AFIDEP is an independent non-profit organization established to promote the translation and utilization of research evidence for formulation of development policies and resource allocation in Africa.  AFIDEP will synthesize and repackage existing evidence and generate new knowledge to guide efforts to address Africa's foremost poverty alleviation and development obstacles namely: rapid population growth, poor public health outcomes and systems, deteriorating environment, and low levels of education. 

One key element of AFIDEP's work will involve helping policy makers, including those in the ministries of planning and finance, as well as foreign aid agencies, to have a clearer understanding of the population growth factor in health and development.  In particular, AFIDEP will promote funding and adoption of effective strategies for enabling couples fulfill their childbearing ideals and reduce the high levels of unmet need for family planning and other reproductive health services in Africa. 

AFIDEP will bring together a multidisciplinary team of scholars and practitioners trained in various social sciences, public health, policy analysis, and communication to generate knew knowledge, package it in formats that are accessible to policy makers, and carry out evidence based advocacy at national, regional, and international levels.  The Institute is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

AFIDEP is led by Dr Eliya Msiyaphazi Zulu, who earned his PhD in Demography at the University of Pennsylvania, and is originally from Malawi.  Before founding AFIDEP Dr. Zulu was the Deputy Director and Director of Research at the acclaimed African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). He also headed at APHRC the Urbanization and Wellbeing Research Program, and the Policy Engagement and Communications Unit.  He is the elected president of UAPS, the Union for African Population Studies and he also holds the title of Director of Development Policy in the Berkeley, California-based nonprofit organization Venture Strategies for Health and Development. Dr Zulu's research and policy engagement interests cover a wide range of issues in international development, including population growth, urbanization, reproductive health, poverty, health systems, and policy analysis. 

The initial support for the establishment of AFIDEP has been provided by Venture Strategies for Health and Development.