In November 2017, the Gavi Board approved continued Gavi Alliance engagement with transitioned countries and a budget allocation of up to US$30m to support these countries until 2020. Support is being provided for technical assistance in key programmatic areas, including supply chain, LMC and data, paying special attention to innovative approaches and government commitment to their long-term sustainability.
In 2018, Gavi elaborated guidance outlining principles for the post-transition engagement and informing the countries and partners on how to operationalize this support. In February 2019, Gavi updated the guidance incorporating feedback from partners, as well as including examples and lessons learnt following the first round of reviews of PTE support requests. The revised guidance is now clearer and better communicates the need for a strong rationale based on a set of guiding principles for approval. It promotes increased dialogue and collaboration between stakeholders at the country, regional and global level, including the Secretariat. The timeframe for submission of support requests is also now flexible.
Eight out of fourteen eligible countries have seen their post-transition support requests approved: Armenia, Bhutan, Bolivia, Georgia, Guyana, Indonesia, Kiribati and Moldova. As an example of post-transition engagement, Guyana’s post-transition support is targeted to specifically help reach most remote populations with innovative approaches (including testing new technologies such as drones), as well as address time-sensitive challenges linked to recent influx of migrants from Venezuela posing epidemiology risks and putting stress on health sector in the long run. The Alliance’s support will also be catalytic as the government is co-investing in the supported activities and has committed to provide the necessary resources that will be needed to sustain them.
Support to transitioned countries is also being complemented by funding “global public goods”, such as peer-learning platforms (LNCT, VPPN), strengthening of technical capacity on health and immunization financing at regional level to support domestic immunization financing, implementation of NHA/SHA, revision of cMYPs, etc.
In the coming weeks, Gavi expects further support requests from 6 countries and 4 regional requests, as several countries and regional partners are working on finalizing their proposals in dialogue with the Gavi Secretariat. Please contact the Secretariat if you need further information or guidance on the post-transition engagement process: jwisniewska@gavi.org.