Research · Dialogue · Learning · Action

Knowledge for more resilient and equitable futures.

Relational Futures Institute is an independent Ghanaian research and learning organisation connecting community knowledge, rigorous inquiry and institutional action.

Explore our flagship work →Partner with RFI ↗

A village of compounds and a red earth road among fields, seen from above — Northern Region, Ghana. Photo: Kay Boadi / Unsplash

Scroll to explore ↓

Why RFI exists

Important knowledge is often lost, overlooked or disconnected from the decisions that shape people’s lives.

RFI helps communities and institutions understand change, preserve valuable knowledge and develop credible responses to social, environmental and institutional challenges.

Our work holds evidence, lived experience and long-term consequence together—turning inquiry into accessible knowledge, stronger capability and better decisions.

How we work

Grounded in place. Open to evidence. Designed for use.

A dirt road lined with tall trees — Tree-lined road, Yendi, Northern Region. Photo: Bob Chisholm / Unsplash

African-rooted and context-aware

We begin with history, culture, place and lived experience.

Evidence-led and open to inquiry

We test assumptions and distinguish evidence from interpretation.

Community-engaged

People are knowledge partners, not simply sources of information.

Practical and accessible

Research should strengthen capability, improve decisions or create useful public knowledge.

Ethically responsible

We attend to consent, ownership, power, exclusion and unintended consequences.

Our work

Four connected programme areas.

RFI works across living knowledge, climate, public policy and institutional capability.

Flagship programme · In development

Ghana Living Systems Initiative

A national research, documentation and public-learning platform for indigenous social systems and community knowledge.

Explore ↗

In development

Climate and Regenerative Futures

Community-centred research and learning on climate adaptation, land, water, food systems, biodiversity and regenerative practice.

Explore ↗

In development

Community Research and Public Policy

Participatory research, evidence and dialogue that connect lived realities to public and institutional decisions.

Explore ↗

In development

Institutional Learning and Future Readiness

Foresight, strategy, knowledge management, leadership learning and organisational development for institutions navigating change.

Explore ↗

View all programme areas

Two young women with wooden pestles at a mortar in a dry savannah field — Savannah, Ghana. Photo: Emmanuel Offei / Unsplash

Flagship programme · In development

Ghana Living Systems Initiative

Documenting how communities organise life—and what these systems can teach the present.

A proposed national platform to document indigenous governance, care, livelihoods, ecological knowledge, conflict resolution and knowledge transmission with communities as knowledge partners.

Explore the initiative

Research agenda

Questions that connect community experience with public decisions.

Living systems and indigenous knowledge

Climate adaptation and regenerative futures

Community research and public policy

Institutions, trust and future readiness

Society, technology and human connection

Knowledge preservation and public learning

Explore our research

Ideas and evidence

Research in public language.

A farmer's hands holding freshly cut heads of pearl millet in a field

Climate & Food

Working paper · 25 October 2026

Climate change in Ghana: farmers and food security in the north

Climate change in Ghana is felt most sharply by farmers in the north, where most families depend on rain-fed crops and food insecurity is highest. This working paper sets out what the evidence shows and what would make farming there more secure.

The River Pra running brown with sediment between forested banks

Water & Mining

Working paper · 19 October 2026

Galamsey and water pollution in Ghana: how illegal mining became a water crisis

Galamsey and water pollution in Ghana are now tied together: illegal gold mining in and beside rivers has forced treatment plants to shut and pushed up the cost of safe water. This working paper sets out the evidence and why bans alone have not worked.

A still lake below rocky quarry walls and green vegetation

Our Thinking

Founding essay · 29 September 2026

What do we mean by relational futures?

A river that turns brown tells a story about more than mining. It shows how land, livelihoods, institutions and public health are bound together — and why the futures we build depend on the relationships between them.

Visit the insights library

RFI Digital Commons

Free digital tools that keep your work on your device.

Offline-capable, privacy-respecting tools for communities, researchers and practitioners: Knowledge Keeper for documenting community knowledge with care, Systems Canvas for mapping a challenge and where change might begin, and FieldKit for ethical fieldwork. Available now.

Explore Digital Tools

Work with us

Research, preserve knowledge and build practical responses together.

We welcome communities, universities, civil society, public institutions, foundations and responsible businesses seeking grounded research and credible collaboration.

Explore partnership opportunities →