Early in 2016, the consortium was awarded the Evidence for Development (E4D) activity. E4D is a five-year, $13.5 million dollar award funded by the USAID/West Africa (WA) Regional Health Office (RHO). USAID/WA’s RHO reaches 21 countries in West and Central Africa, all of which have access to the E4D activity. The initial focus is on six target countries, namely: Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Niger, Cameroon and Mauritania.

The primary purpose of E4D is to increase the availability of evidence in health interventions for improved resource allocation, policy advocacy, and program planning. Ultimately, by the end of the E4D activity, the goal is to have a framework of local and regional organizations positioned to independently design and implement strategic health R&E activities. The expectation is for the organizations to assume the full scope of a research and/or evaluation study from design to dissemination. The E4D strategic objective is to increase the knowledge base for policy advocacy and public health programming. This will be achieved through strengthening the technical and management capacity of indigenous civil society organizations, institutions and networks. To meet this end, E4D is squarely focused on capacity strengthening of organizations, and individuals within those organizations, through a country lens and with a regional focus.