ACILITY
Better public decisions, owned

Make Africa's economic majority visible.

We help public institutions make better decisions with the communities they serve, and we keep what we build owned by those communities.

Nairobi · GMT+3Owned by the people it serves
The problem
When a clinic is sited or a subsidy is designed, two things go wrong every time.

The people who live the problem are not in the room. And what gets built does not last past the funding. So the decision misses the mark, and the next one starts from scratch.

Acility exists to fix both
What we do

We work one real decision at a time.

01

We bring people in

We get the people a decision affects, and the institution that makes it, into the same room.

02

We turn knowledge into action

We gather what communities know, turn it into clear insights, and design the systems and AI to act on them.

03

We keep it owned

What we build stays owned by the institution and the community, so the next decision builds on it instead of starting over.

In the field

Where the work actually happens.

Field network · in the community
Insights · in the room
Systems · in use
How we work

The node is the channel.

The commons is the asset: the durable stock we keep building. It is not where impact happens. Impact happens at the node: one real decision, in one real place, run by a trusted field network of local people working with AI and the systems, over data the community owns.

A real decision
from convening
→
THE NODEthe implementing channel
Field network
AI
The systems
Community data
running one real decision on the ground
Operated by Acility
→
Decision delivered
impact on the ground
↓  draws / deposits
THE COMMONSheld in trust · data · decision systems · people

What Acility brings to every node, end to end:

CAPABILITY 01

Field network

Trusted local people who go to the ground and gather what communities know.

CAPABILITY 02

Insights

Turning what they gather into clear intelligence the decision can act on.

CAPABILITY 03

Systems & AI design

Designing the systems and the AI that carry the decision through.

CAPABILITY 04

Stewardship

Keeping what is built owned by the institution and the community.

What we operate

Two arms, one engine.

Acility runs the commons that holds what we build, and the studio where what comes next is made.

01 · The Commons

The network.

The durable, held-in-trust stock every node draws from and deposits back into — the data, the decision systems, and the people. Operated by Acility, owned by the communities and institutions that build it.

  • A field network of trusted local actors
  • Shared data and decision systems
  • Governance that keeps value where it is made
02 · The Studio

Where ideas are bred and created.

The Studio prototypes the tools, methods, and public-good ventures that nodes need — then releases them to the commons. Built in partnership with the Institute of Design and Innovation.

  • Tools, methods, and public AI
  • Public-good ventures that can scale
  • Design and innovation with IDI
Visit IDI.africa →
Programmes & services

Each programme is a node.

Five live programmes, each a real decision in a real place — run with local people, AI, and systems over data the community owns.

Node 01 · Trust network

Harmonia

Our first node: a cross-sector trust network that brings institutions and the communities they serve around the same decisions.

Node 02 · Last-mile health

Community Health Units

Equipping frontline community health teams with the intelligence and tools to reach every household, and the data to keep improving.

Node 03 · Climate resilience

Environmental Intelligence

Turning local environmental knowledge and data into early action for communities on the frontline of a changing climate.

Node 04 · Justice & rights

Connected Justice

Making legal and civic systems navigable, so people can claim the rights, protections, and services they are owed.

Node 05 · Creative economy

Creative Commons

Helping creators and communities own, license, and earn from the culture and knowledge they make — kept open and shared.

The commons grows

A living network you can add to.

Every commons is a node on the same network. The model is built to grow — when a new decision needs a home, we stand up a new commons and it weaves into the network. Try it: name one and watch it connect.

0commons on the network
  • +your commons appears here
Demonstration · shows how the network extends
What each node also makes

Every node makes things others reuse.

A node sits inside a real problem, with local people, real data, and AI. That is a good place to build things others can build on.

Public AI

Models and tools for African languages, climate, and humanitarian response, released open for anyone to build on.

New tools and methods

Reusable by the next node and by other institutions, so no one rebuilds from scratch.

Public-good ventures

Where a solution can pay for itself, we spin out a venture to scale it, owned so its value returns to the communities it serves.

Impact

What the commons has compounded so far.

0
Network actors on the ground
0
Active commons held in trust
0
Communities reached
0
Decisions delivered with partners
Stories

From the field and the studio.

All stories →
Field · Jun 2026

How Harmonia put a county's first node in the room

What changed when the people who live the problem helped design the decision that affects them.

Read →
Studio · May 2026

Releasing public AI for African languages to the commons

Why the tools a node builds belong to everyone who comes after it.

Read →
Partners · Apr 2026

What it means to fund a capability that stays

A look at the ownership model that keeps value with the communities that make it.

Read →
Why it lasts

The value stays where it is made.

01

Owned

What we build belongs to the institutions and communities that produce it. That is legitimacy no outside vendor can match.

02

Compounding

Each node makes the next one cheaper and faster. Every decision starts further ahead than the last.

03

Diversified

We earn from several sources, so no single grant carries the whole weight.

Why it matters
The value stays with the people who make it.

Fund a capability that stays.

For governments, funders, and partners who want a capability that lasts and compounds, not a project that ends with the grant.

Partner with us Read our prospectus
DOOR 01

Anchor a capability

Multi-year support for the field network, insights, systems design, or stewardship.

DOOR 02

Back a decision

Bring a real mandate in health, climate, justice, or finance, and we run it as a node with you.

DOOR 03

Start with a cohort

A short first engagement that trains and places people, and leads naturally into more.

partner@acility.org build@acility.org