On 11 February 2025, the Africa Evidence Network (AEN) hosted an informative and engaging webinar on membership migration, welcoming all participants to explore our new and improved membership platform. This transition marks a significant step towards enhancing user experience, fostering collaboration, and strengthening our African evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) community.
Why does Membership Migration Matter?
Led by Siziwe Ngcwabe, the Director and Co-Chair, the session began by emphasising the importance of this migration and how it aligns with AEN’s strategic goals:
- Fostering connections and collaboration within the EIDM ecosystem.
- Sharing capacities to strengthen evidence use across Africa.
- Increasing knowledge and understanding of EIDM.
- Ensuring organisational excellence as a sustainable, member-driven network.
By upgrading our membership platform, we aim to:
- Provide members with personalised profiles for more effortless engagement.
- Offer a more intuitive, accessible, and user-friendly portal.
- Improve access to reliable, localised EIDM information.
- Strengthen Africa-Africa learning and capacity-building efforts.
Live Demo: How to Update Your Details
Gloria Anderson, a programme officer, led a step-by-step walkthrough on updating member profiles. The process is quick and easy, taking only 5 minutes! Participants were encouraged to update their details during the session to ensure a smooth transition.
Key benefits of the new platform include:
- Improved navigation for seamless access to essential resources.
- Enhanced user experience across all devices.
- Streamlined updates to keep members informed effortlessly.
- Better accessibility for all users, regardless of technical proficiency.
Q&A and Call to Action
The interactive Q&A session allowed members to ask questions, clarify concerns, and gain deeper insights into the migration. Charity Chisoro, a programme officer, then issued a call to action, urging all members to update their profiles before the final deadline: 28 February 2025.
To ensure ongoing support, we:
- Encouraged real-time updates during the session.
- Announced that a recording of the session and this blog will be available across all our social media platforms.
- Reaffirmed our commitment to asynchronous engagement, allowing members to access help anytime.
Looking Ahead
This migration is more than a platform upgrade – it’s about strengthening the AEN community, increasing evidence use in decision-making, and reducing poverty and inequality across the continent. As a member-driven network, we are committed to continuous learning, reflection, and innovation to serve your needs better.
About the author: Siziwe Ngcwabe is the Director and Co-chair of the Africa Evidence Network. She is a passionate social worker, philanthropist, certified life and neuroscience coach, strategist, Evidence-Informed Decision-Making (EIDM) leader and academic. Siziwe is dedicated to bridging the gaps in underrepresented, marginalised communities by providing access to essential resources, education, and healthcare that empower individuals to enhance their quality of life through the Siziwe Ngcwabe Foundation. Integrating gender, equality, and equity ensures that development is inclusive, sustainable, and equitable. At the Foundation, they promote skills development and inclusivity through targeted initiatives and collaborative partnerships, enabling individuals to realise their potential and build sustainable futures for themselves and their communities. This approach embodies our commitment to “leave no one behind” and prioritise those who are most disadvantaged.
She is dedicated to empowering young and emerging leaders and mid-career professionals in transition to thrive and enable organisations to drive impact by grounding strategies in data; in today’s rapidly evolving world, informed decision-making is crucial. Siziwe’s work at the AEN enables her to support connections and collaborations for meaningful African and global impact through evidence networks by championing, promoting, showcasing, evidence production, use, and mediation for helpful change. Siziwe is 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.
Suggested citation: Ngcwabe, S. (2025) AEN Membership Migration: A New Era of Connectivity and Collaboration. Blog posting on 12 February 2025. Available at: https://africaevidencenetwork.org/aen-membership-migration-a-new-era-of-connectivity-and-collaboration/2025/02/12/
