Africa Evidence Network Newsletter

June 2022

Hello AEN members,

Greeting you from the cold winter weather in the city of Johannesburg!

Enjoy reading the June edition of the AEN newsletter. Our Africa Evidence feature shares highlights of the recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Commencement Ceremony where Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first female and the first African director-general of the World Trade Organization and one of Time magazine’s Most Influential People of 2021 delivered an address. Farther afield we explore how science diplomacy is used to pursue mutual trust and understanding among scientists, particularly in times of war.

In this month's AEN blog, read more on our #evidencechampion, Temitope Olawunmi Sogbanmu on how she's building the #AfricaWeWant through developing & providing targeted environmental management advice to decision-makers in Nigeria.

We continue to celebrate ten years of the AEN! Join the celebration on social media by using the #AENis10. We are interested in hearing what you have to say about the changes in the #EIDMecosystem over the last decade, and share what you envision the network looking like in the next ten years.

We welcome and encourage your contributions to the AEN newsletter and blog! To share your work or interesting stories from your country or organisation on either of these platforms, send an email to Precious Motha: ace@uj.ac.za.

Please note that as of May 2022, the printable version of the AEN newsletter is no longer published. The same great newsletter content is now only available on this one platform shared through the AEN website, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. Enjoy the reading experience!

Best wishes,
The Africa Evidence Network team.

Putting the spotlight on…

…a new member! Welcome to Edem Tornyie, a Monitoring and Evaluation professional working at The International Center for Evaluation and Development based in Ghana.

Edem joined because of his keen interest to learn and connect with people in the M&E field.

Want to spotlight yourself, someone you know, or your organisation? Let us know and you could be featured in next month's newsletter.

Opportunities

Call for Expressions of Interest: Frontline AIDS seeks to recruit consultants and consultancies with substantial experience in evaluating networks and partnerships and conducting organisational level process evaluations. Make submissions by Wednesday 22 June 2022, 6 pm GMT to Casey Davison O’Brien at cdavisonobrien@frontlineaids.org.
Call for Applications is open at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) for the opportunity of Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship - Cochrane South Africa. Application deadline: 26 June 2022.
Applications are open for the job position of Senior Policy Officer (Monitoring and Evaluation) to the Africa Union by 11 July 2022.

African Evidence Feature

A central role for science in policy-making and implementation

Photo Credit: Adam Glanzman / MIT News Office

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first female and the first African director-general of the World Trade Organization and one of Time magazine’s Most Influential People of 2021, recently delivered an address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT Commencement Ceremony .

In her recent Commencement address to the MIT Class of 2022, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala shared that science is crucial to addressing the challenges of the future, she shared how the combination of science, social science, and public policy can drive innovation and urged graduates to be innovative, "for policy-making, for connecting the dots, so implementation can actually happen." Read more...

Latest African Evidence News

A recent nature career podcast, shares perspectives of African scientists in the diaspora whose careers took them away from home and provide their insights into how to support colleagues back home. Read more...
The Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE) recently hosted a launch celebration of the 2021 ACE annual report. The 2021 ACE annual report is the centre's fifth annual report since 2017. The launch event showcased ACE’s five-year journey as captured in five annual reports. Read more..
Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) implemented the E4D project in three districts to strengthen the capacity of government policy actors to make more evidence-informed policy decisions. Read more...
The Islamic Development Bank, Community Jameel and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab have established a new partnership to help governments embed evidence-based policy labs. Read more...

Mark your calendars

20-24 June: Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022 – SRI2022, Online
21 June: Transforming Evidence Network, The Pew Charitable Trusts, event series 2022 - Session 2: ADVOCACY - Should intermediary organisations be involved in advocacy? Online
28 June: Transforming Evidence Network, The Pew Charitable Trusts, event series 2022 - Session 3: THE FUTURE - What would better look like? Online
29 June: Improving evidence use: Is more stakeholder engagement and co-production the answer? O nline
29 June: Quotas for women in science: Are they an effective step towards equality and/or equity? Online

AEN Blog

Recognizing incredible teamwork in Africa: AELA 2022

Photo: Africa Evidence Network

Enjoy reading the Africa Evidence Leadership Award (AELA) 2022 interview blog with Temitope Olawunmi Sogbanmu. Temitope is the AELA 2022 winner in the Evidence Intermediaries category. She also featured in the #AENis10 vlog series, watch her vlog here!

View all AEN blog posts online and use the Network to share your work – submit your AEN blog here and feature your work to our 3000+ members in 2022!

International Evidence Feature

Science Diplomacy: Pursuing Mutual Trust Among Scientists

Credit: LSE Impact Blog

In science diplomacy, scientific collaboration is seen as a tool to keep dialogue lines open between conflicting states.

A recent LSE Impact blog posits that scientists can build trust, regardless of political animosities between governments, as in the case of the Russia/Ukraine war. Scientific collaboration is one area that should be carefully examined before all doors are closed. The authors warn that breaking ties with all Russian scientists overlooks the role of science diplomacy in resolving conflicts. Read more..

Latest International Evidence News

A recent LSE Impact blog based on the authors' research, Engaging for the love of place? The role of place attachment in academics' regional engagement efforts, shares a discussion on the academics' interest in the places where their universities are located in relation to internationalisation missions of universities? Read more...
Researchers examined how leaders justify positions during policy discussions in a recent Transforming Evidence blog. Findings assert that relationships among decision-makers matter when studying evidence use. Read more..
A recent Brookings article interviewed a research scholar in law and fellow at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center to discuss the role of science in U.S.-China relations. Read more...

Hot off the press

Cassola et al: 'Mechanisms to Bridge the Gap Between Science and Politics in Evidence-Informed Policymaking: Mapping the Landscape'
Hanney et al: 'Research can be integrated into public health policy-making: global lessons for and from Spanish economic evaluations'
Kloester et al: 'Midwives’ experiences of facilitating informed decision-making – a narrative literature review'
Nduku et al: ‘Evidence review: Behavioural science'
Oliver et al: ‘How Policy Appetites Shape, and Are Shaped by Evidence Production and Use’

AEN is supported by the Africa Centre for Evidence at the University of Johannesburg

www.africaevidencenetwork.org

Our mailing address is:
ace@uj.ac.za

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