Tools and resources / Refuture Africa
Eight practical tools for people shaping enterprises, places and futures. Understand the context, develop an offer, test a choice and organise the relationships and capability to carry it forward.
Preview every page online. Free PDF downloads with your name and email. All eight tools / Version 1.1 / 20 October 2026.
Start with your decision
Use one tool on its own or combine them. This is a set of complementary tools, not a required sequence.
Read the guide, worksheets and examples
01 / Start with context
Use before choosing an intervention or entering a new place. Bring local knowledge, existing strengths and different perspectives into the decision.
A short guide, a fillable A3 place map, an opportunity comparison, a fictional worked map and source notes.
Leave with: A shared picture of the place and an opportunity to investigate.
Read the guide, worksheets and examples
02 / Examine relationships
Trace materials, money, services, knowledge and decision rights. Identify who benefits, who carries costs and which relationship needs attention.
A guide, a fillable A3 relationship map and flow register, matching fictional worked examples, review prompts and source notes.
Leave with: A relationship map and one change worth investigating.
Read the guide, worksheets and examples
03 / Develop an enterprise
Connect your offer and commercial logic with place, ownership, shared value and evidence of renewal.
A guide, a fillable A3 canvas, a clearly explained fictional irrigation venture, a completed canvas, financial and evidence checks, and source notes.
Leave with: A connected business model, explicit renewal intentions and one decision to test.
Read the guide, worksheets and examples
04 / Connect direction with action
Work backwards from a desirable future, test the pathway against uncertainty and choose a practical first move.
A guide, a fillable A3 pathway, a fictional worked example with two uncertainty checks, review prompts and source notes.
Leave with: A future direction, milestones and a first action.
Read the guide, worksheets and examples
05 / Learn before committing further
Agree a test and evidence threshold, then record the result, its limits and the decision that follows.
A guide, separate fillable A4 test-plan and learning-record sheets, a fictional proposed test, clearly simulated results, interpretation notes and sources.
Leave with: A test plan, a decision rule and a record of learning.
Read the guide, worksheets and examples
06 / Make working together explicit
Agree contributions, support, reciprocal benefits, decision rights and shared rules with the people involved. Keep proposals separate from confirmed commitments.
A practical guide, roles worksheet, governance worksheet, fictional proposals, review questions and source notes.
Leave with: A roles and commitments sheet, shared rules and unresolved matters to confirm.
Read the guide, worksheets and examples
07 / Connect contribution with commercial choices
Review a venture’s products, services or programmes against user value, contribution to place and workable delivery and funding. Decide what to retain, redesign, test or stop.
A practical guide, portfolio comparison, priority-offer review, fictional example, decision prompts and source notes.
Leave with: A clear intended contribution, an offering review and a priority decision with evidence needs.
Read the guide, worksheets and examples
08 / Make the work able to continue
Choose capabilities to develop through real work and identify the time, authority and resources they need. Agree responsibility for upkeep, knowledge, handover and change.
A practical guide, capability worksheet, stewardship worksheet, fictional example, review questions and source notes.
Leave with: Practice-development priorities and a resourced stewardship plan with review triggers.
Using the tools
The tools share a fictional solar irrigation service: growers pay for supplementary irrigation, while the proposed operator must make the service viable within agreed water limits. Prices, demand and test thresholds are teaching assumptions. Simulated learning results are labelled; no Refuture project or actual field findings are represented.
These tools support inquiry and decisions. Completing a worksheet does not establish that an enterprise is regenerative or that an intervention will work.
Recommended resources
These resources were created by other organisations. Our notes explain where they may help; each link opens the original publisher's page.
Doughnut Economics Action Lab
Explore how purpose, networks, governance, ownership and finance shape a business. A facilitated workshop resource; follow DEAL's professional-use policy.
Visit the original resourceIDEO.org
Practical methods for research with people, prototyping and learning from use. Start here when you need guidance on how to conduct the enquiry.
Visit the original resourceUK Government Office for Science
Methods and worksheets for scanning, exploring uncertainty, backcasting and testing a strategy against different future conditions.
Visit the original resourceAuthorship and use
Developed by Refuture Africa, informed by Isaac Jumba's 2026 research, Designing for Regeneration: A Venture Studio Model to Build Regenerative Ventures in Africa, and the methods credited inside each tool. The prompts and layouts are Refuture's own.
You may use these worksheets in your projects and workshops. Credit Refuture Africa, include the version and retain the source notes. Third-party resources keep their own terms.
These tools are early public editions, refined through use. Tell us which tool you used, what was unclear and what decision it helped you make. Please leave out confidential or personal information.
Share feedback or discuss a facilitated session