A 3-day executive sprint helping African sector leaders turn the WHO Pandemic Agreement into practical playbooks, institutional readiness, and opportunity through targeted sector tracks and peer learning.
Turn the Pandemic Agreement into Institutional Readiness and Opportunity
The Pandemic Agreement is the most important global health treaty in decades. Africa’s future in pandemic preparedness depends on those who act now.
This 3-day intensive program, focusing on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, is designed for leaders who need to implement the Agreement in their own sectors and organizations. It ensures you and your institution are ready to apply the rules, protect your bottom line, and leverage new opportunities.
Why This Matters
COVID-19 exposed the price of waiting: Africa was last in line for vaccines, financing, and manufacturing opportunities. The WHO Pandemic Agreement changes the rules. Its PABS system will determine:
- Who controls biological materials and data
- Who gains access to technology and countermeasures
- Who reaps benefits in financing, IP, and manufacturing
This isn’t just a health-sector or policy issue. Like the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, its effects will reach finance, trade, justice, and industry.
That’s why our faculty include seasoned practitioners and negotiators with decades of lived experience. Malebona Precious Matsoso, co-chair of the INB that steered the pandemic treaty to its conclusion, and Dr. Ahmed Ogwell, who led the FCTC negotiations and their implementation. Together with other experts, they will guide you to build what matters most: implementation playbooks that work in your sector.
Those who prepare will shape outcomes. Those who don’t will be sidelined.
What You’ll Gain
By the end of this sprint, you’ll walk away with:
- Actionable Business Intelligence – sector-specific foresight with clear steps to pre-empt costs and disruption across sourcing, contracts, compliance, and investment.
- Mastery of the PABS system – understand triggers, access terms, benefit-sharing claims, and enforcement.
- Your Implementation Playbook – tailored to your country/institution, with actionable checklists for manufacturing partnerships, tech transfer, data governance, procurement, and financing.
- Cabinet-ready Decision Memos – enabling immediate government or institutional action.
- Continental Alignment – practical routes to influence through AU, Africa CDC, and RECs.
- Risk Scans – political-economy mapping so you and your institution stay three steps ahead.
How It Works
Preparatory virtual briefings
Faculty explainers on PABS and sector-specific implications.
In-person sprint (Nairobi, Date - To be Announced)
Case-led labs, applied workshops, and peer-to-peer review – not abstract lectures.
Course Modules
Day 1 — Translation into delivery: What it means for markets, partnerships, and operations
- 08:30 – 09:00 Registration & coffee
- 09:00 – 09:30 Welcome, objectives, and how the sprint will run
- 09:30 –11:00 Module 1 Pandemic Agreement: Executive translation
- 11:00 –11:15 Break
- 11:15 –12:30 Module 2 IHR in practice: What cross-government and business leaders need to know
- 12:30 –13:30 Lunch
- 13:30 –15:00 Module 3 PPP governance: Making partnerships fast, credible, and procurement-safe
- 15:00 –15:15 Break
- 15:15 –17:15 Module 4 Deal room: MOU / Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) / Data-sharing agreement (DSA) clause triage under time pressure
- 17:15 –17:30 Close + setup for Day 2
Day 2 — PABS, data friction, and access: Making implementation investable and executable
- 09:00 – 09:15 Recap + overview of day 1
- 09:15 – 11:15 Module 5 PABS Annex: Operational mechanics and business implications
- 11:15 – 11:30 Break
- 11:30 – 13:00 Module 6 Data sharing & cross-border transfers: Why complexity becomes delivery risk
- 13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
- 14:00 – 16:00 Module 7 Countermeasures access: Procurement, manufacturing, regulatory pathways, logistics (critical path)
- 16:00 – 16:15 Break
- 16:15 – 17:15 Module 8 Risk, liability, and finance: Keeping emergency deals bankable
- 17:15 – 17:30 Capstone briefing + team assignments
Day 3 (half-day) — Capstone simulation + after-action review
- 09:00 – 11:45 Module 9 End-to-end capstone simulation
- 11:45 – 12:45 Module 10 After-action review + 90-day commitments
- 12:45 – 13:00 Close
Who It’s For
This sprint is for senior African leaders with direct influence on policy, contracts, and operations, across government, regional bodies, and industry. Participants are grouped into sector tracks aligned with their areas of responsibility, such as health, trade, finance, or manufacturing, to ensure relevance and practical application.
- Ministries of Health, Trade/Industry, Finance/Treasury
- Africa CDC, AU Commission, and REC secretariats
- Customs, procurement, and regulatory authorities
- Manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, industry associations, and corporate legal/contracting professionals
- Parliamentary committees and strategic think tanks
We particularly welcome applications from women leaders, whose perspectives are vital to shaping an inclusive and future-ready continent.
Faculty & Experts
Malebona Precious Matsoso is Co-Chair of WHO’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on the Pandemic Agreement and Director of the Health Regulatory Science Platform at Wits. She previously served as South Africa’s Director-General of Health and as a WHO director.
Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma is CEO of VillageReach and former acting director and founding deputy director of Africa CDC. He previously served as Vice President for Global Health Strategy at the UN Foundation.
Dr. Ebere Okereke is an independent global health expert and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House. She previously served as CEO of the Africa Public Health Foundation and Senior Adviser in Health at the Tony Blair Institute.
Your Investment
Cost: USD $1,950
Cohorts limited to 30 participants.
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Applications reviewed on a rolling basis.
Register your interest to secure your seat. Don’t wait!
Priority is given to applicants with immediate decision authority.
The Pandemic Agreement will reward readiness. This sprint ensures Africa doesn’t just participate, it leads.