The Pandemic Fund

Deadline: 14 February 2025 

Before submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI), interested organizations are encouraged to review our statements below on eligible organizations, the External Advisory Council’s Code of Conduct, and World Bank guidelines on excluded industries.  
 

In addition, please note that after submitting the Google form, you will receive a confirmation email. Please forward the confirmation email to the Pandemic Fund, along with the CV for your organization’s primary representative to the External Advisory Council. This step is necessary to complete your EOI submission.
the_pandemic_fund@worldbank.org

INTRODUCTION  

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the significant economic and social costs of high-consequence disease events. The lessons from COVID-19, and the continuing pace of more recent outbreaks, underscores the importance of proactively engaging with private sector and other non-sovereign partners1 in a collective effort to strengthen the capacity of health systems to prevent, prepare for and respond to disease threats.    

At its December 2024 meeting, the Governing Board of the Pandemic Fund recognized the need to strengthen its partnerships with non-sovereign partners including the private sector, foundations, philanthropies, academia and think tanks. To this end, the Board agreed to establish an External Advisory Council of non-sovereign partners of approximately 20-25 participants for a one-year trial period.   

Our goal is to identify and implement various models of partnership with the private sector and other non-sovereign partners that expand technical and financial support for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR). The Pandemic Fund supports country-led projects on AMR/One Health, biosecurity, disease detection and response – private sector tools and expertise and resources from non-sovereign partners can deepen our collective impact.   

By joining the External Advisory Council, you will gain a unique platform to help shape global strategies for pandemic PPR, leveraging both your organization’s expertise and collaborative networks. As a member, you will help foster innovation, broaden the impact of your contributions on global health security, and forge partnerships that can reshape pandemic preparedness worldwide. 

BACKGROUND ON THE PANDEMIC FUND  

Since inception in late 2022, the Pandemic Fund has awarded US$885 million in grants to low- and middle-income countries, mobilizing an additional US$6 billion to strengthen pandemic PPR in 75 countries across six geographical regions. Through two competitive grant rounds, 47 projects have received financing to build capacity within and across countries in areas like early warning and disease surveillance systems, diagnostics, laboratory infrastructure, and the health workforce. Emphasizing a disease-agnostic approach, The Pandemic Fund invests in these three core building blocks – surveillance, diagnostics, and workforce development – to prevent and respond to any virus or pathogen. Already, these grants have accelerated collaboration across a range of international partners, advancing multisectoral coordination on the ground by operationalizing One Health approaches worldwide.   

On average, 43 percent of the US$885 million allocated is for countries in sub-Saharan Africa—the region with the highest demand for Pandemic Fund grants. In the second round, over 50 percent of the funds awarded were for sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, and as part of the second round of funding, US$129 million was allocated on a fast-track basis on September 19, 2024, to five projects covering 10 mpox-affected countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Somalia, and South Sudan, and Sudan.  

What makes the Pandemic Fund impactful is its catalytic financing structure and collaborative model. Through the provision of grants and the flexibility to work through diverse implementing partners, the Pandemic Fund can mobilize additional international financing for pandemic PPR from multilateral development banks (MDBs), global health initiatives (GHIs), United Nations (UN) agencies, sovereign donors, the private sector, and others, in a coordinated manner, while incentivizing countries to invest their own resources. To date, every dollar awarded in grants has on average leveraged an additional $7.  

In the first round of funding there were many examples of private sector involvement. All projects, for instance, included a digital health component, mostly in surveillance and lab information systems. For example, in Cabo Verde, the private sector is supporting the institutionalization of the DHIS2 platform as an electronic surveillance system at all levels of care. In Ethiopia, the government is working with private sector firms to establish three full-response molecular labs, 15 antimicrobial resistance (AMR) sentinel sites, and strengthen referral capacities of 218 veterinary laboratories, among other lab capacity building activities. In the Caribbean, the private sector is engaged in the use of remote sensing technologies for vector-borne diseases. In Bhutan, a partnership with a leading pharmaceutical seeks to strengthen laboratory capacity, transportation of samples, and data analysis. In each of these examples, the private sector contributed either financial or in-kind contributions that were leveraged to match sovereign funds.  

PURPOSE OF THE EXTERNAL ADVISORY COUNCIL  

The External Advisory Council is a recognition of the critical contributions provided by non-sovereign partners in strengthening pandemic PPR within and across borders. Its primary goal is to strategically shape and implement models of private sector engagement that galvanize partnerships between these actors and existing Pandemic Fund country, multi-country or regional projects. By leveraging both technical expertise and financial support, these collaborations will inform a range of critical interventions – from deploying digital tools and data analytics for enhanced surveillance, to providing essential equipment and diagnostics for laboratories, to offering skills training and development for the health professionals. It is also anticipated that the Council will serve as a platform to amplify advocacy for increased global investment in pandemic PPR. 

Objectives/Terms of Reference (TORs) of the Proposed External Advisory Council   

Participants will engage on a pro-bono basis. While participants of the Council will agree on a work plan for the year, it is anticipated the Council will meet (virtually) on a monthly basis. The Governing Board agreed that the External Advisory Council should work under the Terms of Reference below, providing mid- and end-year reporting to the Board on progress and impact. 

• Task 1: Provide technical advice and inputs to the Pandemic Fund Governing Board and the Secretariat including refining options for non-sovereign contributor pathways by identifying barriers to collaboration and defining the alignment needed to rapidly increase financial and non-financial support; improving the Fund’s operational efficiency and accelerating the use of innovative financing tools through prospective partners’ organizational expertise; and expanding engagement with a broader set of sectors, such as transportation and logistics, digital health services, and data analytics.  

• Task 2: Mobilize financial support for the Fund through direct financing, co-investment, and co-financing opportunities, and advocate for funding partners to support progress towards the target of US$100 million from non-sovereign contributors as announced at the Fund’s pledging event in Rio on the margins of the G20 Joint Finance and Health Ministers’ Meeting.  

• Task 3: Provide inputs to the Board on future funding rounds with particular focus on how to incentivize and crowd-in the expertise, skills and resources of non-sovereign partners for in-country grant activity.  

• Task 4: Develop together a public-private partnerships (PPP) Learning Lab function, including by generating case studies, policy briefs, or replicable implementation models for interested countries or regions on effective PPPs in alignment with the Fund’s Strategic Plan. 

The EOI Process 

The Pandemic Fund Secretariat has launched a call for Expressions of Interest from organizations interested in joining the External Advisory Council. The call for EOIs will be open until 14 February 2025.   

The Secretariat will review and screen submissions for completeness, compliance with restrictions on excluded industries and the Code of Conduct, and in line with the World Bank’s due diligence processes2.  Additional information may be requested from interested organizations, as appropriate. Thereafter, the Secretariat will propose a list of 20-253 recommended participants for final approval at the March meeting of the Governing Board. The list will consider the need for geographical balance and an appropriate mix of organizations (foundations, private sector, etc.), PPR priorities, and expressions of organizational interest. The External Advisory Council is expected to convene for its first meeting in April 2025, where it will self-select a Chair and co-Chair (or two co-Chairs) and agree on a calendar of activities.