I recently had the pleasure of attending a webinar during Africa Evidence Week where the EPA Center of Excellence – a joint initiative of the African Center for Equitable Development (ACED) – and the Agricultural and Rural Prospective Initiative (IPAR), shared their approach, lessons learned, and key outputs from profiling evidence ecosystems in six francophone West African countries.

Dr. Amadou Gueye, a key figure in the project, stated, “We cannot make improvements in a context we don’t understand”. This set the tone for the session, during which various experts from ACED and IPAR highlighted the need to understand evidence ecosystems in order to guide effective action.

The EPA Center of Excellence

The centre was created in 2023 with the aim to provide a platform to consolidate, catalyse, and institutionalise the utilisation of evidence. It covers all francophone countries in Africa and operates in its two-year pilot phase in seven countries : Bénin, Burkina-Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. 

The centre takes a practical approach to helping policymakers and development practitioners create informed, fair, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable interventions. Four active programmes are being implemented by the centre in pursuit of this goal. The first is a capacity building program, which includes a series of activities aimed at developing and deploying training courses. It focuses on knowledge translation and evidence informed policymaking.

The centre’s other programmes provide direct technical assistance to stakeholders in synthesising evidence and making it more available and accessible, as well as facilitating co-learning and evidence-based policy in francophone Africa.

Understanding evidence ecosystems

To illustrate the notion of evidence ecosystems, Dr Castro Gbedomon, co-coordinator of EPA Center of Excellence, compared them to ecological ecosystems. Specifically, as a ‘framework for exchange where users, decision-makers, and the private sector interact for the production and use of evidence’. This ecosystem includes producers, users, and evidence mediators.

Key findings from the evidence ecosystem profiling

The primary objective of the diagnosis was to identify actors in the evidence ecosystem, their roles, and their capacity-building needs. The profiling revealed that understanding the actors and their roles is crucial for effective evidence production, use, and mediation.

Dr. Castro Gbedomon’s visualisation of the relationships between key actors across various thematic areas of interest within the EPA Center was particularly insightful. It helped to identify influential actors in order to establish a robust network for engaging additional stakeholders and structures. Additionally, through a participatory mapping approach, the centre was able to identify critical areas of improvement to support political processes at the national level.

It is also important to recognise the actors who are actively promoting Evidence-Informed Policy (EIP). Their efforts deserve recognition; that’s why the profile also highlights key EIP experiences. These documented experiences can serve as models to inspire actors in other countries.

Recommendations for strengthening evidence-informed decision making

The session ended with three thought-provoking points from Dr. Amadou Gueye on how we can continue to strengthen evidence ecosystems:

• Habilitation: Enhancing the capacity of actors in the evidence ecosystem. Evidence producers, users, and intermediaries require specialised knowledge to produce various types and formats of evidence, and to effectively interpret and apply it within policies, strategies, and programs.
• Regulations: Implementing clear guidelines and standards for evidence production and use. This is critical for ensuring the quality and reliability of evidence used in key developmental areas.
• Mobilisation of funds: Ensuring adequate financial resources for evidence-based activities.  Robust, evidence-driven systems require sufficient funding to ensure evidence is available at the right time and place.

Overall, the EPA Center of Excellence’s work in profiling evidence ecosystems in francophone West Africa provided some extremely valuable insights for strengthening evidence-informed decision making. By understanding the actors, their roles, and their needs, policymakers can take targeted actions to improve the quality and use of evidence in development initiatives.

In the coming weeks, the EPA Center of Excellence will share profiles of all countries involved in the diagnosis on ACED’s website and LinkedIn pages. Stay tuned!