Bridging the gender data gap to advance evidence use in policymaking

In East Africa, the Alliance for Evidence and Equity in Policymaking in Africa is working to address the “great data divide” — the lack of gender-disaggregated data to inform inclusive decision-making. The work is critical to advancing equity and equality for millions of women, girls and gender-diverse individuals who are often invisible in the data. The lack of visibility means their needs are often not addressed in government policies and programs covering their most basic rights: equality and equal access to health care, education, security, social programs and more. 

Bridging the great data divide  

Now in its second year, the Learning Together to Advance Evidence and Equity in Policymaking for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (LEEPS) partnership is strengthening how evidence is produced, translated and used in policymaking in sub-Saharan Africa, with a strong focus on gender equity and inclusion. Funded by IDRC, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Robert Bosch Stiftung, LEEPS is placing a gender lens on evidence for decision-making.  

Aspiring for “an Africa where evidence transforms lives,” the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) is leading the Alliance for Evidence and Equity in Policymaking in Africa. The alliance is leading work to integrate evidence into policymaking as one of its core objectives. It is partnering with the Makerere University School of Women and Gender Studies in Uganda to ensure that its activities place a gender focus on all planned interventions and support to policymakers and decision-makers.  

Promoting gender equity and inclusion at the highest levels  

“We are bringing a stronger emphasis on gender equity and inclusion in the data that decision-makers use to inform their decisions, establish policies, develop programs and allocate resources,” explained Violet Murunga, research and policy analyst at AFIDEP. “For example, we applied gender-inclusive strategies to support the Kenyan government’s efforts to transition rural households to cleaner energy sources. The data added a gendered lens to guide the development of the Kenya National electric Cooking Strategy, which lays out the roadmap to transition 10% of Kenyan households from polluting fuels to electric cooking by 2028.” 

Through the alliance, AFIDEP collaborates with national think tanks and regional organizations working across Africa in sectors such as health — including reproductive health and wellbeing —, energy, environment, population and sustainable development. Together, they build evidence, share knowledge and influence change. 

 Supporting strategic decisions with evidence synthesis and gender analysis 

Through the LEEPS partnership, the alliance is bridging the gap between research, policy and practice at the individual, institutional and ecosystem levels using four approaches:  

• Synthesis: The alliance synthesizes existing research and data to help governments and other partners understand and address the issues they are grappling with, using evidence and gender analysis. 
• Capacity strengthening: The alliance’s training and mentorship programs, now accessible to LEEPS partner countries, offer skills development in synthesizing evidence and gender analysis, using the results to inform policy and program decisions. They also help governments improve their data-driven and gender-responsive decision-making processes.  
• Nurturing communities of practice and learning: The alliance reinforces the focus on consistent application of data, research and gender analysis in policymaking among reproductive health and clean energy communities of practice. Under LEEPS, the alliance’s knowledge-exchange activities are promoting evidence and gender integration into decision-making practice both within and across countries. 
• Support for policy formulation and review: The alliance’s involvement in synthesis, capacity building and communities of practice is geared toward informing ongoing reproductive health and clean energy policy formulation and review processes, with a gender equity and inclusion lens.  

Capacity-strengthening road tested 

“We’re actively building a critical mass of people — from policymakers to researchers — with the skills to champion evidence that informs inclusive decision-making,” explained Murunga. “We train them to use search and synthesis strategies that look at gender dynamics in the evidence base.”  

For example, the alliance works with the Africa Research & Impact Network (ARIN) in Nairobi, Kenya, which aims to nurture the next generation of researchers and policymakers, ensuring that evidence plays a central role in decision-making.  

Beneficiaries of this training and capacity building come from across Africa, with ARIN championing evidence-informed decision-making at the regional level. With membership from over 30 African countries, the capacity-building activities place an emphasis on ensuring that all genders are equally represented and gender experts are among the participants and facilitators. Under LEEPS, the alliance’s technical support is contributing to the planning, research and statistics departments of line ministries in Nigeria, such as the Federal Ministry of Health & Social Welfare. 

During its first year of operation, the team led training and mentorship programs for more than 200 researchers and policymakers (127 men and 86 women) in Kenya, Nigeria and across Africa, with a special focus on the reproductive health, environment and clean energy sectors. This work is critical to advancing evidence-into-decision-making skills and putting theory into practice. 

Institutionalizing support for policy formulation and review 

At the institutional level, the team is supporting government ministries across Africa (particularly in Kenya and Nigeria) by reviewing their decision-making tools and structures and offering technical assistance to enhance their efforts. In 2025, the alliance is rolling out a series of strategic initiatives across reproductive health and the clean energy sectors. 

“Our institutional capacity strengthening involves working with governments to enhance their existing evidence and/or decision-making structures and processes so that evidence that includes gender analysis plays a more central role in government decisions, programs and policies,” said Murunga. A case in point is the alliance’s role in contributing to the ongoing review of Kenya’s National Energy Policy. 

The work to institutionalize evidence and gender inclusion into decision-making takes time, effort and patience. It also means building relationships and trust, particularly when the alliance works with new partners, such as environment, energy and gender ministries. As they look to the future, the focus on clean energy — which intersects with climate change and health — requires continued training, collaboration and cross-disciplinary efforts.  

Case study: Keeping score for better reproductive health outcomes  

The alliance is supporting the Kenyan Ministry of Health’s Reproductive Health Department to scale up the use of the reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health scorecard. This performance monitoring and accountability tool, developed by African governments, is used to make data-driven decisions to improve health outcomes, identify problems requiring solutions and set priority indicators in reproductive health. The support emphasizes gender analysis to identify which groups are driving slow progress  — and why — with a view to developing targeted solutions. 

Vision for the future  

As Murunga pointed out, change takes time, particularly when it comes to shifting the institutional culture of evidence-informed decision-making and ensuring gender is consistently considered at all stages of the policymaking cycle — from agenda setting to formulating and implementing policies, and finally, evaluation. Such shifts require a deep understanding of institutions, systems and the socio-cultural values underlying them. This is the intersection where the alliance’s work is still much needed.  

“I love our work. I always believe that in the future, we will get there,” said Murunga. “We’re seeing so much interest and engagement on the part of the policymakers and researchers we work with. We see the potential. For us, it’s about figuring out how to make it work best in the settings they work in to truly advance their use of evidence-informed decision-making.