Enabling Evidence-Informed Development Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa (EVI4DEV)

The Evidence for Development programme aimed to improve uptake of research and related evidence in decision-making processes in government ministries and parliaments in Africa. Achieving this primary outcome would then contribute to the formulation of quality and effective public policies and programmes in Africa.

The project analysed evidence on the DD and the gaps in technical capacity, generated contextualised evidence to fill the evidence gaps, and worked with ministries of planning to apply the evidence and planning tools in developing national roadmaps and integrated development plans to help their countries harness the DD.

The project built on AFIDEP’s existing partnerships with regional and national parliamentary networks to assess their effectiveness in strengthening the demand and use of evidence in discharging the critical oversight, resource allocation, and representation roles of parliamentarians.

We incorporated a deliberate learning component through which we collected data regularly as we implemented activities in order to continuously capture data and information on the enablers, motivators and barriers to evidence use in the two different spaces of government.

Increased use of evidence in integrated development planning processes in government:

• 14 African countries understood the demographic dividend (DD) concept and framework, majority have integrated DD in their national plans

Effectiveness of regional and national parliamentary networks in enabling prioritisation and uptake of evidence in decision-making in African parliaments:

• Supported formation and running of the Parliamentary Caucus on Evidence-Informed Oversight and Decision-Making (PC-EIDM)
• Supported formation and running of Parliamentary caucuses for population and development in Kenya and Malawi
• Enhanced capacity for evidence informed decision making and action on reproductive health issues in 25 African Parliaments through the Network of African Parliamentary Committees on Health (NEAPACOH)

This programme was funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for a period of two years from October 2015-September 2017