About The Gavi CSO Constituency
The Gavi CSO constituency is made up of over 450 member CSOs from across the globe. Current Gavi CSO Constituency organisations range from large international and regional NGOs to local and national CSOs. The Constituency also includes a growing number of national paediatric associations and NGO consortiums as well as more technical- and service-delivery oriented agencies. The Gavi-supported national CSO platforms for immunisation and health systems form an important foundation for the CSO Constituency. Country-level platforms or networks are members of the Gavi Civil Society Constituency.
Our Vision
To provide the perspective and voice of the Civil Society for better health outcomes and leverage CSO participation as a catalyst to increase Country-level efforts to improve the level of immunisation coverage, with a focus on hard to reach and underserved populations.
Our Mission
Every person is reached with vaccination and basic health services, wherever they are and regardless of their origin, gender and social status, defending the principle of leaving no one behind.
Civil Society and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: Engagement and evolution
While CSOs have long played critical roles in supporting immunization services at national and global levels, their role in Gavi were now expanded to better tap the knowledge and influence of CSOs around the world. Since that time, the Gavi CSO Constituency has grown to over 450 CSOs in both the global North and South.
Today CSOs participate in all aspects of the Alliance including in the governance structure through a seat on the Gavi Board and representation on the Program and Policy Committee and the Governance Committee as well as in ongoing task teams.
Civil Society engagement with Gavi is an evolutionary process; our perspectives are increasingly sought by the Alliance and our contributions acknowledged.
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The Steering Committee
The Gavi CSO Steering Committee is a group of dedicated individuals from Civil Society Organisations that serve as the decision-making body for the Gavi CSO Constituency. The Steering Committee is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of the Gavi CSO constituency and ensuring that it remains true to its mission and values. Members of the Steering Committee are elected by the constituency and serve a three-year term. They come from a variety of backgrounds and regions, but all share a deep commitment to promoting immunisation as a vital tool for public health and development.
The Steering Committee works closely with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is a public-private partnership that works to increase access to immunisation in the world’s poorest countries. Together, the Steering Committee and Gavi work to ensure that the voices of civil society are heard and that the needs of communities are at the centre of decision-making around immunisation policies and programs.
“We are proud to be a part of the Gavi CSO Constituency and grateful for the hard work and dedication of our Steering Committee members. Together, we can continue to make progress towards a world where everyone has access to life-saving vaccines.”
Dr. Enzie Waziri
Chair, Gavi CSO Constituency Steering Committee
General Presentation
The GAVI CSO Constituency is a platform of over 200 Civil Society Organisations world wide. We adopted our Charter in December 2010.
We support GAVI’s mission “to save children’s lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries”
Amref Hosting Arrangement
Amref health Africa appointed by Gavi as the new Civil Society Organisation (CSO) host
- As Gavi CSO host, Amref will mobilise and support Civil Society Organisations working to strengthen health systems and deliver immunisation services to underserved communities.
- Amref Health Africa is the first organisation located in a lower middle-income country to host the CSO platform
As part of the 2022 World Immunisation Week held in April, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Amref Health Africa, and the Gavi Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Steering Committee announced a new partnership to harness the full potential of civil society to deliver on Gavi’s ambitious mission to leave no one behind with immunisation.
The announcement built on the momentum created by a Gavi Board-approved initiative to support and empower Civil Society Organisations and communities to identify and reach underserved and missed communities. This included a requirement for all countries supported by Gavi to allocate at least ten percent of their combined Health System Strengthening (HSS), Equity Accelerator Funding (EAF) and Targeted Country Assistance (TCA) ceilings for activities undertaken by CSO partners.
The decision makes Amref Health Africa the first organisation located in a lower middle-income country to host the CSO Constituency. Additionally, the coordination of these activities from Kenya – a country that is eligible for Gavi support – is a unique opportunity to meaningfully include beneficiary communities and their representatives in the design and implementation of immunisation policies and programs.
Hosting the Gavi CSO Constituency is an exciting opportunity for Amref to support the overall global immunisation agenda – IA2030 – by expanding and deepening civil society engagement with key stakeholders, including government leaders, multilateral partners, private sector organisations and grassroots communities.
Amref will offer strategic advisory services to the Gavi CSO Steering Committee and support capacity building efforts promoted by the Gavi Secretariat across the CSO Constituency for county-led engagement and implementation. Amref will also ensure there is coordination between the Gavi Secretariat, the Gavi CSO Steering Committee and the Constituency and will manage communications on key and relevant issues for the Civil Society immunisation community.
Civil society organisations play an essential role in supporting communities and health systems, and Amref has been at the core of working with different governments to increase sustainable health access to communities that would otherwise miss out on these essential services
Civil society organisations are critical to reaching the most marginalised, as they understand the specific needs and context of these populations and have the trust and confidence of the communities we are trying to serve
No community should be left behind. The Gavi Civil Society Constituency is excited by the partnership between Gavi and Amref – the first Southern Hemisphere host for the Gavi CSO Steering Committee. The Gavi 5.0 agenda is ambitious, and we are fully committed to its success
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Notes to readers
The selection of Amref Health Africa as the new Gavi Civil Society Organisation (CSO) host followed a competitive process, beginning with a Request for Proposals published on the Gavi website on 14th July 2021. The final selection was made by consensus by members of the Gavi Secretariat and the Gavi CSO Steering Committee/Constituency. The Gavi CSO Constituency and its Steering Committee is independent of the Gavi Civil Society Organisation (CSO) host and has appointed members for representation. Amref succeeds the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) which completed its hosting term on 31st December 2021 after ten years.
About Amref Health Africa
Amref Health Africa, headquartered in Kenya, is the largest Africa-based International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO). With a focus on increasing sustainable health access, Amref runs programmes in over 35 countries in Africa, with lessons learnt over 60 years of engagement with governments, communities and partners. Amref Health Africa also engages in programme development, fundraising, partnership, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, and has offices in Europe and North America as well as subsidiaries: Amref Flying Doctors, Amref Enterprises and the Amref International University. Amref Health Africa is lauded as one of the largest African-based international health development agencies with extensive skill, knowledge, and experience in the health development space.
About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 888 million children – and prevented more than 15 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching the unvaccinated children still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Gavi is a co-convener of COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, together with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In its role Gavi is focused on procurement and delivery for COVAX: coordinating the design, implementation and administration of the COVAX Facility and the Gavi COVAX AMC and working with its Alliance partners UNICEF and WHO, along with governments, on country readiness and delivery.
The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.