Between 27th and 28th June 2024, the Reimagining Reproduction project held a conference at the Bronte Garden Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe. The conference dubbed “Conceiving Change” brought together academics and activists to explore the different ways in which reproduction is conceived, and to interrogate and understand the contemporary ways by which ideas, beliefs, values, and practices about reproduction are reimagined in Africa.

The conference opened with a keynote address by Prof. Rudo B. Gaidzanwa. On the first day of the address, presenters engaged with the concept of reproduction from different theoretical and policy-related perspectives. Participants’ presentations focused on infertility and assisted reproduction, reproductive technologies, family planning and safe motherhood, and caregiving and reproductive rights. The second and last day of the conference opened with a keynote address delivered by Dr. Sandra Bhatasara. Participants presented papers focusing on issues of teenage mothers, care practices among faith healers, witchcraft and changing discourses about reproduction, family formation and making babies, and sexual performance. The conference closed with a call by the conference organizers on the need to continue to rethink and reimagine the multiplicity of issues confronting reproduction, kinship and kinning in Africa.