PRESENTATION | What Makes Evidence Services Responsive to Policy Needs: Perspectives from Three African Embedded Evidence-On-Demand Services

On day 2 of Evidence 2023 there was a panel discussion showcasing the potential of Responsive Evidence Services (RES) (including help desks) as an effective mechanism to support policy-makers’ evidence-use. It featured three embedded pairs of providers and users of responsive evidence services: WACIE who are providing RES to several West African governments; ACRES who are providing RES to the Ugandan government; and SACE who are providing RES to the South African government. Each group was represented by a government official and provider of a RES, who jointly introduced their work to the audience. This was followed by a facilitated open discussion and Q&A to identify synergies and gaps across the RES work in three different African countries. This panel foregrounded the perspectives of policy-makers as the users of evidence. Ouollo Clément Sekongo from Commission UEMOA delivered this presentation.