Pan-African Collective for Evidence

What Pan-African Collective for Evidence does

Pan-African Collective for Evidence (PACE) is a South African non-profit company (NPC # 2020/228212/08) founded in 2020 and headquartered in Rosebank, Johannesburg. The organisation specialises in evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) support for African policymakers, operating through a co-production partnership model rather than a commercial offering. PACE hosts the Africa Evidence Network (AEN), the largest Africa-focused EIDM community with over 4,000 members, and runs projects spanning evidence synthesis, capacity building, youth engagement, and digital tool development across at least seven African countries (South Africa, Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Niger, Uganda, Ethiopia).

PACE's product portfolio centres on two flagship outputs: (1) the AEN community platform providing match-making, partnership brokering, and a monthly #AfricaEvidence newsletter, and (2) the Art and Science of Promoting Evidence-Informed Policymaking Global Living Evidence Map, a synthesis of 940 studies from 139,520 screened citations structured around an intervention-outcome framework. Supporting products include REAP (an online capacity-support platform for evidence units), the Youth Employment Evidence and Insights Hub (a Mastercard Foundation-funded consortium), the Africa Evidence Youth League, the EIDM Indicators Database (400+ indicators), and the GBVF Living Evidence Map. Digital tools under the DG-Tools project (2024–2025 pilot) include ChatEIDM (a chatbot over the evidence map), the Data Extraction Tool, and the Living EIDM Toolmap, developed in partnership with the Centre for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES) in Uganda and focused on gender policy decision-making.

PACE's business model is grant-based and non-commercial. Revenue (undisclosed) flows from international foundations and development agencies including Mastercard Foundation, Canada's IDRC, WHO, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Pricing is not applicable; services are delivered through co-production with African government stakeholders, consortium partnerships, and embedded advisory engagements rather than fee-for-service contracts. The team comprises approximately 23 named staff across directors, programme managers, researchers, communications specialists, and support roles.

Name

Pan-African Collective for Evidence

Legal name

Pan-African Collective for Evidence NPC

Website

https://pace-evidence.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Pan-African Collective for Evidence (PACE) is a South African non-profit founded in 2020 that supports evidence-informed policymaking across Africa, delivering evidence synthesis, capacity building, and digital tools to African governments, evidence units, and youth leaders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Policy Research and Advisory Services

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Management Consulting Services (54161), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAJAKAN

Global Health Research, Evidence & Technical Assistance Organizations

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Public Health, Government & Regulators/Global Health & Development Agencies (NGOs/Multilaterals)

SECONDARYEDADAIAM

Research, Evaluation & Program Effectiveness Reporting

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Education Data, Reporting & Accountability Systems

Keywords

• Evidence synthesis services
• Policy advisory services
• Knowledge brokering
• Evidence-informed decision-making
• Research capacity building

Headquarters

HQ city

Johannesburg

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation and Development Funding: As a non-profit organization (NPC # 2020/228212/08, NPO # 290-999), PACE operates primarily through grants, foundation partnerships, and development funding. Key funders include Mastercard Foundation, Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), World Health Organization, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and UK Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

PACE is a non-profit organisation that delivers responsive evidence services and supports systems-level change for evidence-use across Africa via a co-production approach with African stakeholders. Its offerings span building and supporting evidence communities (Africa Evidence Network), curating and translating data and evidence for policy-making (evidence maps, evidence syntheses), developing digital tools (ChatEIDM, Data Extraction Tool, Living EIDM Toolmap), and providing mentoring, communities of practice, training courses, and embedded evidence advisory services.

Product overview

PACE is a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting evidence-informed policy-making across Africa. The organisation offers a suite of interconnected products and services including the Africa Evidence Network (AEN) as its flagship pan-African community platform with over 4,000 members, and the Art and Science Global Living Evidence Map as its core evidence synthesis product containing 940 studies. The product portfolio includes digital tools (ChatEIDM, Data Extraction Tool, Living EIDM Toolmap) developed under the DG-Tools initiative for gender policy decision-making; capacity support platforms (REAP) for evidence units; the Youth Employment Evidence and Insights Hub supporting Mastercard Foundation's Young Africa Works Strategy; and the Africa Evidence Youth League for emerging EIDM leaders. PACE also provides EIDM measurement tools with 400+ indicators, gender and inclusion resources including the GBVF Living Evidence Map, and communication products such as the monthly #AfricaEvidence newsletter. Collectively, the team has conducted over 80 policy-relevant evidence synthesis products and maintains a database of over 200 evidence capacity resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Africa Evidence Network (AEN): A pan-African community of over 4,000 diverse people who share a vision to see an end to poverty and inequality in Africa. PACE provides the secretariat for this network.

Products and services

• Africa Evidence Network (AEN)

Quantifiable outcome

• Africa Evidence Network has grown to over 4,000 members across Africa
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and consortium.

• eBASE Africa (Effective Basic Services Africa)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with eBASE Africa on the REAP project developing and testing an online platform for capacity support to evidence units in Africa. eBASE is a multinational collaborative research organisation based in Bamenda, Cameroon targeting women, children, people with disabilities and Indigenous populations.
• Centre for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACRES in Uganda is the lead partner in the DG-Tools project. Together they are exploring how digital tools can be integrated in data and evidence creation, mobilization, and use. ACRES developed the Data Extraction Tool and Living EIDM Toolmap. ACRES is a knowledge brokering institution based in Uganda supporting policy and decision-making with high-quality, relevant, and timely evidence.
• Policy Institute at King's College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on the Enhancing Evidence-Informed Policymaking in South Africa's Just Transition project. Policy Institute will assess evidence use in South Africa's just transition policies drawing on the Use of Research Evidence (URE) Methods Repository.
• Africa Evidence Network (AEN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPACE serves as the host providing the secretariat for the Africa Evidence Network. AEN is a broad community of over 4,000 diverse people sharing the vision to see an end to poverty and inequality in Africa.
• CommsConsult LtdconsortiumStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of of the Youth Employment Evidence and Insights Hub consortium. CommsConsult is a global team of strategic communications experts empowering development processes on the African continent for nearly 30 years, managing the Research to Action platform.
• Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI)consortiumStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Youth Employment Evidence and Insights Hub consortium. EPHI is based in the technical wing of Ethiopia's Ministry of Health, prioritizing development of the healthcare workforce and ensuring evidence-based public health policies.
• Future Evidence FoundationconsortiumStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Youth Employment Evidence and Insights Hub consortium. Future Evidence Foundation collaborates with scientists and technologists globally to transform knowledge creation and use. Their cornerstone product Covidence is a world-leading systematic review tool.
• LARTES-IFANconsortiumStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Youth Employment Evidence and Insights Hub consortium. Based in Senegal, LARTES-IFAN is a research laboratory supporting design, monitoring and evaluation of public policies across various sectors including education and employment.
• PACKS AfricaconsortiumStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Youth Employment Evidence and Insights Hub consortium. PACKS Africa is an Indigenous, youth-led evidence-to-policy-team working alongside Ghana government to support interventions to increase youth employment.

Scale indicators7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie): Global evidence organization producing systematic reviews and impact evaluations to support evidence-informed policy in development. 3ie is a direct peer in evidence synthesis for LMIC policy, with comparable grant-funded NGO structure.
• eBASE Africa: Multinational collaborative research organization based in Cameroon supporting marginalized populations. Co-lead with PACE on the REAP project and a peer in evidence-for-policy work targeting African communities.
• Campbell Collaboration: International research network producing systematic reviews on social and behavioral interventions. Campbell is a direct peer in evidence synthesis methodology, with comparable focus on translating evidence into policy and program decisions.
• African Centre for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES): Uganda-based knowledge brokering institution that produces rapid evidence syntheses for policy and decision-making. ACRES is PACE's co-lead on the DG-Tools project and the most direct operational peer in the African EIDM ecosystem.
• EPPI-Centre (UCL): UCL-based centre conducting systematic reviews and developing methods for research synthesis. Comparable in evidence synthesis methodology and knowledge-brokering focus, serving both research and policy communities.
• Future Evidence Foundation: UK-based organization that builds Covidence, a leading systematic review software platform. A consortium partner in PACE's YEEIH and a peer in the evidence infrastructure and tooling ecosystem.

Regional players

• Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care (Stellenbosch University): South African academic centre producing evidence syntheses and supporting evidence-based decision-making. A regional peer with comparable evidence synthesis mission but academic-institutional rather than NGO structure.
• Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI): Government-affiliated research institute supporting evidence-based public health policy in Ethiopia. Consortium partner in YEEIH and a regional peer in institutional evidence-to-policy infrastructure.

Broad incumbents

• Cochrane: Global leader in evidence synthesis for healthcare decisions, producing systematic reviews used by policymakers worldwide. A broader incumbent in evidence-informed decision-making, with primarily health focus rather than multi-sector African development.

Emerging players

• Policy Institute at King's College London: Research-focused institute studying evidence use in policymaking. Direct collaborator with PACE on the South Africa Just Transition project and a peer in evidence-use research methodology.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pan-african-collective-for-evidence-npc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Pan-African Collective for Evidence