The African Centre for Development Impact (ACDI) has been officially launched to promote the use of credible research in shaping public policy and development decisions across Africa.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor, stressed that laws and policies must be grounded in reliable data.

“Whatever policy that you want to make, the policy must be evidence-based. The law that you are making must be evidence-based,” he said, noting that informed decisions will have a meaningful impact on citizens’ lives.

He also called for a unified national data system, urging that the Ghana Statistical Service be strengthened to serve as a central repository for government data.

“We need to reconcile all those details and have one data depository where everybody will draw from,” he added.

ACDI, which grew out of the Development Impact West Africa initiative, aims to connect researchers with policymakers and ensure that development programmes are backed by evidence.

Executive Director of ACDI, Prof. Charles Amoatey, said the centre will focus on building local research capacity and ensure that policies are backed by credible, home-grown evidence.

“We have realised that a lot of government policies are not informed by evidence… most of the time, political parties implement policies because they have promised it in a manifesto,” he said.

He added that the centre will train African researchers, conduct impact evaluations, and work closely with governments, parliaments, and regional bodies to generate data that supports high-level decisions.

“We want to make sure that going forward, every decision the President will make, every decision Parliament will make is informed by credible evidence generated locally by our researchers.”

The centre is expected to work with governments, parliaments and regional bodies to strengthen evidence-informed decision-making and improve development outcomes on the continent.