1.   Background

The Medicines Supply Resilience Africa project (MedSuRe), led by USP and funded by Unitaid and the European Union, aims to strengthen Africa’s capacity to sustainably manufacture quality-assured and cost-competitive health products, including therapeutics for preparedness and response to public health emergencies. As a partner of this project, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) leads the project’s efforts in strengthening pandemic preparedness on the continent.

The devasting impact of delayed and inequitable access to essential health products during the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need for proactive measures to strengthen Africa’s manufacturing resilience. Building this resilience requires actions that enhance African manufacturers’ capacity and positioning as capable technology recipients (and potentially developers) and producers of innovative therapeutics, particularly in the context of health emergencies where rapid response is critical.

To support these efforts, MPP, seeks a qualified consultant to conduct a landscape assessment of the health emergency preparedness and response ecosystem in Africa as it relates to therapeutics manufacturing. The findings will provide insights to inform coordinated stakeholder strategies and actions that would help strengthen regional manufacturing capacity for pandemic-relevant therapeutics. In addition, by generating evidence on manufacturing capabilities, stakeholder readiness, and ecosystem gaps, this assessment will strengthen MPP’s future licensing initiatives aimed at enabling timely, sustainable, and geographically diversified manufacturing of pandemic-relevant therapeutics.

2.   Objectives

The objective of this consultancy is to:

  • Map key stakeholders by operational role in public health emergency preparedness and response, relevant to access to therapeutics.
  • Assess the operational readiness of MedSuRe-selected manufacturers’ ecosystems to respond to public health emergencies, including regulatory pathways, procurement coordination, and national–regional alignment relevant to therapeutics.

3.   Scope of Work

  1. Stakeholder Mapping
  • Map stakeholders by operational function including regulatory authorities, procurement agencies, government agencies, regional bodies, technical and financing partners.
  • Clarify mandates, decision-making authority, relationships, and leverage points.
  1. Regulatory Readiness for Emergency Use
  • Evaluate emergency use authorization pathways, timelines, and reliance mechanisms
  • Identify regulatory bottlenecks and propose actionable steps to strengthen regulatory preparedness
  1. Procurement and Demand Coordination Mechanisms
  • Identify entities responsible for possible procurement of pandemic-relevant therapeutics.
  • Assess demand forecasting capacity and coordination frameworks (e.g., pooled procurement).
  • Identify gaps and propose how to strengthen demand signals.
  1. Government Readiness for Product Uptake and Deployment
  • Evaluate national deployment planning, reimbursement mechanisms, and emergency financing.
  • Assess supply chain, logistics, and last-mile delivery capacity.
  • Identify gaps and propose steps to strengthen government readiness.
  1. National–Regional Alignment
  • Assess regulatory harmonization, mutual recognition agreements, and policy coherence.
  • Identify misalignments that could delay emergency response.
  • Propose how regional bodies could support national readiness.
  1. Synthesis and Roadmap
  • Consolidate findings into priority gaps, leverage points, actor-specific recommendations, and sequencing for emergency response.

4.   Expected Deliverables and timeline

  • Inception report.
  • Draft assessment report
  • Final report incorporating feedback from MPP and MedSuRe partners (comprehensive report and an executive Summary Slide Deck of 10–15 slides summarizing key findings and recommendations)

5.   Consultancy Profile

The consultant should demonstrate:

  • Expertise in pharmaceutical policy, regulatory systems, and manufacturing in Africa
  • Experience conducting landscape assessments and stakeholder mapping
  • Strong analytical, synthesis, and report-writing skills.
  • Experience working with national, regional and/or multilateral health institutions in Africa

6.   How to apply

Interested consultants can submit their proposals via MPP website form or directly by email to recruitment@medicinespatentpool.org  quoting “RFP- landscape assessment” in the title by 24 July 2026.

The proposal should include the following:

  • A brief proposal demonstrating an understanding of the project
  • Proposed approach and methodology, and estimated timeline and budget
  • Evidence of relevant experience, including CV(s) of the team members, examples of similar assignments,
  • Contant details of at least two clients willing to provide professional references.

 

7.   Evaluation criteria of received proposals:

  • Quality and feasibility of the proposed approach.
  • Relevance of expertise and experience.
  • Cost
  • Timeline

For any questions regarding this consultancy please contact Tiwadayo Braimoh at tbraimoh@medicinespatentpool.org

For further information please see:

https://medicinespatentpool.org/what-we-do/pandemic-preparedness-and-response

https://medicinespatentpool.org/what-we-do/local-and-regional-manufacturing