Highlights from Africa Evidence Week: Day 3

Wow, Day 3 has come and gone; how time flies when we are having great conversations and meaningful connections! Just in the past three days, we shared fourteen blog posts, sixteen videos, hosted sixteen Twitter (X) chats, two EIDM stories, five live webinars, one prerecorded webinar and four publications. We live up to the Africa Evidence Week 2024's objective to showcase and promote the state of evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) on the continent, specifically highlighting the contribution of young and emerging leaders in African EIDM.

We shared eight blogs covering a range of topics:

1. Siziwe Ngcwabe and Charity Chisoro, of the Africa Evidence Network captured some highlights from the preceding day of Africa Evidence Week and flagged what’s coming up in the day ahead for participants in this blog.
2. Violet Murunga from the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), the recipient of the Africa Evidence Leadership Award 2024 in the Evidence Producer category offered by the Africa Evidence Network, shared that her career journey has been interesting since it involved the use of the best available data and research to inform priorities and solutions for addressing societal problems or evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) more details in this blog.
3. In this blog post by Enock Musungwini from  Pangaea Zimbabwe, the recipient of the Africa Evidence Leadership Award 2024 in the Evidence User category offered by the Africa Evidence Network reflects on his work and how he has been an evidence champion in Zimbabwe, Africa and beyond.
4. In this blog post, Ariel Hardy Houessou, a knowledge translation specialist at ACED shares about the EPA Center of Excellence, which is a joint initiative by the African Center for Equitable Development (ACED) and the Agricultural and Rural Prospective Initiative (IPAR). He mentions that it is a unique framework aimed at bridging the gap between research, policies, and action in Francophone Africa. The approach used to better ground its intervention relies on mapping the ecosystems of each country, which is useful to better understand the actors, their relationships, their needs (in capacity building, evidence mobilisation, and valorisation), and the best practices promoting evidence-informed policies (EIP). Country notes and other outputs will guide the Center of Excellence to, among other things, fill identified gaps, document (for sharing purposes) best practices in EIP, establish country Communities of Practice (CoPs), and inform the community of actors interested in Evidence-Informed Policymaking (EIP) in Francophone West Africa.
5. Ismael Kawooya from the Center for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES), the recipient of the Africa Evidence Leadership Award 2024 in the Evidence Mediator category, shared a blog post which explores perspectives of the gaps and opportunities in the work that he is involved in. He weaves his background and critical areas of work within these perspectives.
6. Mohammed Awal from Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) unpacks in a blog post what they have learned from the Evidence for Development (E4D) project in promoting evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) practice in three local governments in Ghana. The intervention aims to strengthen local government policy actors’ capacity to use data and evidence to improve local government planning, routine decision-making, and programme implementation and reporting. The goal of the intervention is to institutionalise data and evidence-use practice in local government to enhance governance and accountability in service delivery and use of public resources.
7. Samukelisiwe Mkhize from the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results for Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) highlights three key lessons from CLEAR-AA's experience on resilience building interventions in her blog post:

• Prioritising the local context in evidence generation, synthesis and use supports development of informed equitable evidence-based decisions.
• Integrating various information and data sources embraces the complexity of evidence-informed decision making.
• Application of systems thinking in interrogating the evidence base.

8. The African Center for Equity Development (ACED) launched the Programme de Petites Subventions de Recherche (PPSR), a pivotal initiative aimed at addressing food security and nutrition (FSN) challenges in Benin. This blog post explores how ACED's comprehensive research agenda has evolved into a practical and impactful small research grants program, fostering local research capacity and informing policy-making.

We published four videos:

1. Curious to learn about the Africa Evidence Youth League (AEYL)? Wondering which country most of our Youth League members call home? what languages majority of the Youth Leaguers speak? Get ready for the AEYL Feud Gameshow, where you can learn all about the AEYL members and learn about some of the issues they feel strongly about, and what they are hoping to gain from being a part of the youth league. Will Team Youth Voices or Team NextGen take the crown? Don't miss the excitement—tune in and find out!
2. The African Education Research Database was developed by the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, in partnership with Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA).
3. Miriam Ongolo from Effective Basic Services (eBASE) Africa talks about the REAP project objectives and how to leverage technology to achieve the set objectives.
4. The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) had an interview with Dr Temitope Sogbanmu, who is one of the recipients of the Africa Evidence Leadership Award 2022 offered by the Africa Evidence Network.

We had four Twitter chats showcasing innovation in Africa:

1. EIDM INNOVATION IN AFRICA #12 | Latin American and the Caribbean Evidence Hub | Videos | Africa Evidence Network. The Latin American and Caribbean Evidence Hub (Hub LAC) is an organization that works to promote transnational and interdisciplinary collaboration for the institutionalization of Evidence-Informed Policymaking (EIP) in the Latin American and Caribbean region. We believe in a future in which the transparent and systematic use of the best available evidence in decision making is part of the daily life of policymakers and citizens, contributing to the construction of a region with equity, prosperity, diversity and in harmony with nature. Our mission is to promote cross-national and interdisciplinary collaboration among stakeholders aiming towards the institutionalization of Evidence-Informed Policymaking (EIP) in the LAC region. Our vision is of a dynamic and diverse community that articulates and mobilizes producers, intermediaries and users of knowledge in Latin America and the Caribbean for decision-making informed by the best available evidence.
2. EIDM INNOVATION IN AFRICA #13 | Twende Mbele | Videos | Africa Evidence Network. Twende Mbele has established itself as the go-to ally and resource centre for governments and development partners interested in tackling barriers - found on both the demand and supply sides - to increase the use of M&E and building a culture of evidence-based decision-making and policymaking on the African continent.
3. EIDM INNOVATION IN AFRICA #14 | The INCE: An insider’s view of National Evaluation Systems | Videos | Africa Evidence Network. The INCE is a National Evaluation Systems diagnostic tool that provides information that opens spaces for dialogue and collaboration. It is also a platform that brings together different actors interested in strengthening national evaluation systems.
4. EIDM INNOVATION IN AFRICA #15 | Guide for decision-making when facing complexity and uncertainty | Videos | Africa Evidence Network. A guide for decision-making when facing complexity and uncertainty which describes four well-trodden pathways for making decisions and helps readers choose where to start, how to consider different forms of knowledge together, and what to do when knowledge is uncertain. It emphasized the common core ingredients for all these pathways: mutual learning and joint decision-making. The guide offers suggestions for doing this sort of work in the public eye, by respecting accountability and managing risk.

We hosted three live webinars:

1. Live webinar: ‘Time to Talk Data’ platform: the journey of being a data-driven organisation continues. The Provincial Data Office (PDO) in the Department of the Premier is actively creating pathways in the Western Cape Government (WCG) to become a data-driven organisation. Over the years the PDO has led on enterprise-wide data governance in the WCG of South Africa. In this role, the key function is to drive data as a strategic asset at a sub-national level. This work has been packaged into four outcomes: Insightful data, Transformed data and evidence service capabilities, Interconnected data ecosystem, and Responsive operating model.  A series of data and evidence initiatives are contributing to these outcomes.  Further research is to inform data governance in the public sector at a sub-national level to increase the use of data to drive change for societal impact. The PDO will be hosting a webinar which is a ‘Time to Talk Data’ platform to transform capabilities across our data and evidence communities. This webinar is to highlight the key initiatives of these four themes that have been rolled out and the direction for the next five years. This is an opportunity for learning and building partnerships. Target audiences: Data and evidence stakeholders including Provincial departments, National departments, Municipalities, Academia, Agencies and related content specialists.
2. Live webinar:  Africa Evidence Leadership Award (AELA) winners 2024 celebration: This webinar provided an opportunity for the AELA winners and runners-up to celebrate their wonderful achievements.
3. Live webinar: Tools and Approaches for Profiling the Evidence Ecosystem and Development Policies in West Africa by the African Center for Equitable Development (ACED) shared insights on how to map evidence ecosystems for innovative and tailored interventions to improve evidence use in policy and practice. This live event will offer an opportunity to share the approach used, lessons learned, and key outputs from profiling evidence ecosystems in six Francophone West African countries. These insights will guide the deployment of programs by the Center of Excellence for Evidence Policy and Action in Francophone Africa.

We showcased one publication:

The article by the National Center for Technology Management (NACETEM) titled “Evaluation of the quality of science, technology and innovation advice” focused on examining the sources of, and access to, science, technology and innovation (STI) information available to lawmakers in Nigeria since this topic has generated much debate in sub-Saharan Africa.

You should look forward to Day 4 of Africa Evidence Week where you can enjoy four blog posts, six Twitter chats, seven videos, and two online events. Join us as we continue to celebrate Africa’s EIDM!

About the author: Siziwe Ngcwabe is the Director and Co-chair of the Africa Evidence Network. She is a South African inspirational trailblazing social entrepreneur, motivational speaker, personal change catalyst, and academic. She was born in Qitsi village, Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape, and raised in East Driefontein mine in Carletonville. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in social work with honours from the Walter Sisulu University (UNITRA), a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) from MANCOSA, a Master’s degree of Public Management-MPM and Masters of Business Administration-MBA from Regenesys Business School. She worked at several organisations across different sectors in South Africa.  Siziwe Ngcwabe is currently the Director and Co-chair of the Africa Evidence Network. She approaches the challenge of working in various environments with dedication and diligence. She believes with her willingness to continuously face new challenges, her intellectual curiosity, and her academic and 24 years of experience, she aims to continuously support connections and collaborations for meaningful African and global impact through evidence networks by promoting evidence production, use, mediation for useful change. She is also committed to building innovative collaborative solutions.

Acknowledgements: The author(s) is solely responsible for the content of this article, including all errors or omissions; acknowledgements do not imply endorsement of the content. The author is grateful to Charity Chisoro for her guidance in preparing and finalising this article, as well as her editorial support.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in published blog posts, as well as any errors or omissions, are the sole responsibility of the author/s and do not represent the views of the Africa Evidence Network, its secretariat, advisory or reference groups, or its funders; nor does it imply endorsement by the afore-mentioned parties.