Tripartite operating model
Think tank, implementation partner and governance/MEL advisory in one institution
Evidence generation translates into execution and delivery, which is in turn evaluated and governed — closing the loop between research, policy design, operations and accountability. Each arm is independently staffed and independently reported, so evaluation is never marked by the team that delivered the work.
Pillar 1Think Tank & Applied Research Arm
Evidence generation, policy analytics and horizon scanning
- Translational policy research turning epidemiological, macroeconomic and spatial data into legislative roadmaps and ministerial briefs.
- Econometric and micro-simulation modelling: cost-benefit analysis, UHC fiscal space assessment and predictive shock modelling.
- Policy harmonisation with AU Agenda 2063, the Abuja Declaration, the Maputo Plan of Action and Africa CDC frameworks.
- Ethics, bioethics and data sovereignty protocols safeguarding indigenous health data, genomic assets and vulnerable population registries.
- Core outputs
- Ministerial briefs, costed policy options, national investment cases, peer-reviewed papers and open data dictionaries.
- Methods & instruments
- Micro-simulation, spatial econometrics, cost-benefit and fiscal-space modelling, horizon scanning and political-economy analysis.
- Delivery capacity
- 42 researchers, economists and modellers across epidemiology, health financing, GIS and bioethics.
Pillar 2Implementation & Programme Delivery Arm
Technical assistance, direct execution and capacity building
- Direct programme rollout and pilot scalability across maternal-child health, cross-border surveillance, nutrition hubs and safety nets.
- Embedded technical assistance seconding senior advisors, health economists and data architects into line ministries and RECs.
- SOP development codifying clinical pathways, MISP emergency response and multi-agency coordination manuals.
- Institutional capacity building for decentralised civil servants, local councils and community health networks.
- Core outputs
- Programme designs, SOP libraries, service-delivery pilots, supply and referral pathways, trained frontline cadres.
- Methods & instruments
- Embedded technical assistance, results-based grant execution, MISP emergency response, sub-award management and procurement support.
- Delivery capacity
- Field teams across 14 countries with surge deployment inside 72 hours for outbreak and displacement events.
Pillar 3MEL & Governance Advisory
Accountability, systems strengthening and oversight
- Third-party monitoring and independent verification of multilateral programmes in high-risk and cross-border corridors.
- Impact evaluation using RCTs, difference-in-differences and mixed-method process evaluation to measure attribution and ROI.
- Digital MEL infrastructure: mobile-first pipelines, geospatial dashboards and automated anomaly detection against data falsification.
- Public financial management and governance audits covering procurement integrity and expenditure tracking.
- Core outputs
- Independent verification reports, impact evaluations, governance and PFM audits, live MEL dashboards.
- Methods & instruments
- RCTs, difference-in-differences, mixed-method process evaluation, third-party monitoring and anomaly detection analytics.
- Delivery capacity
- Evaluation unit operating to OECD-DAC criteria with a firewalled reporting line to the Board Audit Committee.
Programmatic lifecycle
01Diagnose
Burden, equity and fiscal-space diagnostics using national datasets, geospatial layers and community consultation.
02Design
Costed intervention design with theory of change, indicator framework and explicit assumptions on attribution.
03Pilot
Controlled implementation with embedded measurement to test feasibility, unit economics and delivery risk.
04Scale
Government-owned scale-up with SOPs, workforce training, procurement pathways and digital reporting rails.
05Evaluate
Independent evaluation, public financial audit and open publication of results — including null findings.