Consultancy Service to undertake the Joint Emergency Action Plan Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE)

The African continent has been severely affected by several disease outbreaks such as cholera, yellow fever, Ebola, and COVID-19 and now mpox; as well as health emergencies generated and exacerbated by conflicts, floods, droughts, and other natural disasters. While progress has been made in strengthening Health Emergency Prepared and Response (EPR) systems of African countries, significant gaps remain. The collective efforts and resources of EPR actors at all levels are needed to bridge these gaps and strengthen health emergency responses across the continent. Africa CDC and WHO have engaged in a pioneering collaboration (the Partnership) to strengthen the EPR systems of African States. Africa CDC and WHO have since joined forces to form a united front to better support the EPR goals of Member States (MS). Operating under the guidance and leadership of Member States, the Partnership will harmonize their efforts to deliver a cohesive EPR offering and minimize the duplication of efforts. As leading institutions for EPR, Africa CDC and WHO seek to build on their complementarities and fill capacity gaps by leveraging their comparative advantages.

In May 2023, Africa CDC and WHO launched the Joint Emergency Action Plan (JEAP) to support the African Union Member States enhance their health system capacity to early detect and respond to disease outbreaks. This unprecedented continental initiative is coordinated jointly by Africa CDC and WHO. The JEAP partnership has established governance and operational mechanisms to support its implementation. Eighttechnical Working Group (TWGs) representing the key collaboration areas of the JEAP (1/Country assessment, 2/Workforce development, 3/surveillance and laboratory, 4/Logistics, supply chain and stock-piling, 5/Response readiness and Coordination, 6/Digital Health, 7/Climate change, 8/Risk communication and Community engagement). These activities have the purpose to enable the continent to reach the outstanding goal of “More vulnerable population in Africa are protected from public health emergencies”.

In 2024, the partnership embarked on the development of the partnership framework to welcome new partners into the platform. During the same year, the mpox epidemic was declared by Africa CDC for the first time as a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security. WHO also declared mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. To address this crisis, Africa CDC established the Continental Incidence Management System and Team (IMST) which is now co-chaired by Africa CDC and WHO.

Within this context the Africa CDC and WHO plan to conduct a mid-term evaluation of the JEAP partnership and recommend improvements for programme delivery and ensure efficient resource use. The mid-term evaluation will cover the implementation period from May 2023 to September 30, 2025.

The Mid-Term Review aims to comprehensively evaluate the implementation of the JEAP after 2 years of implementation. The Mid-term evaluation will emphasize on JEAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027, focusing on four core objectives. First, it will assess progress and milestones by examining the extent to which programmes have achieved their intended outcomes between January 2023 and June 2025, highlighting both accomplishments and shortfalls. Second, the MTE will evaluate accountability and operational efficiency, including how resources have been allocated and whether Africa CDC has effectively delivered on its mandate to stakeholders and partners. Third, it will review the relevance of the current strategic plan considering recent shifts in the global health financing landscape, determining whether its goals and strategies remain fit for purpose. Finally, the review will provide actionable recommendations to refine and recalibrate the strategy to better align with Africa’s evolving health architecture and emerging public health challenges. The review process will also result in an updated organisational learning agenda, incorporating key learning questions across JEAP priority areas and strategic enablers to guide continuous improvement, informed decision-making, and adaptive implementation of JEAP Strategic Plan (2023-2027).