Why ACODE
The founding of ACODE in 2000 was driven by the need to establish a premier independent public policy think tank in Africa designed primarily to bridge the gap between public policy, policy outreach, and policy implementation. Institutions that existed before were largely academic thinktanks that engaged in policy research and publishing policy-relevant information that remained on library shelves.
At the time of its established, the NGO terrain in much of Sub-Saharan Africa was slowly shifting from provision of social services that had dominated NGO work for decades to engage government in policy making processes. ACODE sought to link three key components that make public policies focus on the power and vulnerable sections of society: