Co-creating solutions that centre African expertise in turning knowledge into impact was the focus of a recent World Bank briefing on its strategic knowledge agenda. The roundtable brought together thought leaders from South African and regional think tanks, academia, and civil society for a candid exchange on the World Bank’s evolving vision and knowledge priorities.  Ms Mwanja Ng’anjo, Head of Communications at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), was among the invited participants at the roundtable breakfast meeting with Mr Axel van Trotsenburg, the World Bank’s Senior Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships, held on 21 July 2025 in Pretoria.

Mr Trotsenburg reiterated the World Bank’s renewed commitment to supporting a world free of poverty on a liveable planet. Its implementation requires solutions that are underpinned by knowledge, partnerships, and operational efficiency and effectiveness. For this to happen, enhanced civil society engagement, with the critical role of African think tanks in generating knowledge through evidence-based approaches that amplify citizens’ voices and inform national and regional policy and planning, becomes key.

“The African voice needs to be strengthened with think tanks across the continent,” Mr Trotsenburg said, highlighting the importance of strengthening partnerships between global institutions and African think tanks to deliver insights that truly matter to people, resulting in data that informs.

The meeting provided a unique opportunity for open discussion on how best to foster effective partnerships and promote evidence-based development policy. Attendees shared insights on best practices for translating knowledge into actionable solutions capable of informing policy and addressing complex development challenges.

Speaking on the creation of spaces for people’s voices to be heard through data and knowledge for impact, Ms Ng’anjo shared with the group the IJR’s South African Reconciliation Barometer (SARB), a public opinion survey that gauges South Africans’ attitudes towards reconciliation, social cohesion, and democratic governance. “The SARB is a nationally representative survey that has been conducted since 2003, making it the longest-running survey of its kind globally,” said Ms Ng’anjo.

The roundtable concurred that dialogue is needed to create space for diverse voices and that national policy and planning needs to be informed by citizens’ voices and attitudes. This should be coupled with long-term projections and mega trends, which are often reliable and critical to inform policy decisions for sustainable development.

The World Bank is placing knowledge, learning, and innovation at the centre of development efforts, prioritising the consolidation of knowledge products, the formation of strategic partnerships, particularly with institutions in the Global South, to boost internal and external learning.

The think tanks at the roundtable were also informed that financing alone is not enough, as what is needed is a shared commitment to learning from one another and turning knowledge into results that matter for people in their different country and regional contexts.