Africa Centre for Evidence | South Africa

The Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) is a research centre based at the University of Johannesburg that was formally founded in 2016 but has conducted projects to support evidence-informed policymaking in Southern Africa since 2006. ACE’s mission is to contribute to the reduction of poverty and inequality in Africa and South Africa by increasing the use of evidence in decision-making (EIDM).

To achieve this mission, ACE works to promote the following strategic goals: 

• Greater understanding of the art and science of using evidence. 
• Stronger evidence capacities.
• Meaningful evidence communities.
• Rigorous and relevant evidence synthesis.

The ACE team is multi-disciplinary and provides the secretariat to the Africa Evidence Network, a network of over 3,000 decision-makers, researchers, and knowledge brokers interested in supporting evidence-use on the continent. ACE’s work is motivated by methodological rigour, innovative thinking, reflective practices, and transparent practices and reporting. Some examples of ACE’s work include pioneering methods for developing responsive evidence-bases such as policy-relevant evidence maps and rapid response services in social systems, developing tools and approaches for EIDM mentoring and capacity-sharing, emphasizing the central role of relationships and evidence networks to make EIDM a reality, cultivating the design of embedded co-production and resilient evidence ecosystems, and experimenting with structures and processes to support the institutionalization of EIDM across government levels.