The year 2022 was noteworthy for APHRC. Coming on the heels of commemorating our 20th Anniversary, the Center came of age as a credible African voice for global health equity as the COVID-19 pandemic waned and left in its wake the gross inequalities it had exposed.

Significantly, we positioned the Center as a catalyst to strengthen the African research and development (R&D) ecosystem. We moved from a focus on individual and institutional capacity strengthening to system-wide change - addressing the structural barriers to sustainable R&D capacity on the continent, which were a major driver of the gross inequalities the continent experienced in its response to the pandemic.

The need for a strong African institution leading efforts for system-wide change in the R&D ecosystem was validated with funding for a major initiative to increase the visibility of African academics, scientists, and major institutions in implementation research. The initiative will improve the findability of African scientists and connect them and other partners from across the world and to major science funding bodies. Through this initiative, we will also establish a resource for multi-disciplinary data creation, harmonization, standardization, sharing, and analysis for academic institutions on the continent.

Furthermore, through a greatly improved impact tracking approach, the Center documented tens of policy wins in multiple countries on the continent.

The Center also achieved the highest certification for robust finance and grant management practices under the Good Financial Grant Practice (GFGP) standard - the world's first international standard in grant management. We nonetheless continued to bolster our internal systems and processes by embarking on the Center's first-ever Organizational Effectiveness Assessment. The assessment was conducted to ascertain our ability to achieve the bold vision we set for ourselves in the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. It examined our strategic orientation, organizational structure, programs, culture, and systems as we seek to reaffirm our accountability to and build on the trust of our partners and funders.

We rely on our committed staff to continue and achieve significant outcomes in the work that we do.

Bunmi Makinwa and Catherine Kyobutungi