APHRC is committed to generating an Africa-led and Africa-owned body of evidence to inform decision making for an effective and sustainable response to the most critical challenges facing the continent. Our mandate is to generate and support the use of evidence for meaningful action to improve the lives of all Africans through three integrated programmatic divisions: research, that emphasizes health and wellbeing; research capacity strengthening to deepen the skills of African scholars working on the continent; and policy engagement and communications to support greater influence of evidence in policy – and decision-making across sub-Saharan Africa. APHRC has been an independent, 501(c)3 registered institution since 2001, emerging from a fellowship program of the Population Council started in 1995. Since its inception, the Center has grown from a handful of staff to more than 130 scholars and professionals representing more than a dozen countries across Africa and increasing our annual operating budget from under US$1 million at inception to over US$10 million since 2012. We have a deeply ingrained conviction that prudent financial management and strong internal control systems provide a solid foundation for original, creative, innovative and sustained engagement in research and policy advocacy.