Communities must be at the heart of epidemic preparedness and response

Communities must be at the heart of epidemic preparedness and response

Resilience Action Network Africa (RANA) and The Pandemic Fund Civil Society Board members last week jointly held a civil society town hall that brought together over 100 partners from across Africa and beyond to discuss the evolving Ebola outbreak, the Pandemic Fund’s emergency response and the critical role of community-led action.

Key takeaways: 
✅ Local CSOs and community organisations are at the frontline of responding to the Ebola outbreak and therefore their capacity must be strengthened. These organisations are essential for building trust, strengthening surveillance, and reaching communities with timely information.

✅  Governments and institutions that have made financial pledges for the Ebola response should disburse these funds.
It was reported that the Africa CDC has increased the response budget from US$518M to US$1.4B  with the additional $882 million catering to the humanitarian crisis in the DRC. US$2 billion has been pledged but the conversion is low.

✅ The current outbreak is an opportunity to seek a ceasefire and to bring stability to DRC to enable focus on the Ebola and humanitarian response.

✅ Resolve To Save Lives is offering a free online Ebola preparedness training for frontline health workers developed by Resolve to Save Lives, across their networks.

✅ The Pandemic Fund has activated up to US$220.6 million in emergency financing for the Ebola response to provide rapid and flexible support to fill critical gaps.

 ✅ The Pandemic Fund projects under Implementation (Ongoing): In the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Kenya and Ethiopia:

Civil society organisations — delivery partners of Pandemic Fund projects — may contact Project Leads to contribute to the consultations that the Project Leads will undertake for the reprogramming.

 Civil society organisations involved in Pandemic Fund project development, or those providing strong contributions to Bundibugyo virus response efforts, are encouraged to proactively reach out to the relevant partner ministries (e.g. Ministries of Health, Finance or Agriculture) or to the Implementing Entities involved in the projects.  

  • Reach out to Ministry contacts (Ministry of Health, Agriculture or Finance) with concrete proposals. The template in English, French and Portuguese is available at this link.

 ✅ Projects Under Preparation: In Uganda, the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo (regarding proposals being expedited under the 4th Call):

  •  Find the ‘for Civil Society Organisations (CSO)’ section for materials from the 4th Call for Proposals information session (English, French, Portuguese).
  •  Experiences of CSOs becoming the Pandemic Fund delivery partner, 28:00 to 46:00 minutes of the recording.
  • Reach out to Country Project Leads with concrete proposals. The template in English, French and Portuguese is available at this link.
  • For further guidance on Country Project Leads, please contact the Pandemic Fund Civil Society Board Members (pandemicfundcsoglobal@gmail.com). 

✅ Civil Society Organizations should identify the focal point in their country’s Ministry of Health and the New York diplomatic mission leading the negotiations for the 2026 High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR HLM), and engage with them to ensure civil society priorities are reflected in the political declaration.

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