Gavi is leaping into the future: there is no time to lose

Gavi CEO Dr Sania Nishtar introduces the Gavi Leap, transforming the Vaccine Alliance for the future through simplicity, transparency and synergy.

27 October 2025
3 min read
by Sania Nishtar
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<article> <h1> <span>Gavi is leaping into the future: there is no time to lose</span> </h1> <div> <div><p>Gavi CEO Dr Sania Nishtar introduces the Gavi Leap, transforming the Vaccine Alliance for the future through simplicity, transparency and synergy.</p></div> </div> <ul> <li> <b>27 October 2025</b> </li> <li> <b class="me-2">by</b> <span> <a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/authors/sania-nishtar" hreflang="en">Sania Nishtar</a> </span> </li> </ul> <figure> <img src="https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/2025/RS50655_mother-child-malaria-vaccine-sierra-leone_fofanah-h2.jpg" width="1200" height="800" alt="Malaria vaccine roll-out, Waterloo, Sierra Leone, April 2024. Credit: Gavi/2024/Dominique Fofanah" loading="lazy"> <figcaption>Malaria vaccine roll-out, Waterloo, Sierra Leone, April 2024. Credit: Gavi/2024/Dominique Fofanah</figcaption> </figure> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p> </p><p>Our world is changing. The development models of the past are coming under unprecedented strain. To adapt, Gavi is embarking on the most ambitious reform programme in its history: to prepare countries for self-reliance and empower them; and to move us closer to our ultimate goal of putting ourselves out of business. We call this programme of reforms the <a href="https://www.gavi.org/gavi-leap" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="457e7e05-d83b-44b1-bb29-62fd800b884e" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Gavi Leap">Gavi Leap</a>. </p><p>To meet this objective, in 2024 we began paving the way for Gavi’s Leap by re-examining every aspect of our work. The process was wide-ranging by design, taking in all aspects of Gavi’s work, from its internal systems, processes and workplace culture, to its country operating model and the nature of its partnerships with other health agencies. A major focus was placed on process automation of mission-critical functions and artificial intelligence to identify ways they could be leveraged to drive improvement and efficiency.</p><p>The Gavi Leap is built on five pillars: <em>Country First</em>, which embodies a fundamental shift in Gavi’s operating model to place countries at the very heart of Gavi’s work – giving them more agency over how Gavi support is deployed; radical simplification of our country operations, reducing administrative burden on countries; consolidating eight grant windows into one single envelope aligned with the strategy cycle; investments in vaccine manufacturing on the African continent; agile, differentiated support for fragile and humanitarian contexts; and access to sustainable financing through multilateral development partnerships. </p><p><em>Tuning Our Engine</em>, which governs the way the Gavi Secretariat works, including improvements in decision-making and sharpened planning, delivery and accountability. Radical changes in the ways of working at the Secretariat will enable a 33% and 40% reduction in Secretariat size in full-time equivalent (FTE) and non-FTE terms, respectively, in Gavi’s 2026–2030 strategic period (Gavi 6.0).</p><p><em>Powering Partnerships</em>, to optimise synergies through collaboration; concrete measures are under way to explore all options – including a joint Global Fund-Gavi task force and a cross-Alliance working group, both with independent support. Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)-Gavi<strong> </strong>operational and strategic collaboration is also under way.</p><p><em>Embracing the Intelligent Age</em>, to bring renewed focus and urgency to identify technological solutions that support Gavi’s mission.</p><p>And <em>Harnessing the Future of Immunisation</em>, which considers the challenges and opportunities that will shape the work of Gavi in the years to come.</p><p>Commencement on the first reforms began in 2024; and several have been deployed. The journey continues. We are committed to sharing implementation lessons and others on this web page as we continue our transformation journey.</p><div><h4>Have you read?</h4><ul><li><a href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/sania-nishtar-thoughts-and-priorities-my-first-ten-days-charge-gavi" target="_blank">Sania Nishtar: thoughts and priorities from my first ten days in charge of Gavi</a></li><li><a href="https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/gavi-announces-record-setting-year-saving-lives-through-immunisation-2024" target="_blank">Gavi announces record-setting year for saving lives through immunisation</a></li></ul></div><h3>Adapting to a deteriorating operating environment</h3><p>As a result of the Gavi Leap reforms, Gavi will be a smaller, leaner organisation during Gavi 6.0, with enhanced transparency, accountability, delivery capabilities and new ways of working. </p><p>While the inspiration for the Gavi Leap was to prepare for Gavi 6.0, this work has undeniably been influenced by the external environment which, marked by shrinking official development assistance (ODA) budgets and geopolitical tension, threatens to exacerbate health inequities. As the best buy in global health, our response has been to double down on transformation. While we acknowledge a business-as-usual approach would not work for Gavi in the future, we humbly believe there must be widespread acceptance across global health for a change to the status quo.</p><p>The principles behind the Gavi Leap – Country-centricity, Country self-reliance, Focused mandates and Finite lifespans – could well be applied to a root-and-branch reordering of the global health architecture. Calls for such sector-wide reform are growing from both implementing countries and donors. Gavi, for its part, is committed to playing a responsible role in any such process that follows. Having already started our Leap, we humbly hope that the learnings we generate along the way will be valuable to others as they are to us.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/gavi-leaping-future-there-no-time-lose">Original article</a> </p><p>This article was originally published on <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork">VaccinesWork</a> </p><script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-M7H54VD');</script><noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-M7H54VD" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript></article>

Malaria vaccine roll-out, Waterloo, Sierra Leone, April 2024. Credit: Gavi/2024/Dominique Fofanah

Our world is changing. The development models of the past are coming under unprecedented strain. To adapt, Gavi is embarking on the most ambitious reform programme in its history: to prepare countries for self-reliance and empower them; and to move us closer to our ultimate goal of putting ourselves out of business. We call this programme of reforms the Gavi Leap.

To meet this objective, in 2024 we began paving the way for Gavi’s Leap by re-examining every aspect of our work. The process was wide-ranging by design, taking in all aspects of Gavi’s work, from its internal systems, processes and workplace culture, to its country operating model and the nature of its partnerships with other health agencies. A major focus was placed on process automation of mission-critical functions and artificial intelligence to identify ways they could be leveraged to drive improvement and efficiency.

The Gavi Leap is built on five pillars: Country First, which embodies a fundamental shift in Gavi’s operating model to place countries at the very heart of Gavi’s work – giving them more agency over how Gavi support is deployed; radical simplification of our country operations, reducing administrative burden on countries; consolidating eight grant windows into one single envelope aligned with the strategy cycle; investments in vaccine manufacturing on the African continent; agile, differentiated support for fragile and humanitarian contexts; and access to sustainable financing through multilateral development partnerships.

Tuning Our Engine, which governs the way the Gavi Secretariat works, including improvements in decision-making and sharpened planning, delivery and accountability. Radical changes in the ways of working at the Secretariat will enable a 33% and 40% reduction in Secretariat size in full-time equivalent (FTE) and non-FTE terms, respectively, in Gavi’s 2026–2030 strategic period (Gavi 6.0).

Powering Partnerships, to optimise synergies through collaboration; concrete measures are under way to explore all options – including a joint Global Fund-Gavi task force and a cross-Alliance working group, both with independent support. Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)-Gavi operational and strategic collaboration is also under way.

Embracing the Intelligent Age, to bring renewed focus and urgency to identify technological solutions that support Gavi’s mission.

And Harnessing the Future of Immunisation, which considers the challenges and opportunities that will shape the work of Gavi in the years to come.

Commencement on the first reforms began in 2024; and several have been deployed. The journey continues. We are committed to sharing implementation lessons and others on this web page as we continue our transformation journey.

Have you read?

Adapting to a deteriorating operating environment

As a result of the Gavi Leap reforms, Gavi will be a smaller, leaner organisation during Gavi 6.0, with enhanced transparency, accountability, delivery capabilities and new ways of working.

While the inspiration for the Gavi Leap was to prepare for Gavi 6.0, this work has undeniably been influenced by the external environment which, marked by shrinking official development assistance (ODA) budgets and geopolitical tension, threatens to exacerbate health inequities. As the best buy in global health, our response has been to double down on transformation. While we acknowledge a business-as-usual approach would not work for Gavi in the future, we humbly believe there must be widespread acceptance across global health for a change to the status quo.

The principles behind the Gavi Leap – Country-centricity, Country self-reliance, Focused mandates and Finite lifespans – could well be applied to a root-and-branch reordering of the global health architecture. Calls for such sector-wide reform are growing from both implementing countries and donors. Gavi, for its part, is committed to playing a responsible role in any such process that follows. Having already started our Leap, we humbly hope that the learnings we generate along the way will be valuable to others as they are to us.