Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusion

By 2020, Gavi had made impressive progress in establishing a cutting-edge private sector engagement approach. This involved a shift from a narrow focus on resource mobilisation to a more ambitious vision of harnessing private sector expertise and innovation for immunisation programming. Gavi has met or exceeded all its PSEA performance targets. The commitment and skills of the Gavi Secretariat and leadership have been consistent factors in success. Although there have been significant challenges, these have provided important opportunities for learning. The following recommendations are intended to strengthen the design and implementation of the PSEA. However, these must be interpreted within ongoing operational planning for Gavi’s 5.0 Strategy, and the imperatives of responding to the COVID -19 pandemic.

Mobilising additional resources

• Scope definition: Clearly define the scope of the PSEA against Gavi’s wider work with the private sector, e.g. with pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers and NGOs.

• Specifying targets: Be specific in the definition PSEA targets and indicators – especially for measuring financial commitments, diversification and innovation scale up.

• Gavi visibility: Define this theory of change concept carefully, so PSEA performance and impact can be tracked and measured.

• Funding trends: Work with donors to better understand drivers of funding commitments to inform the interpretation of PSEA funding trends.

• PSEA reporting: Reflect on how to improve the structure and regularity of PSEA financial and progress reporting across the portfolio as a whole

• Timeframes for scaling: Consider the duration of Gavi support needed to take projects to scale. Make approaches to scale-up a key area of evidence-based decision making and structured PSEA learning in the next strategic phase.

Fit to Purpose

• Innovation alignment: Reflect on how to improve alignment of the PSEA’s innovation work to Gavi’s wider innovation efforts.

• An integrated M&E system: Invest in an integrated and aligned M&E system for PSEA projects and the PSEA as a whole.

• Secretariat capacity: Review roles, responsibilities and incentives for managing and implementing the PSEA across the Secretariat.

• Guidelines and procedures: Review PSEA guidelines to ensure consistency and completeness. Aim to standardise and streamline processes, tools and systems for each modality.

• PSEA governance: Agree mechanisms for PSEA oversight and governance by the Board, including the role of a Private Sector Advisory Council.

• Costing and VFM assessments: Reflect on how financial management systems can be enhanced to capture standardised data on PSEA fund flows and costs. Incorporate VFM assessments into scheduled project and PSEA reviews. Consider commissioning ‘total cost of ownership’ studies.

Lessons & unintended consequences

• Risk management: Ensure there is robust risk management of the PSEA and its projects at each operational stage – share the burden of risk appropriately.

• Aligned planning: Reflect on options for better aligning PSEA planning with Gavi portfolio planning on country-level support.

• Structured learning: Strengthen the emphasis on structured learning with emphasis on: a) different types of partnership; b) project themes; and c) approaches to scale-up. Consider establishing a forum for sharing lessons on private sector engagement with other global health partners.