The independent evaluation of Gavi's Independent Review Committee (IRC), was completed by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in March 2023, and was presented to Gavi's Programme and Policy Committee (PPC) as part of a broader update on Gavi's Strategy, Programmes and Partnerships in May 2023. The three main objectives for this evaluation: (1) to assess the suitability of IRC's strategic design in the context of Gavi 5.0/5.1, (2) to conduct an impartial assessment of IRC's proposal review process, and (3) to utilise the assessment to collaboratively develop solutions with the concerned teams.

The IRC is established by the Gavi Board to serve as an independent, impartial group of experts seeking to guarantee the integrity and consistency of an open and transparent funding process.  The committee is composed of a range of technical experts from across the world who meet regularly to review applications for support from Gavi-eligible countries and advise on their funding, ensuring compliance with Gavi policies and alignment with Gavi’s strategic objectives.

QUESTIONS ADDRESSED BY REVIEW

As Gavi’s funding model has evolved significantly since the previous evaluation completed in 2010, this evaluation sought to provide recommendations against the following key questions:

• Design: to what extent is the design of the IRC and related processes (e.g., terms of reference, composition, role of Secretariat and partners, processes for reaching decisions) fit for purpose?
• Execution: to what extent have the management of the IRC by the Secretariat and the conduct of the pre-review by WHO on the CCEOP component been appropriate and effective? Furthermore, to what extent has the IRC appropriately executed its internal work processes in reaching decisions?
• Results: to what extent have IRC decisions regarding country applications and recommendations regarding policies been robust, independent, appropriate and well justified?

METHODS

This evaluation took place between November 2022 and March 2023, and involved three main steps:

• Interviewing approximately 100 key informants to diagnose the main strengths and weaknesses of the IRC review process;
• Clustering and codifying these findings through quantitative and qualitative analysis based on public and Gavi-internal data; and
• Co-constructing actionable solutions to address the identified issues through a series of workshops with over 30 participants representing all key stakeholder groups.

Documents

• Full report of 2023 Evaluation of Gavi Independent Review Committees

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