Camphill Academy Afrika

Overview

The Camphill Academy Afrika is a consortium of African and non-African partners, working together under the umbrella of the Camphill Academy’s Continuing Education Program to develop a place-based, genuinely African anthroposophical professional development and training program for practitioners in inclusive social development. The program brings together professionals engaged in early childhood education, primary education, vocational training, inclusive community-building and social agriculture on the African continent.

Opening Address to the Camphill Academy Afrika, given by core faculty member Janet Manoni on July 23, 2025

Download Janet Manoni’s opening address as PDF

“We are the Circle” – A poetic offering for Vikindu Village (from the pilot module in Vikindu, Tanzania, August 2025)

Program Philosophy: Ubumuntu – Hekima – Akaretsa

The Camphill Academy Afrika’s motto speaks to the resonance of African philosophies and wisdom traditions with the heart of anthroposophy and inclusive social development. “Ubumuntu” is a Kinyarwanda term and refers to the essence of what it means to be human. It evokes a relational understanding of our shared humanity, expressed in kindness, generosity, greatness of heart and an awareness of how our actions mediate creatively between the past and the future. The Swahili term “Hekima” has a deep and powerful range of meanings, centered on a form of wisdom that flows from our awareness of being human and enables us to act in ways that are true to that consciousness. “Akaretsa” comes from the Setswana language and means to embrace, involve and include. It speaks to the social gesture of empowerment and inclusion that flows from a shared, wisdom-filled awareness of what it means to be human.

Partners

Camphill Community Trust Botswana

Center for Anthroposophy (USA)

Goetheanum – Section for Inclusive Social Development (Switzerland)

Mama na Mwana Foundation

Ubumwe Community Center (Rwanda)

Pilot Phase

The project is under development, and a first pilot module is taking place in August 2025 in Tanzania. This initial module will serve to test and fine-tune the program concept and design, based on a deeper understanding of the needs of the participant cohort, participant input, and a review of the prototype module by the participants and faculty.

Mission Statement

The Camphill Academy Afrika is a community of learning rooted in the life and work of inclusive organizations, schools and community initiatives inspired by the wisdom inherent in our shared humanity, as it can be discovered, understood and practiced through African wisdom traditions and through anthroposophy as a modern path of wisdom, and who strive for inclusive social development, inspired by the worldwide Camphill Movement, Waldorf education and local community-building practices. It aims to provide paths of transformative learning that allow individuals to unfold their potential to contribute to the healing of the human being, society and the earth.

Vision Statement

Members of the Camphill Academy Afrika support each other in the quest for personal growth and transformation through the experience of active service in the context of community. The Academy strives to fulfill its mission by creating place-based, practice- and community-integrated studies in the fields embraced by the work of the Camphill Movement. The principal fields of learning include Waldorf, therapeutic and inclusive education, inclusive community building and livelihood, biodynamic agriculture and social farming, the arts, and inner development.

All its programs seek to unite knowledge, art and practice through the cultivation of African wisdom traditions in dialogue with anthroposophy as founded by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) and the approaches to action research, phenomenological study and contemplative inquiry that arise from it. As a program of the Camphill Academy, affiliated with the International Training Circle in the Section for Inclusive Social Development of the School of Spiritual Science (Goetheanum), the Camphill Academy Afrika seeks to be a force for renewal in Africa and beyond.

Program Goals

The Camphill Academy Afrika aims to:

• Strengthen collaboration and innovative practices within the African network of Camphill, Waldorf education, and related organizations, especially with regard to the support and inclusion of people with disabilities of all ages, through education, inclusive community building, livelihoods and biodynamic social agriculture
• Create an inter- and transdisciplinary learning and professional development process that supports in-depth capacity building for key members of its three African partners and other related initiatives in the region, embodying the spirit of Ubumuntu (being human), Hekima (wisdom) and Akaretsa (inclusiveness)
• Build a regionally connected community of practitioners who can support each other and each others’ organizations collegially, through sharing of expertise, experience and good practices, and serve as multipliers in their organizations, local networks and in the African region
• Serve as a space for practice-based research, inquiry and development of educational, community-building, livelihood and social agriculture practices and approaches that integrate local wisdom and resources with the experience and insights from Western-based and global anthroposophical practice settings to advance local and global practices in the network
• Offer a prototype for an anthroposophical learning community that is consciously and intentionally grounded in diverse local contexts and wisdom, and contribute to the development of anthroposophy, Waldorf education, Camphill and biodynamic social agriculture practices for the 21st century
• Support the development of creative, locally embedded and community-based solutions for people with disabilities and other vulnerable people in the communities of the partner organizations and beyond
• Develop a cohort of trainers, mentors and facilitators of future professional education and development programs for inclusive education and social development in the region and beyond

Student & Faculty Area