Advocacy Posted on 09/12/2019 (25/04/2024) by Chris Anyango Advocacy RESEARCH // WHAT WE DO // Advocacy Advocacy The Advocacy Unit promotes evidence-based decision-making, empowers key stakeholders within the African policy landscape, and forges partnerships with key players to drive policy action. Sustainable policy impact entails transformative change in systems, investments, programs, and behavior. The Center is dedicated to fostering an inclusive and diverse culture of public engagement. We achieve this by engaging in genuine dialogues with defined local and global communities. Our mission is to inform and influence policy discussions and decision-making by identifying and nurturing champions within and outside government. Our ultimate goal is to stimulate greater interest in evidence-driven policies and programs. OVERVIEW We emphasize strong cross-organizational collaboration with a focus on structured and strategic engagement. We work within key thematic areas, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, food systems, health system strengthening, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), with gender and climate change as cross-cutting themes. While our primary focus is on these signature issues, we are flexible and occasionally collaborate on other significant topics. Our advocacy efforts take a comprehensive approach underpinning our commitment to driving substantial and lasting regional policy changes. It revolves around three strategies: Building partnerships with key policy stakeholders to lead policy changes and provide support in policy processes.Strengthening the capacity of strategic stakeholders within the African policy ecosystem to generate, synthesize, and utilize evidence for improved policy and practice.Promoting evidence-based decision-making through robust relationships, joint evidence projects, evidence co-creation, rapid synthesis, policy analysis, and problem-driven Political Economy Analyses (PEA). Related Projects ONGOING PROJECT 2019 – 2020 Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa (IMCHA) ONGOING PROJECT 2016 – 2021 Immunization Advocacy Initiative PROJECT ONGOING PROJECT 2021 – 2021 EU-AFRICA PerMed ONGOING PROJECT 2018 – 2022 Challenging the politics of social exclusion (CPSE) ONGOING PROJECT 2017 Africa’s LGBT communities and the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals to “Leave No One Behind” The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched in late 2015 provide clear guidelines and targets for addressing the root causes of poverty and uniting the world in pursuit of positive change for both people and planet. Strongly grounded in international human rights standards, the SDGs aim for an inclusive world and put economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights and the right to development at the core of social progress.