Across Sub-Saharan Africa, research funding is tightening just as the demand for actionable evidence reaches an all-time high. A central theme at the recent Africa Evidence Summit in Addis Ababa – Powering Policy with Innovative, Inclusive, Transparent Data – drove this reality home: financial constraints are forcing a fundamental shift in how we generate knowledge.

Adapting to this “new normal” doesn’t mean stopping research; it means changing our approach. While resource mobilisation takes time, open data and secondary analysis offer an immediate, sustainable path forward. Instead of launching expensive new studies, African researchers have an opportunity to make better use of existing high-quality data. 

THE IMPACT OF FUNDING CUTS ON THE AFRICAN RESEARCH SECTOR 

A decline in development assistance and donor funding has put immense pressure on African governments and research sectors. Aid traditionally funded both the design and implementation of critical programs. Its reduction risks a loss of human capital, stalled initiatives, and shrinking public investment.

As highlighted by IMF News, the African research ecosystem must reduce its dependency on aid and find new ways to lead data and evidence driven research sectors. Funding cuts do not diminish the need for new evidence , but they do present an opportunity for existing data to be reanalysed. This allows us to ask new questions, uncover fresh insights, and stretch research budgets further. 

THE THRIVE BY FIVE INDEX: A MODEL FOR DATA REUSE

DataDrive2030’s flagship project, the Thrive by Five Index, is a clear example of how open data, co-creation and research reuse function in practice.  

At the summit, an overview of the 2024 Thrive by Five Index methodology and findings invited  researchers to explore how this resource could answer their own questions and be adapted for use beyond South Africa’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector. Attendees were particularly drawn to the dataset’s breadth, which spans child development outcomes , household circumstances, early learning programme quality and broader structural conditions.  

In the face of funding constraints, researchers can leverage this rich dataset to explore critical factors tied to school readiness and developmental success. However, careful interpretation remains essential. While the Index is cross-sectional and analyses can identify patterns and associations, it cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships. Applying proper nuance and context ensures that secondary analysis yields well founded and policy-relevant conclusions.

CO-CREATION: GETTING RESEARCH FINDINGS INTO PUBLIC POLICY

Too often, significant time and money are spent producing comprehensive reports that ultimately gather dust on a shelf. When thorough research fails to  reach decision-makers, communities miss out on evidence-informed policies.

Co-creation bridges this gap. It can strengthen evidence relevance, ownership and the likelihood that evidence is considered in decision making. Summit sessions like “Evidence Aggregation and Use: New Frontiers” and “Panel on Pathways to Policy Influence: Evidence Use by the Public Sector” emphasised a strong push for African-led research that is designed with governments rather than externally imposed. Co-creating studies alongside government stakeholders offers several key advantages:

• Builds ownership: Encourages early buy-in and direct institutional adoption of research findings.
• Maximises impact: Aligns research directly with active policy priorities, ensuring practical implementation 
• Strengthens Partnerships:Fosters ongoing relationships between researchers and government stakeholders for better long-term collaboration. 

A real-world example of this in action is the working relationship between the South African Department of Basic Education and DataDrive2030, where a non-governmental organisation directly supports a key ministerial output in coordinating  the Thrive by Five Index.

WHY ACCESSIBLE DATA MATTERS

Open datasets and publicly accessible data portals democratise evidence.They allow researchers and policymakers across the continent to test hypotheses and build upon previously funded work.

Take Afrobarometer for example, which collects representative public-opinion data from across Africa and makes it freely available. Researchers worldwide  can use this single portal  to compare country contexts, track social changes over time, and address unique policy questions. 

Publicly available data cannot replace every new study –  emerging issues and longitudinal tracking will always require original data collection.  But, not every question demands a costly new round of data collection. Existing datasets can be revisited, combined with other evidence, and analysed from different perspectives to generate new insights at a fraction of the cost.

AN INVITATION TO RESEARCHERS

The data is open. The core question is: What haven’t we asked yet? 

What new relationships can be mapped? What assumptions can we challenge? What foundational insights can existing evidence contribute to the next generation of early learning research?

The Thrive by Five Index 2024 dataset is publicly accessible, offering a rich foundation for exploring new questions about early learning systems in South Africa and beyond. If you are a researcher, policymaker, or work in the ECD sector, we invite you to dive into the data, replicate or extend current findings and help us discover when open data can take us next. 

Access the dataset here:  https://datadrive2030.co.za/working-with-the-thrive-by-five-index-2024-explorations-of-early-learning-systems-in-south-africa/