CEGA partnership evolves into the Africa Center for Development Impact

After 7 years, Development Impact West Africa (DIWA) has transitioned into an independent pan-African organization, serving hundreds of new scholars and policymakers.

What started as a training and mentorship program between Accra and Berkeley has transitioned into a new African-led institution with a broader mandate, networks, and credibility to shape how governments across the continent make decisions.

In 2019, CEGA and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) launched Development Impact West Africa (DIWA) to close a persistent gap of applying insights from rigorous impact evaluations into policymaking, with local researchers leading the charge. Seven years later, DIWA has now transitioned into the African Centre for Development Impact (ACDI): an independent pan-African think tank.

DIWA gave us the foundation—the methods, the networks, and the credibility. ACDI is what we chose to build on top of it. We now have an institution that is fully African-led and designed to outlast any single funder or partnership. —Charles Amoatey, Executive Director, ACDI

Between 2019 and 2024, DIWA trained over 100 researchers and policymakers in rigorous impact evaluation, commissioned 19 impact evaluation studies, four of which were published in peer-reviewed journals, and catalyzed active research partnerships between West African scholars and CEGA affiliated faculty in the US. Findings were presented at government ministries, agencies, and the Parliament of Ghana–all with the aim of facilitating evidence uptake for policy decisions. 

Research generated from these partnerships reflects what DIWA made possible. With funding from the Hewlett Foundation, DIWA researchers Fanny Adams Quagrainie, Peace K. Amoatey, Abena Obiri-Yeboah, and Evaewero French worked with CEGA affiliate Todd Pugatch to evaluate Ghana’s Pre-Engineering Program (PEP), which helps students without science backgrounds transition into engineering fields. Their mixed-methods study across three universities found that PEP students performed academically on par with direct-entry engineering peers at two of the three institutions—a finding with real implications for the continued funding of such programs. Researchers recommended scaling the program nationally while strengthening scholarship support and hands-on infrastructure, and these results are now informing policy development through the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission.

DIWA also invested in a deeper form of capacity building for African scholars through the DIWA-CEGA Fellowship, which brought six West African researchers to UC Berkeley for a semester-long immersion in development economics, including deep mentorship, coursework, and space to develop their own research. The return on that investment is visible in what fellows went on to do. Richard Boso, a DIWA-CEGA Fellow, received DIWA funding in 2023 to evaluate the Micro and Small Loans Centre in Accra, alongside CEGA affiliate Alfredo Burlando. That study opened doors: in August 2025, he was awarded $70,000 from J-PAL to pilot a randomized controlled trial in Ghana’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector. His work, implemented with the Ghana TVET Service and the Association of Ghana Industries, will directly inform a $200 million Jobs and Skills Program and shape TVET curriculum reform. The fellowship positioned Richard to attract resources, build coalitions, and drive change at scale.

Now, ACDI carries this important work forward as an independent, civil society organization. No longer housed within a university partnership, ACDI’s mandate is to ensure that public decisions across Africa are guided by trusted, locally generated evidence. ACDI is explicitly designed to connect rigorous evidence with the governments and communities who are best positioned to utilize it. CEGA looks forward to supporting ACDI as a partner and celebrating African-led institutions that drive evidence uptake forward.