On Women’s Day, South Africa’s inaugural AI-powered Living Evidence Map for Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) was launched. This initiative is a collaborative effort between the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and the Pan African Collective for Evidence (PACE).

The platform is a groundbreaking digital tool developed to support Pillar 6 of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP GBVF), which focuses on strengthening research and information management.

This launch establishes South Africa’s most extensive, continuously updated, and centralised gender evidence base. It consolidates academic research, community insights, evaluations, and government data into a single, easily accessible platform.

The Living Evidence Map is co-produced in partnership with researchers, civil society, and government departments and powered by ChatEIDM, an AI engine that allows users to interact with the data in real time. 

It is designed to support policymakers crafting targeted interventions; civil society organisations seeking evidence-informed strategies, researchers and evaluators identifying gaps and trends, and the broader public interested in understanding the scope and solutions to GBVF. 

DPME Minister Maropene Ramokgopa said that as part of their commitment to a safer, more just society, she was proud to announce the launch of the NSP GBVF Living Evidence Map, which brings together the largest gender evidence base in South Africa. 

“A tool for action. A tool for justice. A tool that puts survivors first,” Ramokgopa said.

“We will not end GBVF with words alone – we need evidence, accountability, and the courage to act.” 

PACE innovation and equity director Andile Madonsela, who has been leading the Living Evidence on NSP GBVF, said the Living Evidence Map on the NSP GBVF was a result of a demand from the DPME. 

Madonsela said Pillar 6 specifically speaks to the need for research and evidence base research was needed that would inform the implementation of evidence-based interventions. 

“We worked with the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in collaboration with other stakeholders in the development of this evidence map. They told us what counts as evidence in their space, but they also helped us to define the framework,” Madonsela explained. “So the X and Y axis, what counts as interventions in the space, and what are some of the outcomes that we can look out for in the research.”

Madonsela said they kept looking for the evidence that would inform the evidence map. 

“I think what is more important, what speaks to the value of this Living Evidence Map, is that we also do what we call contact searches. We reach out to industry experts in the space to ask them for research papers or reports that might speak to this evidence map,” Madonsela said. 

She said that after searching, they go through a screening process. Thereafter, they move to data extraction. 

“Currently it is sitting on 1,390, which includes research that speaks to gender in South Africa from 1990 until 2025,” Madonsela said. 

“This speaks to the extent to which research in this area is very vast, and it has sort of academic papers but also government monitoring documents, which we would not have access to if it weren’t for the co-production approach that we follow.” 

Madonsela said the Living Evidence Map should be recognised as a source that makes research more accessible, and that’s how it bridges implementation, policy and research because now research is more accessible, which allows for policy to be based on the very same research, but also for implementation to be based on research too. 

thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za 

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