The Africa Evidence Network secretariat is hosting a series of webinars that cover capacity development topics. The webinars will take place on the third Wednesday of every second month, from 14h00-15h15 hours (SAST), with asynchronous engagement on blog posting in-between. The primary objective of the AEN Evidence Capacities webinar series is to create a platform for sharing experiences and ideas that push our thinking on how we enhance capacity for evidence use in Africa. The secondary objective is to improve connections that can lead to collaborations among AEN members to strengthen evidence capacities using evidence- and practice-informed approaches. The tertiary objective is for these discussions to be the basis for improving and illustrating the AEN's Manifesto on capacity development for evidence use in Africa.

The webinar series comprises bi-monthly sessions, each of which will run for one hour and 15 minutes. The series was launched during Africa Evidence Week 2021 and will run through into mid-2022, as a start.

Some of the webinars illuminate and illustrate the principles in the Manifesto that should underpin our capacity development efforts. The other webinars are on different modalities and tools to enhance capacities for evidence use in Africa, for example, on communities of practice, mentoring, and co-creation as learning and collaboration tools. The topics of specific sessions are:  

1. Orientation of EIDM capacity development – what does doing capacity development differently incorporate (14 September 2021).
2. Designing for equity in capacity development for EIDM in Africa: Experience-sharing from Cameroon (15 September 2021).
3. Capacity development aimed at system-level change in/for evidence use (17 November 2021).
4. Exploring relationships and partnerships for enhancing capacities for EIDM in Africa (19 January 2022).
5. Pedagogies for EIDM capacity development in Africa (16 March 2022).
6. Exploring EIDM capacity development delivery mechanisms, such as CoPs, mentoring, etc. (15 June 2022).
7. Measuring EIDM capacity development (20 July 2022).

We want to use this webinar series as a tool to generate discussions within the evidence ecosystem in Africa about how capacities for evidence-informed decision-making should be developed. We hope then that you'll use this page to access each blog post and webinar or its recording and take the conversation further on LinkedIn with us.

Email info@africaevidencenetwork.org for more information on how to register for any of our events, or check back here for more details nearer to the date.

LIST OF COMPLETE WEBINARS IN THIS SERIES

We are carrying the conversation started at our past webinars forward: we continue to engage through blog posts and on LinkedIn. Below, you'll find a list of past webinars from this series as well as the various blog posts and LinkedIn posts related to them. We encourage you to join the conversation by reading these and sharing your comments. 

Please contact ace@uj.ac.za if you have any queries or questions about any of the webinars in the series.  

Date: 20 July 2022, 14:00 - 15:15 SAST
Webinar 7: Measuring EIDM capacity development
Partner/s: Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
Details: At this final Evidence Capacities webinar series episode, we will share discussions on the topic: Measuring EIDM capacity development.

Moderator:

• Jennifer Opare-Kumi (University of Oxford, UK)

Speaker/s: 

• Deo-Gracias Houndolo (WACIE), Benin 
• Jenean Pretorius (CLEAR-AA), South Africa

To explore more on this topic, we will soon share a blog post associated with the webinar. If you missed the live event, you can watch the webinar recording. Be sure to add to the conversation by sharing your thoughts with us on LinkedIn, the post related to this webinar will be shared soon!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 15 June 2022, 14:00 - 15:15 SAST
Webinar 6 : Exploring EIDM capacity development delivery mechanisms
Partner/s: Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
Details: At this webinar, the Evidence Capacities webinar series will share discussions on the topic: Exploring EIDM capacity development delivery mechanisms

Moderator:

Sandy Oliver, University College London & Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg

Speaker/s: 

• Aku Kwamie, health systems researcher at Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research at World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva
• Emily Hayter, research and evaluation associate at On Think Tanks
• Mohammed Awal, research analyst, and social accountability programming team lead at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana)

If you missed the live event, watch the webinar recording. To explore more on this topic, we will soon share a blog post associated with the webinar. Be sure to add to the conversation by sharing your thoughts with us on LinkedIn, the post related to this webinar will be shared soon!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WEDNESDAY, 16 March 2022, 14:00-15:00 (SAST)
Webinar 5: Pedagogies for EIDM capacity development in Africa
Partner/s: Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
Details: At this webinar, the Evidence Capacities webinar series will share discussions on the topic: Pedagogies for EIDM capacity development in Africa

Moderator:

Carina van Rooyen, Senior Researcher and Director of the South African Centre of the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg, South Africa)

Speaker/s: 

• Rose Oronje, director of Public Policy and Knowledge Translation (African Institute for Development Policy, Kenya)
• Rhona Mijumbi, senior research scientist and the founding director of the Center for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (Makerere University, Uganda)

To explore more on this topic, you can read the blog post associated with the webinar. If you missed the live event, watch the webinar recording. Be sure to add to the conversation by sharing your thoughts with us on LinkedIn. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WEDNESDAY, 19 January 2022, 14:00-15:00 (SAST)
Webinar 4: Exploring relationships and partnerships for enhancing capacities for EIDM in Africa 
Partner/s: Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
Details: At this webinar, the Evidence Capacities webinar series will share discussions on the topic: Exploring relationships and partnerships for enhancing capacities for EIDM in Africa

Moderator:

Dr Godson Gatsha, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Student Services, Botswana Open University

Speaker/s:

• Josephine Watera (Parliament of Uganda, Uganda)
• Serge Eric Yakeu Djiam (EvalIndigenous Network, Cameroon)

To explore this topic more, you can read the blog post associated with this webinar. If you missed the live event, watch the webinar recording. Be sure to add to the conversation by sharing your thoughts with us on LinkedIn. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WEDNESDAY, 17 NOVEMBER 2021, 14:00-15:15 (SAST) 
Webinar 3: Capacity development aimed at system-level change in/for evidence-use 
Partner/s: Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg (South Africa), PACKS Africa (Ghana), International Network for Advancing Science and Policy (INASP) (UK) and Effective Basic Services (eBASE) Africa, (Cameroon)
Details: At this webinar, the Evidence Capacities webinar series will share discussions on the topic: Capacity development aimed at system-level change in/for evidence use.

Moderator:

•  Patrick Okwen (eBASE Africa, Cameroon)

Speaker/s:

• Kirchuffs Atengble (PACKS Africa, Ghana)
• Emily Hayter (INASP, UK)
• Ruth Stewart (PEERSS, South Africa) 

To explore this topic more, you can read the blog post associated with this webinar. And if you missed the live event, watch the webinar recording. Be sure to add to the conversation by sharing your thoughts with us on LinkedIn. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WEDNESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2021, 14:00-15:15 (SAST) 
Webinar 2: Designing for equity in capacity development for evidence-informed decision-making Africa: experience sharing from Cameroon 
Partner/s: Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg (South Africa), Center for Advocacy in Gender Equality and Action for Development (Bamenda, Cameroon ), Hope for Vulnerable Children Association (Yaoundé) and Effective Basic Services Africa, (Bamenda, Cameroon)
Details: At this webinar - the second in the newly launched Evidence Capacities webinar series - participants shared their knowledge and experiences in designing capacity development interventions in Cameroon that explicitly address unequal gendered power dynamics and use equity-focused implementation evidence to design effective equitable interventions to help ensure equal outcomes.  

Moderator:

• Beryl Leach, GES Professor of Practice and Senior Advisor, Africa Centre for Evidence, University of Johannesburg

Speaker/s:

• Clotilda Andiensa, coordinator, Center for Advocacy in Gender Equality and Action for Development, Bamenda
• Evelyne Lum, executive director, Hope for Vulnerable Children Association, Yaoundé
• Patrick Okwen, team lead, Effective Basic Services Africa, Bamenda

To explore this topic more, you can read the blog post associated with this webinar. And if you missed the live event, watch the webinar recording. Be sure to add to the conversation by sharing your thoughts with us on LinkedIn.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TUESDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2021, 14:00-15:15 (SAST) 
Webinar 1: Capacity development for evidence-use in Africa: an orientation
Partner/s: PACKS Africa (Ghana), CLEAR-AA (South Africa), INASP (UK), and AFIDEP (Kenya)
Details: At this inaugural webinar, the speakers explored and elaborated on the meanings and broad orientation of capacity development for evidence-use in Africa. 

Moderator: 

• Kirchuffs Atengble (PACKS Africa, Ghana)

Speaker/s:

• Candice Morkel (CLEAR-AA, South Africa)
• Leandro Echt (INASP, UK)
• Leyla Abdullahi (AFIDEP, Kenya)

To explore this topic more, you can read the blog post associated with this webinar. And if you missed the live event, watch the webinar recording. Be sure to add to the conversation by sharing your thoughts with us on LinkedIn.