Subcommunity Spotlight: Africa

The Subcommunity Spotlight blog series aims to raise awareness of the many vibrant subcommunities within The Carpentries and highlight their activities. A brings together a subset of the broader Carpentries community. It may be local (e.g., a university-based Carpentries Club), regional (e.g., The Carpentries in Africa), or special interest-driven (e.g., HPC Carpentry, Carpentries-es, CarpentriesOffline). The series aims to foster connections among members, whether they live in the same region, speak a common language, or share similar interests. To learn more or get involved in a subcommunity, join the #subcommunity channel on Slack or reach out via email at community@carpentries.org. If you lead a subcommunity and would like to be featured in a future edition of this series, we’d love to hear from you!

The Carpentries in Africa

The Carpentries in Africa is a vibrant regional subcommunity of The Carpentries. Since 2017, we have been hosting monthly community calls on the fourth Thursday of each month, providing a space for scholars across the continent to connect, share experiences, and learn from one another.

These sessions explore a wide range of topics relevant to our community, including:

Past and upcoming workshops
Challenges unique to teaching in Africa
Available resources and opportunities
Regional events and collaborations.

Historical support

The first Carpentries workshop in Africa was held in 2013, and workshops in the region gained momentum by 2015. To strengthen this growing community, an African Task Force was formed in 2016, supported by mentors from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. These mentors guided the first cohort of African Instructors through the training and checkout process, an especially valuable effort given the geographical isolation of many participants.

The Task Force was revived in December 2017, this time led by African Instructors themselves. Their mission was to mentor both newly trained and certified Instructors, helping them gain confidence and prepare for their first workshops. Task Force members hosted small online sessions to:

Demonstrate effective teaching practices
Deepen familiarity with Carpentries lessons
Reinforce key instructional skills.

The second African Task Force concluded its activities in December 2018. Some South African-based initiatives received funding through the Rural Campuses Connection Project II (RCCP II), which supported local training and coordination until March 2019. As a result of these efforts, more than 180 African Instructors have completed Instructor Training events to date.

How You Can Contact This Subcommunity

Community point of contact: Angelique Trusler, admin-af@carpentries.org
Join the mailing list: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/local-africa
Join the Slack channel: https://carpentries.slack.com/archives/CR7AT9F08

Blog Posts Highlighting The Subcommunity

Our Associate Director of Community @angeliquetrusler.bsky.social is at #pyconafrica2025! She's engaging with the Africa Pycon community, and on Friday at 09h30 she'll be on the panel, 'Teaching Meets Practice: Building Stronger Code Education Together'. 🌟 For more details: za.pycon.org/schedule/

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— The Carpentries (@carpentries.carpentries.org) October 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM

Honoured to be Gratitude of the Month with @simisani.bsky.social by @carpentries.carpentries.org 🎉 for sharing our experiences curating @weare.rladies.org! Proud to uplift R-Ladies voices 💜 #RLadies #RStats

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— Njoki Njuki 🏳️‍🌈 (@njokinjuki.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 11:00 AM

Next subcommunity meeting

The next joint meeting for The Carpentries in Africa will be held on 27 November, 10:00 am UTC. Sign up here!