Open Design Afrika

Open Design Afrika (ODA) is a Cape Town-based social enterprise and non-profit organisation that uses design, creative intelligence and collaborative learning experiences to enable people and help develop a society of future-builders who can shape thriving futures for people, communities and the planet.

Open Design Afrika serves as the Local Host and Coordinating Partner for Pan Afrikan Design Week 2026. ODA leads the local coordination, programme development, storytelling, event experience, design-for-impact framing, local networks and host-city delivery. Drawing on more than a decade of experience, ODA is helping to ensure that the event is not only hosted in Cape Town, but is also meaningfully connected to the city’s creative, cultural and social-impact landscape.

Established in 2013, ODA works at the intersection of design, future-fit education, social-impact innovation, culture and civic participation. It creates accessible platforms, programmes and partnerships that democratise knowledge, develop future-fit skills and bring people from different backgrounds, disciplines and sectors together to address shared social, economic and environmental challenges.

Grounded in the Afrikan humanist philosophy of Ubuntu, ODA believes that everyone has the potential to become a future-builder. Its work connects designers, educators, students, young people, entrepreneurs, cultural practitioners, community leaders, policymakers, institutions and citizens, creating opportunities for them to learn from one another, imagine alternatives and turn ideas into meaningful action.

Through its former Open Design Cape Town Festival, its learning programmes and its social-impact entrepreneurial initiatives, ODA champions design as a civic, cultural and economic force that can strengthen agency, build trust, stimulate collaboration and create the conditions in which people, communities and cities can thrive.

From 2013 to 2021, ODA conceived, designed and produced the highly successful Open Design Cape Town Festival. Over nine years, the festival developed into a pioneering public platform that brought impactful design, innovation and creative learning into public spaces, schools, communities, cultural institutions and professional environments across Cape Town.

It showcased Afrikan and international change-makers, opened important systems-change and design conversations to wider audiences, and demonstrated the role, power and real-world impact of design in developing future-builders and change-makers and shaping more inclusive, resilient cities.

This work established ODA’s extensive experience in programme development, event production, partnership-building, storytelling, audience engagement and citywide coordination.