Independent Review Committee

Key characteristics

Since its inception, the structure and composition of the Gavi IRC have been considered effective due to key characteristics:

the committee relies upon a wide range of experts in public health, epidemiology, development, finance and economics
the committee is based on a system of peer review
the committee is independent

Governance and legal structures

The Gavi Board

The IRC is directly accountable to the Gavi Board and communicates its recommendations to the Gavi Board. The Gavi Board makes the ultimate decision on whether to approve the funding of new country grants. The Gavi Board also has the responsibility for communicating its decision to countries, via the Gavi Secretariat.

Keeping in mind the realistic planning timelines, countries should target a submission deadline that meets their implementation timelines.

New proposals IRC

The mandate of the new proposals IRC is to review each application for all types of new support, to enable a more holistic view of the broad portfolio of support Gavi provides to countries, rather than looking at each new application in isolation from the others, and to make recommendations to the Gavi Board.

This review should consider the information available to countries within current guidelines and application forms and ensure that any new proposal contributes to achieving:

the Gavi mission - ‘To save children’s lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries’
the Gavi's strategic goals

It also ensures that each new application for support complies with the eligibility criteria, established according to the Gavi guidelines for new proposals of support.

Round opening (on the portal)	Deadline for submission	IRC meeting (indicative dates)
~2mths prior	19 January 2021	8–19 March 2021
~2mths prior	4 May 2021	28 June–9 July 2021
~2mths prior	15 September 2021	8–19 Nov 2021

IRC Membership

Members of the Independent Review Committee consist of specialists from a broad range of expertise.

IRC members generally serve a term of three years. This term may be renewed for another period of up to 3 years. Upon reaching the second term limit IRC members will not be eligible to serve on the IRC for at least 1 year. During their term IRC members may be called upon to serve on the IRC for review of country plans or requests for extensions for which he or she has specific relevant skills.

Terms of Reference for the IRC

Range of expertise

The increasing complexity of new proposals and the subsequent grant monitoring requires an IRC with a broad range of expertise in areas such as:

Routine immunisation programmes, especially at country level
Management of campaigns
Delivery of health services including child and adolescent health
Health systems strengthening and management
Epidemiology and disease control
Cold chain and logistics
Financial and budget analysis
Gender and equity

The IRC should also consist of technical experts knowledgeable on the developing country context and relevant issues, including in a variety of fields related to immunisation and health systems, and who have practical experience working in or with developing country governments, civil society, and other partners in those contexts. In addition, the IRC should be geographically diverse, with a male and female representation consistent with Gavi’s Gender Policy and Guidelines on the Gavi Board Gender Balance.

Each IRC member is asked to sign a confidentiality and conflict of interest statement and will not come from Vaccine Alliance partner agencies, and have not taken part in technical assistance to or pre-review processes of country applications.

Biographies of the IRC members

List of IRC pool members

	Name	Areas of expertise
1	Saidou Pathé Barry	HSS, national health strategies, policy dialogue in the health sector, M&E, primary health care
2	Blaise Bikandou	HSS, policy development, vaccine preventable diseases, epidemiology, health programme management and administration
3	Francois Boilloit	Disease control, health system development and reform, health financing, development assistance for health
4	Brent Burkholder	Epidemiology, vaccine programmes and disease control, outbreak investigations
5	Diego Buriot	Public health interventions, communicable diseases, fragile and crisis settings
6	Pierre Bwale	Health care delivery, campaigns, emergencies, programmes for hard-to-reach communities
7	Lisa Cairns	Immunisation policy, epidemiology, M&R control, national immunisation programme reviews
8	Aleksandra Caric	Immunisation, vaccine safety and regulation, programme management and administration
9	Dah Cheikh	Organization and management of vaccination programmes, HSS, vaccine campaigns, trainings
10	Sadia Chowdhury	Reproductive Health, HSS, child health services, programme delivery, M&E of health programmes
11	Natasha Crowcroft	Epidemiology, HSS, HPV, measles, outbreak control, training and capacity building
12	Celestino Costa	Cold chain, immunisation, HSS, emergency responses, primary health care
13	John Crump	Infectious diseases, epidemiology, outbreak responses, typhoid
14	Henrique D’Alva	Cold chain, EPI logistics
15	Kevin De Cock	Global public health, HIV, emergency & outbreak response, HSS
16	Modibo Dicko	Supply chain management, introducing innovative technologies, management systems and practices in health supply systems
17	Rene Dubbeldam	National health policies, essential medicines strategies, child health programmes, community health, epidemiology
18	Peter Fonkwo	Health programme design and management, routine &mass campaigns vaccination, HSS, EPI M&E
19	Djordie Gikic	HSS, proposal development, immunisation systems evaluation, service delivery, health policies
20	Melita Gordon	Gastroenterology, disease surveillance, typhoid, vaccine trials
21	John Grundy	Health policy, campaign delivery, HSS, programme evaluation
22	Bradley Hersh	Health policy, immunisation, outbreaks, campaigns, measles control
23	Natasha Howard	Health policy, social epidemiology, immunisation service delivery, fragile setting, strong academic background
24	Hector Izurieta	Immunisation campaign management, public health, measles control, epidemiology, policy making
25	Clifford Kamara	Health development, immunisation services, recovery programme, management and evaluation of health programmes
26	Jean Rostand Kamga	Financial & budget analysis, management and governance, audits, financial investigations
27	Toagoe Karzon	Project funding, financial reporting and budget control, conducting audits
28	Tcha Landry Kaucley	Cold Chain, vaccine logistics, EPI monitoring & evaluation, public health management
29	Wassim Khrouf	Financial & budget analysis, audits, project assessment
30	Vladimir Lazarevik	Healthcare system transformation, health financing design, health policy development
31	Stefano Lazzari	Outbreak, epidemic and emergency response, HSS, monitoring and evaluation, grant management
32	Dafrossa Lyimo	Immunisation campaign management, public health, health systems management, health policies, disease control
33	Osman Mansoor	Immunisation programmes, epidemiology & monitoring, measles control, cold chain & logistics
34	Viviana Mangiaterra	Child health, epidemiology, HSS, immunisation programmes
35	Florian Marks	Public health, vaccinology and policy making, outbreak responses, campaign evaluations
36	Tawanda Marufu	Fragile settings, HSS, epidemiology, health policy, HPV, Typhoid, measles
37	Scott McKeown	Epidemiology, information systems, health service delivery, immunization incl. campaigns, cold chain maintenance
38	Mark Miller	Epidemiology, vaccine research, public health, outbreak investigations, disease control
39	Kondwani Msampha	Financial & budget analysis, HSS, global health and integrated service delivery
40	Benjamin Nkowane	Vaccine preventable disease programmes, implementation of mass vaccination campaigns, technical support for field operations in security risk areas, epidemiology and reproductive/sexual health
41	Mathieu Noirhomme	Public health, HSS, health policy dialogue, health financing, design thinking & service design, universal health coverage
42	Peter Nsubuga	Epidemiology, measles control, cold chain, HSS
43	Cornelius Oepen	HSS, urban health, health security, mass vaccination/campaigns, evaluation of research programmes
44	Jean Marc Olive	Immunisation programmes, emergency strategies & disaster relief, measles elimination
45	Virgil Onama	Project design, M&E, results-based management, health financing & policy, fragile settings
46	Michael Park	Programme management and evaluation, primary care, health systems and public health
47	Elisabeth Paul	Health systems and policies, health financing, universal health coverage, performance-based financing, aid effectiveness
48	Ian Pett	Health care, cold chain, HSS, outbreak response, emergencies
49	Arthur Reingold	Epidemiology, measles control, vaccination delivery, strengthening health infrastructure
50	Cheikh Mohamed Hafis Seck	Financial & budget analysis, financial management of donor-funded programs, audit, grant agreements
51	Jim Setzer	Health information systems, HSS, disease surveillance, programme and policy planning, M&E, strategic planning
52	Craig Shapiro	Management of immunisation programmes, policy development, public health, cold chain evaluation, HSS activities
53	Simon (Sam) Sternin	Global health generalist, HSS, disaster management, coverage and equity, CSOs
54	Abdelmajid Tibouti	Financial & budget analysis, health economics, health financing strategies, monitoring and evaluation
55	Vivien Tsu	Epidemiology, new public health interventions, women's reproductive health, HPV, JE
56	Margaret Watkins	Immunisation campaign management, epidemiology, public health interventions, outbreaks, evaluations
57	Karen Wilkins	Immunisation campaign management, proposals development, monitoring and evaluation, DQ assessments
58	Aregai Woldegebriel	Epidemiology, SIA, MNCH, outbreaks, monitoring and evaluation