Evidence Synthesis
Making existing research useful and timely for urgent policy questions.
- Rapid Response Briefs, often within 28 days
- Clarify, synthesise, contextualise, then a dual review
- Evidence gap maps for advocacy and planning
Transforming decision-making in Africa
We connect decision-makers with timely, high-quality evidence, so that urgent choices reduce inequity and improve socioeconomic outcomes.
- years supporting policymakers with evidence
- countries now use the rapid response model ACRES started
- primary studies indexed in Dr-RES
- days is a typical rapid response turnaround
We are ACRES
The Center for Rapid Evidence Synthesis is a knowledge brokering institution registered as an NGO in Kampala, Uganda. Our work began in 2010 at the College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, with the first ever Rapid Response Service.
Leaders don't have months to wait for a study; they have days. We take the world's research and compress it into reliable evidence that reaches a decision-maker's desk while the choice is being made, from national ministries to district offices.
- Public health
- Education
- Women's economic empowerment
- Climate change and renewable energy
- Digital innovation
Our mission: To provide timely and responsive knowledge for equitable policymaking.
More about who we are (opens in a new tab)Our approach
Four connected ways of bringing evidence closer to the people who make decisions.
Policy Engagement
Working with decision-makers to understand policy environments and bring evidence into dialogue.
- Stakeholder mapping and policy dialogues
- Breakfast meetings and citizen panels
- Podcasts and webinars that share findings widely
Capacity Building
Supporting researchers, knowledge brokers and decision-makers to use evidence with confidence.
- Introductory workshops that build the foundations
- Mentoring and the Evidence to Policy (E2P) programme
- Systems that help organisations sustain evidence use
Research, Innovation and Evaluation
Testing and improving the systems and tools that make evidence use possible.
- Operational research on what works in real settings
- AI-powered tools for the evidence ecosystem
- Evaluation that feeds back into our own methods
Programmes that shape decision-making
Seven programmes, from Ugandan district offices to a 12-country global alliance. The map shows our East African partners.
- Kampala, home of ACRES
- Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi
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Digital Gender-inclusive Tools for Evidence Use
Digital tools that do in minutes what took a research team weeks, built with Sunbird AI, EPHI and PACE.
Supported by the Gates Foundation
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Building a Culture of EIPM in Uganda
Turned a service into an institution: full autonomy from Makerere and four specialised units ready to respond.
16+ new departments, including the Office of the President
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The Africa LEEPS Partnership
ACRES co-leads the East Africa hub linking Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania, and runs the E2P training.
Funded by Hewlett, IDRC and the Robert Bosch Stiftung
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The HIGH-Res Project
Strengthened government use of health research in Kenya, Malawi and Uganda from 2019 to 2022.
89 leaders mentored, 40+ rapid briefs
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Building a Centre of Excellence on EIDM
Took the rapid evidence model beyond health, into education, climate action and gender equity.
35+ rapid briefs for 16+ departments
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The PEERSS Project
A global alliance of 12 country teams, where ACRES pioneered pictorial briefs and citizen panels.
15 youth-focused CSOs trained
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Youth Employment Evidence and Insights Hub
Rapid evidence reviews with the Mastercard Foundation on dignified, fulfilling work for young Africans.
Supports the Young Africa Works strategy
Scroll to see all seven
Stories of change
What happens when evidence arrives while the decision is still open.
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Mukono District
Raising HPV screening among women in HIV care
- The problem
Only about 44% of women attending HIV clinics in Mukono took part in HPV screening.
- What ACRES did
The Assistant District Health Officer asked ACRES for evidence. Our brief set out options from letter and phone reminders to self-sampling and counselling.
- What changed
The District Health Officers' Forum chose personalised reminder letters from clinic doctors, and is now designing the rollout.
Office of the Prime Minister
Evidence inside the national budget review
- The problem
Development plans risked funding aspirations rather than what works.
- What ACRES did
ACRES helped embed evidence into the Public Expenditure Review.
- What changed
Evidence now informs the review, so the National Development Plan is funded by what actually works.
Ministry of Health
Evidence becomes a formal requirement
- The problem
Policy issues reached decision forums without the research behind them.
- What ACRES did
Through HIGH-Res, ACRES helped rewrite the Ministry's governance guidelines.
- What changed
Policy issues must now be presented alongside evidence-informed briefs.
Our partners
Funders, research institutes and evidence networks we work alongside.
- Hewlett Foundation William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
- IDRC International Development Research Centre
- Robert Bosch Stiftung
- Global Commission on Evidence Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges
- EPHI Ethiopian Public Health Institute
- PACE Pan African Collective for Evidence
- AFIDEP African Institute for Development Policy
- R4D Results for Development
- CeRIHI Centre for Reforms, Innovation, Health Policies and Implementation Research, Tanzania
- ACED
Featured publications
Briefs, reports and gap maps you can use in your next decision.
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Rapid Response Briefs
Evidence when decisions cannot wait
Short, contextualised syntheses that answer one urgent policy question.
Browse rapid response briefs (opens in a new tab) -
Reports and publications
Research made usable
Reports and papers that translate research into practical insight.
Browse reports and publications (opens in a new tab) -
Evidence gap maps
See where evidence is thin
Interactive maps that show what is known, and what is missing, on a topic.
Browse evidence gap maps (opens in a new tab)
Latest news
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Read the postOur digital tools
Five platforms built by ACRES, one for each step from an urgent question to an agreed policy.
The Rapid Response Service on a digital platform: decision-makers send urgent questions and follow each one from received to answered.
An open library of evidence briefs and gap maps for policymakers across Africa, searchable by topic, country and SDG.
Define the variables you need, add your PDFs, and get a validated results table to export as CSV, Excel or RIS.
A living directory of 234 digital tools for evidence-informed decision making, organised by the stage of the work they help with.
Where policymakers and researchers gather evidence, discuss it and agree what to commission next.
Stay connected with evidence
Facing a decision? Tell us the question. Calls, texts, email and WhatsApp all reach us.
Email[email protected]
Phone and WhatsApp+256 703 700 265 ยท WhatsApp (opens in a new tab)
OfficePlot 24, Wampewo Close
Kampala, Uganda
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Kampala, Uganda
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ACRES office
Plot 24, Wampewo Close, Kampala, Uganda
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