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Dr. Patrick Mbah Okwen is a renowned leader in evidence-informed decision-making, with expertise spanning health, education, and climate health research. He has championed the promotion of Made-in-Africa innovations, fostering homegrown solutions and enhancing research evidence mobilization to address local and global challenges. Among approaches for knowledge mobilization he has promoted from the African continent are policy events, audits and feedback, and storytelling. With the team at eBASE, Dr. Okwen is developing a mathematical model that predicts the transferability of research evidence across contexts, thus increasing the use of research evidence and reducing waste. Dr. Okwen’s impactful work, particularly in the Lake Chad Basin and French-speaking Africa, has earned him prestigious awards, including the Cochrane Aubrey Sheiham Award, the World Bank AVPU Award, the Campbell Robert Boruch Award, and the African Evidence Network Leadership Award. He is an active member of influential networks, including the Guidelines International Network, the JBI Collaboration, the Evidence in Education Network, the Africa Evidence Network, and the Sigma Xi Research Honor Society. His commitment to advancing evidence-based policies and African-led innovations is driving sustainable development, including outside Africa. Dr. Okwen’s diverse and ambitious team of young researchers is based in 5 countries in Africa. He is fluent in French and English.

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Eleanor Williams is the Managing Director of the Australian Centre for Evaluation in the Department of Treasury, and the current Chair of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Evaluation Experts Group. With over 20 years’ experience working with the Australian public sector, Eleanor has held senior executive roles in strategic policy, evaluation and research and holds Masters level qualifications in Public Policy and Evaluation. She was a key contributor to the recently launched Global Evidence Report: A Blueprint for Better International Collaboration on Evidence led by the UK’s Behavioural Insights Team in Nesta.

Demand Side Engagement Working Group

21 October, 2024 breakout sessions - notes and slides