…a new individual! Marie-Noelle Nwokolo joined the Africa Evidence Network (AEN) because she believes evidence is only powerful when it informs decisions in real-time. Through her work, she has witnessed both the promise and the pitfalls of policymaking on the continent: strong visions are often undermined by their execution, and reforms that appear promising on paper struggle to create jobs or attract the investments that citizens desperately need. Networks like the AEN matter because they provide a space to close that gap—to move from insight to implementation—and she’s keen to press on with that.
What excites Marie-Noelle most about the AEN is its breadth: it convenes researchers, policymakers, civil society actors, and knowledge brokers across Africa, creating a rare ecosystem where she imagines evidence is stress-tested against the political, social, and economic realities of our countries. The deliberate inclusion of Francophone, Lusophone, and Anglophone voices, and younger practitioners (key!) makes the network not only diverse but future-proof, and she quite likes that. She believes that this is the kind of infrastructure we need if evidence is to outlive any one conference or cycle.
Marie-Noelle’s commitment is to bring lessons from her work in investment, job creation, and governance – sharing what has moved the needle in places like Ghana and across Compact with Africa countries. She also wants to contribute by helping frame evidence in formats decision-makers actually use: short decision briefs tied to live political timelines. It’s actually what she enjoys doing, and she’s quite successful at it. At the same time, Marie-Noelle wants to learn from peers in education, health, governance, and grassroots citizen movements who are advancing the use of evidence in different ways.
Looking ahead, Marie-Noelle sees the AEN as more than a network – it can be an accountability mechanism, reminding us that knowledge must serve people. She joined to help ensure evidence doesn’t stay on paper, but drives change where it matters most.
