Co-Creating Sustainable Futures: Insights from the Second Transition Space Meetings in Nairobi and Accra
The EPIC Africa project recently convened its second Transition Space meetings in Nairobi, Kenya (February 2025) for the Tana River Basin and in Accra, Ghana (March 2025) for the Volta River Basin, bringing together diverse stakeholders to collaboratively envision sustainable pathways for the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa. These participatory gatherings created a unique space for government representatives, academics, research institutions, public and private sector to collectively reimagine sustainable development pathways in the context of the Water-Energy-Food(WEF) Nexus as well as long-term visions for resilient development.
The Transition Space approach, central to the EPIC Africa project, offers a novel methodology for addressing complex systemic challenges. It moves beyond traditional planning by combining technical analysis with deep reflection, participatory foresight, and narrative storytelling. Rather than focusing solely on data and forecasts, Transition Space meetings foster a collaborative environment where long-term visions are shaped by shared values and grounded in context-specific realities. Stakeholders are encouraged to step outside their institutional roles and engage in exercises that emphasize inclusion, cultural identity, and systems thinking.
Highlights from the Second Transition Space Meetings
The second round of Transition Space meetings explored three distinct, forward-looking scenarios: Community Place-Based System Innovation, WEF-Based Urbanization, and Water Families. Each scenario represents a different trajectory toward sustainability in the river basins, rooted in local needs, aspirations, and ecological dynamics.
The Community Place-Based System Innovation scenario envisioned decentralized, self-sufficient communities utilizing renewable energy, smart agriculture, and digital connectivity to foster local resilience and prosperity. The WEF-Based Urbanization scenario imagined high-tech, climate-resilient smart cities, seamlessly integrating food systems, clean energy, and public infrastructure. In contrast, the Water Families scenario proposed an ecologically centered approach, where rivers are treated as living entities and governance is shared among interdependent community “families.” Participants evaluated each scenario against a core set of value clusters human dignity, basic needs, and sustainable resource management identified in the initial Transition Space workshops.
The second day of each meeting transitioned from visioning to technical exploration. Participants worked in breakout groups to define design criteria across five dimensions social, technological, economic, ecological, and political to help parameterize future scenario modeling.
By blending storytelling, participatory governance, and advanced systems modeling, the Second Transition Space meetings in Kenya and Ghana demonstrated how integrated, value-driven planning can inform resilient development strategies. The outcomes of these sessions will directly inform the next phase of EPIC Africa’s work: translating collective visions into policy-relevant models and actionable frameworks that honor both community priorities and scientific rigor.
Moving Forward
As the project evolves, these gatherings will remain essential for developing contextually grounded solutions to Africa’s interconnected resource challenges. The EPIC Africa team is now integrating these rich discussions into their modeling and policy engagement, translating shared visions into actionable strategies for the Tana and Volta River basins. What makes this approach unique is how it creates space not just for policy discussion, but for shared imagination, informed dialogue, and collective stewardship of the future.
The minutes for each of the Second Transition Space meetings can be accessed clicking the following links:
Second Transition Space meeting Report_Tana_Kenya.docx
Second Transition Space meeting Report_Volta_Ghana.docx