Background: In 2005 the South African Cochrane Centre (SACC), in collaboration with the Cochrane Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS Review Groups, began the Reviews for Africa Programme (RAP), funded by the Nuffield Commonwealth Programme. Objectives: RAP aims to provide training and support to successful applicants from 24 eligible African countries to complete Cochrane reviews. It also aims to develop research capacity and promote evidence-based health care (EBHC) policy and practice in the region. Methods: RAP consists of three phases, and successful completion of each phase leads to progression to the next. Two phases are intense courses conducted at the SACC. Each participant is linked to an experienced Cochrane author who provides guidance and methods expertise. Internal monitoring to identify lessons learnt is done with weekly course evaluations, focus group discussions and comparison of participants’ progress against set timelines. Results: Since 2005, 21 participants (from Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) have joined the programme. All participants have attended a 4-week intensive protocol development course, and to date, 11 have attended the 3-week review completion course. Two reviews and 14 protocols have been published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Since completing the RAP programme, participants are active in conducting presentations and facilitating workshops on EBHC in their home countries, training postgraduate students on research synthesis, mentoring new Cochrane authors, playing key roles in the Nigerian Branch of the SACC as full time staff or visiting lecturers, and are engaged in the establishment of a Kenyan Branch of the SACC. Within Nigeria, RAP is expanding to start RAP-Nigeria which will be run by the Nigerian Branch of the SACC with technical input from the SACC. Internal monitoring has been valuable in recommending adjustments to improve programme efficiency. A comprehensive external evaluation of the programme was conducted by the funders in 2007. Conclusions: RAP is an important training model integrating components of on-site training and distance support. Cochrane Review Groups might consider how they can build on this approach in partnering with skilled groups in poorer countries to promote research synthesis.