September 16, 2022 

September is a big month within the PEERSS community and marks the first time in 3 years that members from across the partnership will be joining together for some much-needed learning, reflection, and collaboration time. Here are 15 things we are excited to experience and learn while together in South Africa this month.

1. Join the 10-year celebrations for Africa Evidence Network (AEN) and participate in  EVIDENCE 2022!  Don’t forget you can also attend the conference virtually 19-21 September! 
   
   
2. Soak up the energy from the Brazilian team that has catalyzed the Brazilian Coalition for Evidence which seeks to bring historically marginalized groups more into EIPM and created its own superhero – SUPEREVIDENT!
   
   
3. Compare and contrast approaches the team from Trinidad and Tobago took to keep four social sector ministries actively engaged and learning from each other as they build EIDM capacity.
   
   
4. Unpack the challenges and promises of efforts to strengthen knowledge management in the Ministry of Health with the team from Burkina Faso
   
   
5. Learn and apply autoethnographic methods to reveal the evolution of our organizations and evidence-policy systems, with expert guidance from the UK team.
   
   
6. Reflect on lessons from the article series the Cameroonian team produced to foster the production and use of inclusive data to localize the SDGs in municipalities on topics like food security climate change, waste management, and population growth.
   
   
7. Extract insights on the role of ongoing relationships and mentorship with policymakers in facilitating collaboration and increased evidence use across parliamentary departments in Nigeria. 
   
   
8. Inquire what’s next for the team from Chile now that they’ve moved the needle and contributed to the early stages of policy formation around mental health and nutrition. 
   
   
9. Tap partners from South Africa for lessons on mapping 212 policy-relevant evidence pieces into 1 easy-to-use, evidence matrix as part of the Growing Gauteng Together 2030 strategy with the Office of the Premier.
   
   
10. Dive deeper into Colombia’s experience developing living evidence syntheses on vaccines for children and adolescents.
    
    
11. Reflect on lessons from the Lebanese team’s K2Parliament initiative that sought to empower the general public and media to hold politicians to account and better communicate their platforms.
    
    
12. Listen intently to the team from Ethiopia about the Monkeypox Outbreak and what the research evidence tells us and how this contributes to their efforts to institutionalize EIP in the health sector.
    
    
13. Align around progress to develop the STandard reporting guideline of Evidence briefs for Policy (STEP) under the leadership of the team from China.
    
    
14. Broaden our horizons and consider how we can be more involved in education systems like colleagues from Uganda who recently participated in reviewing and updating the Teacher’s Professional Code of Conduct with the Education Service Commission.
    
    

15. Share our immense appreciation for all the work these 13 partners do in support of evidence-informed decision-making – in their communities, their countries, regionally, and globally!