities the research seeks to benefit. We will also
promote debate, discussion and further contribution to all research in examination of ongoing
knowledge generation and engagement with political thought.
In addition, Fahamu understands that the gap between theory and practice is also one of access. As
such, built into all research design will be channels of distribution and communication as a key
cornerstone of the programme. Similarly, through Fahamu’s Adilisha program the research will form
the cornerstone of learning provided to and for activism and therefore be communicated and
accessed by a wide audience particularly among economically oppressed and marginalised
communities, especially young women and men and their movements.
iii. Expected outcome
Through pan-African, progressive, feminist and people-centred approaches, knowledge based on the
needs and input of African social movements is generated and shared by at least five African young
scholars in collaboration with Fahamu every year. This research generated by African young
academics will further be a basis for development of further initiatives that involve and work with
young people to address societal issues that do not only affect them, affect the entire African
continent..
