is supporting community-led action during times of crisis.

Collaborative Futures works alongside frontline humanitarians, rights defenders, and storytellers to co-create tools and solutions that protect civic space. We build infrastructure to strengthen what is working, support what is under strain, and connect the dots.

:) Welcome to our website, currently under construction

WE WORK ACROSS FOUR PILLARS

  • We deploy secure communication systems with communities facing shutdowns and surveillance.


    Through Keeping the Story Alive, we work with 20 local humanitarian, media, and human rights groups in Sudan to reconnect communities cut off by violence and communication blackout, amplifying their reporting and advocacy when the world goes dark.

    → We are developing ShoutSMS, a lightweight encrypted messaging app built with civic groups facing internet shutdowns, surveillance, and digital repression. ShoutSMS enables secure, offline communication–including text and images–over SMS networks, helping people stay connected, share critical information, and organize safely when traditional channels are blocked or compromised. Early community rollouts are planned in Uganda, Sudan, Eritrea, and Myanmar.

    → We are developing BRACE (Building Resilience and Circumvention in Emergencies), a four-step framework co-created with civic groups to help organizations prepare for and respond to internet shutdowns. Designed as a global tool, it supports teams in designing practical, context-specific contingency plans based on their real needs and risks. 

  • We co-design practical tools to power mutual aid, coordination, and collective action.

    → The Mutual Aid Portal is a digital public good co-created with Sudanese mutual aid groups to support community-led coordination, cash transfers, and crisis response. Now adopted in 69% of Sudan’s states and used by 52 Emergency Response Rooms that coordinate local relief, the platform provides secure, accessible transfers through integrated crypto wallets and stablecoins. It also uses lightweight, responsible AI tools to support local planning, reporting, and impact tracking without extractive data practices. Rooted in trust and local control, our open digital systems help communities move faster, stay accountable, and act on their own terms.

  • We co-develop community-owned evidence systems for justice and memory.

    → The Sudan Collaborative Archive Platform is co-developed with the Sudan Human Rights Hub to document, preserve, and activate evidence of human rights violations. Built with a network of over 40 grassroots groups, it safeguards over 37,000 records to support frontline investigations, national and international accountability, and collective memory in the face of disinformation and erasure.

  • Building narrative infrastructure to support local and global storytellers using film, art, emerging technology and impact campaign.