Calestous Juma Legacy Foundation

The Calestous Juma Legacy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2019 to advance economic transformation and sustainable development in Kenya, and ultimately in Africa more broadly, through the use of science and technological innovation. The Foundation’s primary goal is to help local communities develop and implement innovative solutions to health, educational, food security, environmental, and employment challenges identified by local experts and community members. It will focus its work initially in and around Calestous Juma’s hometown, Port Victoria, a small town in rural Western Kenya. Professor Calestous Juma was an internationally-recognized authority and leader in the application of science, engineering, and innovation to sustainable development. His original work focused on analyzing the co-evolution of technological innovation and institutional change in socio-economic systems. He directed programs that advanced science, technology, and innovation policy research (especially biotechnology), provided high-level science and technology advice, and promoted the conservation of biological diversity. Calestous knew that all human development ultimately takes place on the ground, in communities. The policies and investments that he spent his life working so hard for were a necessary framework, but he ran out of time to see that development happen in his hometown. The CJLF is proudly founded upon primary source concepts from Calestous, which he proposed would enable his home region to meet its development potential.