The Africa LEEPS Partnership aims to improve development outcomes in Africa by building and nurturing a strong evidence ecosystem to enhance evidence uptake and use in decision-making. In the last six months (April – September 2024), the partnership transitioned from conducting diagnostic evidence ecosystem assessment and mapping activities to understand key actors, gaps, opportunities, and political realities, to forming strategic alliances and supporting evidence and capacity needs.

This report offers a small window into the progress made by the partnership in its first year despite often unpredictable policy processes and the time-intensive nature of policy engagement. As knowledge brokers working to bridge the divide between evidence and policy, Africa LEEPS partner organizations are drawing on existing relationships and deep contextual and cultural understanding to make progress in embedding evidence use in decision-making. They are taking government, private sector, and civil society partners on a journey to build awareness, develop technical skills, build organizational systems and processes, shift norms, and create incentives to promote consistent use of evidence in decision-making. This progress is featured in the stories of change included in the appendix of this report.

At the end of our first year, we have built a strong community and created space for trusted dialogue and lesson sharing in the partnership. As we move ahead to our second year, we look forward to leaning into the collaborative advantage of working together as a community of experts to strengthen evidence ecosystems in Africa.