Background

The African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) is supporting counties across Africa to establish End Malaria Councils and Funds (EMCs) to mobilise multisectoral advocacy, action, and resources and promote accountability for national malaria strategic plans. Establishment of national EMCs is part of the ALMA Chair’s priority agenda to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination in Africa.

EMCs are country-led and country-owned forums that convene senior leaders from government, the private sector, civil society and the community to support the fight against malaria. The intended outcomes of EMCs include increased resource mobilization to fill malaria response gaps (e.g. malaria strategic plan funding gaps), high-level action to address outstanding bottlenecks and improved accountability for malaria control. To enable effective execution of their mandate, EMCs work closely with national structures responsible for defining and implementing malaria control and elimination interventions (e.g., National Malaria Control Programmes and their partners) and establish linkages with non-traditional actors in malaria control (e.g., other line ministries, parliamentarians, private sector companies, religious institutions, traditional institutions, civil society organizations, and communities). The EMCs may also establish innovative partnerships with donors and partners to strengthen advocacy and resource mobilization for malaria control and elimination.

Between 2018 and 2023 ALMA has supported 8 countries to establish EMCs: Zambia, (2019), eSwatini (2019), Mozambique (2020), Uganda (2020), Kenya, (2021), Nigeria (2022), Tanzania, (2023) and Guinea-Bissau (2023).

Assignment

ALMA is seeking to evaluate the EMC approach, including capturing best practices, learnings, and case studies related to the mobilization of multisectoral partnerships and commitments for advocacy, action and resources for the fight against malaria. This evaluation will account for differences in the maturity of each EMC, the unique and tailored approach implemented by each country and respect country ownership of their Councils and Funds.

The evaluation will assess the following questions:

• Which countries have been supported for the design and establishment of national EMCs?
• What factors have contributed to the successful establishment of EMCs? What have been the challenges / bottlenecks?
• What approaches / models have been used by countries for national EMCs?
• How do EMCs support and complement national malaria programmes and other malaria partners?
• How do EMCs complement and support initiatives like Zero Malaria Starts with Me, the High Burden to High Impact approach?
• How do EMCs catalyse multisectoral advocacy, action, resource mobilisation and collaboration?
• How do EMCs mobilise commitments for advocacy, action, and resources to support national malaria strategic plans? What commitments have they mobilised from the various sectors?
• How do EMCs promote accountability for achieving the objectives of national malaria strategic plans?
• How has the EMC approach catalyzed additional advocacy, action, and resources (including funding) and broader partnerships with existing malaria partners?
• How have commitments mobilized by EMCs complemented, unlocked, or strengthened advocacy, action and resources( including funding) and support provided by existing partners and funding mechanisms (e.g., The Global Fund)?

Descriptive analyses based on qualitative and quantitative evidence will be used to assess the contribution of EMCs to strengthening multisectoral engagement to improve malaria advocacy, resource mobilization, action and accountability. The evaluation will also describe variations of the EMC approach across countries and determinants of progress towards the four core endpoints (advocacy, resource mobilization, accountability and action).

The evaluation will include an assessment of the following topics to form the main report:

• Process of designing, launching and operating EMCs
• Composition and operational modalities of EMCs, including multisectoral membership and collaboration
• Linkages between EMCs and national malaria control/elimination programmes
• Partnerships formed with different sectors (e.g., public, private, civil society) as well as with development partners and community leaders
• High-level advocacy activities undertaken, including stakeholders engaged and priorities
• Resource mobilisation activities undertaken and commitments from the various sectors (financial and in-kind)
• Models of long-term sustainability for EMCs, including support for secretariat operations and activities
• Use of resources to complement existing financing from government, development partners and funding mechanisms (e.g., The Global Fund, PMI)
• Partner support provided to countries and recommendations on how to strengthen the country support model to accelerate establishment of EMCs and attainment of multisectoral results

Methodology

The evaluation process will gather insights for the report using document/recording reviews and key informant interviews from six primary sources:

• Desk research reviewing model documents, meeting minutes, and reports prepared by ALMA and the EMCs
• Interviews with relevant stakeholders from:
  • ALMA
  • EMC members
  • EMC secretariats
  • National malaria programmes
  • Private sector and civil society partners
  • Development partners
• Observation of EMC meetings

Interviews will be conducted in-person or virtually (depending on resources available and logistics).  

Submit your proposal

Proposals should be submitted by Wednesday, 3 April 2024 to info@alma2030.org.

The evaluation consultancy should take place in quarter 2, 2024.