Meet Our Rapid Response Service

ACRES’ Rapid Response Service (RRS) is a knowledge translation service in Uganda that responds to a decision maker’s needs for evidence with synthesised timely relevant evidence, contextualised and summarised in an accessible package.

The Rapid Response Service (RRS) includes the synthesis and dissemination of the best available evidence in response to urgent demands of policymaking. As a ‘demand-driven’ strategy, the RRS facilitates timely access to accurate evidence for policymaking within a specified time, often 28 days.

The model includes an iterative process clarifying the problem with the policymaker, ensuring the policy query is within its specified scope, searching and synthesising the evidence, and summarising and packaging the evidence. This is followed by a review process that includes internal and external reviews to ensure fidelity to processes and framing is relevant to the policy discussions, respectively (this process is illustrated below).

The RRS is managed by a team of researchers readily available to policymakers and conduct the searches within the specified period.

The service was set up to benefit a wide range of users in the health sector at senior to mid-levels including policy makers, civil society, academia, multi- and bilateral Development Partners and the private sector. The RRS has been expanded from the health sector, to include education, gender, youth, the environment and renewable energy.

The Center operates a rapid response service desk focused on the energy and health sectors, ensuring policymakers have timely access to the evidence they need to inform decisions.

The process:

Figure 1: A figurative representation of the structure of a Rapid Response Service