Reflections on mentoring experiences for evidence-informed decision-making in South Africa and Malawi

ABSTRACT

This article is based on the consensus that the availability and utilisation of research enhances policy discussions. The article reflects on the experiences within one approach: capacity building through mentoring. The UJ-BCURE programme aimed to increase the capacity of decision-makers to use evidence in decision-making via mentoring models. Mentoring is described as an interactive, facilitated process that promotes learning. The features of the models that have contributed to the programme’s success are orientation workshops with mentees combined with participatory, needs-led, and flexible approaches. UJ-BCURE experiences are relevant to the field of evidence-informed decision-making in an African government context.

KEYWORDS:

• Aid – Development policies, Capacity development
• Governance and public policy
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Sunet Jordaan is the Training Manager at the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE).

Ruth Stewart is Director of the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Centre for Evidence and chairperson of the Africa Evidence Network.

Yvonne Erasmus is a specialist in evidence-informed decision-making and evidence synthesis at the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE).

Louis Maluwa was part of the UJ-BCURE team at the Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE), University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Janine Mitchell is part of the UJ-BCURE team at the Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE), University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Laurenz Langer is an Evidence Synthesis Specialist at the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE).

Russell Wildeman was part of the UJ-BCURE team at the Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE), University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Natalie Tannous is a Researcher at the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE).

Josee Koch was part of the UJ-BCURE team at the Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE), University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Notes

1 Outcome diary entries systematically record and track incremental changes influenced by the programme.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) under the BCURE Grant: [Grant Number PO6123].