The CARTA Evidence Website is an interactive platform that aims to demonstrate the impact of the CARTA network by timeously tracking, collating, analyzing, displaying, and enabling the uptake of empirical and theoretical evidence produced. The development of the website commenced in 2021, driven by PhD candidates producing research findings that could have an impact on society thus the need to make their findings available and accessible to various audiences.
On December 2, 2022, the platform was officially launched after months of rigorous and critical work in a webinar titled, ‘Increasing visibility of African research and researchers’. The webinar featured a live demonstration and site tour by the CARTA Evidence Project Lead, Prof. Jude Igumbor, and presentations by Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi – Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) and CARTA Co-Director, and Dr. Marta Vicente-Crespo – CARTA Program Manager.
CARTA Evidence seeks to identify and showcase human capacity and synergies within and outside the network to drive opportunities and research operational efficiencies. It will create a collaborative environment for African scientists and evidence users working in communities of practice and across boundaries and disciplines. Building on available information technology, the end goal is increased access to data and speed of discovery and scientific advancement.
The platform will offer a comprehensive list of research evidence and publicly funded published data to promote accurate monitoring of population health and inform the precision of healthcare policy, innovations, and the betterment of population health.
The mission and vision of the evidence website will be achieved by fostering – human capital development; visibility of evidence; knowledge translation; open science; responsive policies; knowledge management and impact optimization; tracking and curating the structure of evidence; and cross-border and cross-disciplinary collaboration. The website is envisioned to:
- Enable data findability and possible analysis
- Enable human capital development
- Contribute to policy and planning
- Evidence management
CARTA Evidence is a collaborative effort between the University of the Witwatersrand and the African Population and Health Research Center led by Prof. Jude Igumbor – Associate Professor and CARTA focal person at the University of the Witwatersrand. CARTA has funded the innovative platform thanks to the generosity and flexibility of funding that the Carnegie Corporation NY and the Swedish International Cooperation Agency (Sida) provide to the program.
Watch the full webinar recording:
