On April 3, 2025, we celebrated the graduation of the first class of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator’s (GHAI) CSO Budget Advocacy Academy.
The 9-month-long Academy was created to strengthen civil society's capacity for budget advocacy with a focus on health security in seven African countries.
The real-world success of our graduates demonstrates that they not only acquired knowledge and skills, but have already emerged as leaders making a difference in epidemic preparedness in their countries:
Amos Mwale and Mulenga Ching’ambo of the Centre for Reproductive Health and Education of Zambia: Invited by the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Finance to analyze the 2024-2025 health budget and provided recommendations which include prioritizing funding for epidemic preparedness and increasing the overall health budget to 15 percent.
Brian Ikala and Biwott Kipyego Hazael of the Kenya Red Cross Society of Kenya: Developed the One-Health Strategic Plan 2025-2029 that was adopted by Tharaka Nithi County in November 2024. The One-Health Strategic Plan was mentioned as a priority document in the County Governor’s State of the County address.
Cornelia Asiimwe and Gift Akampurira of Samasha of Uganda: Improved disbursements of epidemic preparedness resources by tracking the path of $15.4 million USD allocated to the Uganda COVID-19 Response and Epidemic Preparedness Project. This project saw 100 percent of its funds released by the end of Q2 2024.
Lehlohonolo Kumalo and Celeste Diale of the Lady of Peace Community Foundation of South Africa: Published a petition that received over 1,000 signatures calling on the Gauteng Province to create a budget line for epidemic preparedness, resulting in their recognition by the government as an authority on budget advocacy and health security in Gauteng Province.
Oluwatoyin Adeomi and Tessy Nongo of the Network for Health Equity and Development of Nigeria: Supported the adoption and institutionalization of the Health Security Accountability Framework by the Kano State government, which tracks epidemic preparedness and response allocations and releases across the state.
Rahel Sheiza and Mwajabu Mbaruku of The Benjamin William Mkapa Foundation of Tanzania: Engaged with government stakeholders, resulting in the inclusion of human resource for health deployment guidelines for health security as a priority agenda in the FY2025/2026 health sector plans These guidelines support the key epidemic preparedness pillar of infection prevention and control in healthcare settings.
Yemisirach Tadesse and Engdawork Worku of The Professional Alliance for Development of Ethiopia: Successfully advocated for the establishment of an epidemic preparedness budget line in Kalu Woreda district. This is the first time the district has allocated funds for preparedness.
“We would definitively recommend this Academy,” said team Kenya. “We have learned so much in the last year, we can’t list them all! We gained an understanding of how to develop advocacy messages on epidemic preparedness, learned how to engage and bring together key stakeholders to achieve our goal and now understand how to support accountability frameworks for epidemic preparedness.”
“The Academy was truly transformative” echoed team South Africa. “It strengthened our skills around stakeholder engagement and mapping, making it easier to engage the right decision-makers through advocacy. The Academy was instrumental in equipping us with essential media advocacy skills. Most importantly, we learned about the national budget cycle and how to analyze the national budget, which gave us a deep understanding of how to effectively advocate for sustainable public health financing.”
Team Nigeria said: “The Academy provided us with invaluable tools and insights. One key takeaway was the training in media advocacy, which enabled us to effectively communicate our goals and mobilize public support for the Health Security Bill. We also gained crucial skills in policy analysis, allowing us to present a compelling, evidence-based case for the framework. Personally, the Academy has given me a greater sense of confidence, and a deeper understanding of how to affect change.”
“Together we have built a strong and resilient coalition of change agents,” said Team Tanzania. “We have been strategically incubated and have now matured to incubate the world through our single and collective agendas to a sustained legacy.”
Yolanda Richardson, President and CEO of GHAI, said: "We will remain in good hands if we continue to understand that civil society remains critical to making government do the things they need to do to protect the health of their citizens."
Tom Frieden, President and CEO of Resolve To Save Lives (RTSL) provided a timely call action: “Across your countries, you’re asking the essential and hard questions. Are we ready for the next outbreak? Are resources well prioritized? Are our governments following through on their commitments? And in doing so, you offer a compelling reminder that investing in preparedness is not optional. It’s a fundamental responsibility of government.”
The results achieved by the graduates from seven African countries in just nine months demonstrates that civil society organizations play the indispensable role of helping governments maintain focus on the crucial elements needed to improve health outcomes through efficient budget allocations, effective programming and accountability.
The academy not only benefited the graduates, but also the participating organizations: As shared by Lady D, Executive Director of the Lady of Peace Community Foundation (LOPECO) in South Africa: “[This] experience has significantly elevated LOPECO's credibility and we now are recognized by the Gauteng legislature as key advocates for a dedicated budget line for epidemic preparedness.”
We thank the graduates and their institutions for their commitment to advocacy for epidemic preparedness financing in Africa and look forward to leveraging their experience to expand the Academy in Africa and beyond.
