Overview
By mid-2026 we will have two regional hubs made up of evidence intermediaries that support impacts at the country level. These evidence intermediaries may provide timely, demand-driven evidence support and/or provide science advice. They may be aligned ‘up’ to advisory and decision-making processes and/or ‘out’ to learning and improvement platforms. The regional hubs will respect the principle of subsidiarity: their focus is supporting those working at the country (or local) level, with the rare exception of when there are regional ‘windows of opportunity’ (e.g., through a regional multilateral process).
The first two regional hubs will likely be supported in Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean. A sub-regional hub is currently being explored for the UK and Europe. The next most likely priorities are Asia Pacific and the Middle East. We will regularly provide updates on the status of these hubs. An expansion in coverage will be considered as part of possible new foundational investments.
We hope that the regional hubs will develop strong, efficient working relationships with UN Country Teams and their regional collaborative platforms, economic commissions, and issue-based coalitions, particularly as they evolve according to the UN80 Initiative Action Plan. The Global SDG Synthesis Coalition has already been helping us explore collaborations with some of these existing regional assets.
We also hope that the regional hubs will work synergistically with groups such as the regional chapters of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA), as well as its Francophone partner (Réseau francophone international en conseil, or RFICs), with local Embedded Evidence Labs (EEL), and with other similar groups. We have INGSA, RFICs and EEL representatives on our Communities Council to support such strategic coordination.
Why this matters
Regional hub-supported evidence intermediaries can be a game changer for decision-makers – government policymakers, organization leaders, professionals and citizens, as well as UN agency staff – by providing access to trustworthy, actionable and locally applicable insights on all of their big questions (or problems). These insights can be based on the many needed forms of local evidence and on learnings from around the world, including how these learnings vary by groups and contexts. National (and local) decision-makers may need local data analytics, modeling, evaluation, behavioural / implementation research, and qualitative insights. They also need what ESIC brings to the table through evidence synthesis – what has been learned from other countries and with what equity considerations and confidence or caveats. Evidence intermediaries, through processes like stakeholder dialogues and citizen panels, can also place research evidence alongside the many other factors that will influence decision-making, such as institutional constraints, interest-group pressure, values, and Indigenous and other ways of knowing.
The regional hub-supported evidence intermediaries can also be a game changer for synthesis teams and technology companies by providing access to the synthesis- and AI-ready data from specific groups and context. Such data can be used by anyone wanting to contextualize the insights for a different group or context.
Lastly, these evidence intermediaries will be a game changer for four types of funders: international assistance, national (or domestic) funders, philanthropic, and research. For example, international assistance funders may want ‘best buys’ lists contextualized to local groups and contexts. National funders may want greater rigour in how they learn from other countries. Research funders may want more locally contextualized feedback loops to improve the relevance and rigour of primary research or to write calls and require proposals that leverage and contribute to the infrastructure and help move us to full coverage with locally contextualized evidence syntheses addressing key local priorities.