Young people are best placed to lead change
Ascend Futures Foundation (AFF) is a Zambian youth-focused and women-led non-profit organisation working to advance healthy, informed, and resilient communities. Founded in 2017 by two HIV prevention advocates from Zambia and Malawi, and formally registered as a non-profit in 2024, AFF grew out of a clear conviction: young people are not simply beneficiaries of development — they are the people best placed to lead it.
We are based in Lusaka and currently implement programmes in 12 districts across 7 provinces of Zambia, with a focus on adolescents and young people, women, men, and other priority populations who are too often left out of decisions about their own health and future.
Our work sits at the intersection of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and HIV prevention, community advocacy, systems accountability, and the rising demands of climate & health. We combine community mobilisation, advocacy, research, and partnership to strengthen both the community and the health systems meant to serve them.
Our Vision
A society where young people thrive in healthy, informed, resilient, and just communities.
Our Mission
To advance healthy, informed, resilient, and empowered communities through youth-centered, evidence-driven, and community-led solutions.
“I’ve spent over a decade in rooms where decisions get made about young people’s lives — clinical trials, national guidelines, global policy tables — and too often, the young people those decisions were about weren’t in the room. That’s the gap Ascend Futures Foundation exists to close.
We see young people not as recipients of development but as the people already driving it. Our role is to back them with the tools, networks and opportunities to do that well: peer educators trained and paid for their expertise, mentorship that builds toward leadership, services designed around how young people actually live.
To the young people reading this: you’re not our beneficiaries, you’re our colleagues. To our partners: you’re not funding outreach — you’re backing a generation of leaders who just need the room to lead at scale.”
Chilufya KasandaExecutive Director, Ascend Futures Foundation
What We Stand For
Youth-Centered Leadership
Young people are powerful agents of change and must be meaningfully engaged in shaping the solutions that affect their lives and communities.
Equity & Inclusion
We promote fairness, dignity, equal opportunity, and inclusive access to health services, information, and development opportunities for all.
Community Empowerment
We value community ownership, participation, and locally driven solutions that strengthen resilience, accountability, and sustainable impact.
Integrity & Accountability
We uphold transparency, ethical conduct, professionalism, and responsible stewardship across all our work and partnerships.
Innovation & Learning
We embrace evidence-based programming, continuous learning, digital innovation, and adaptive approaches that improve impact and sustainability.
Centered on those too often left out
Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW)
Adolescents and young people, in and out of school
Women and girls
Key populations and other underserved groups
Healthcare workers and peer educators
Rural and peri-urban communities affected by poverty, stigma, and gender inequality
Anchored in national & global priorities
AFF is aligned with Zambia's national development priorities, including the National HIV Prevention Roadmap 2025–2030 and the National Health Strategic Plan, as well as global commitments on HIV prevention, gender equality, and youth development.
Thank You!
Thanks for reaching out — we'll be in touch soon.