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; and
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; and
the eligibility criteria as per Gavi guidelines for new proposals of support.

	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
Submission cut-off dates	23 January 2020	1 May 2020	8 September 2020
Review dates (indicative)	16-25 March 2020	29 June–3 July 2020	2-13 November 2020

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