Introduction

The Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Alliance (APLMA) unites 22 governments in Asia Pacific who have committed to eliminating malaria in the region by 2030. APLMA translates evidence to advocate for policy change at the highest levels of government and supports leadership collaboration across the region. APLMA, in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN), empowers tangible elimination progress across the region with a heavy focus on high malaria burden countries. This is achieved via inter-sectoral convenings of senior officials, monitoring and reporting on progress and bottlenecks and facilitating cross-border collaboration amongst the countries.

APMEN is a sustainable, collaborative network for the delivery of technical malaria expertise and uses a brokering approach to connect National Malaria Programs (NMPs) with relevant technical information. APLMA and APMEN are working together to generate evidence, build capacity and raise the awareness and commitment of our stakeholders to ensure the region’s progress towards eliminating malaria by 2030 remains on track. APLMA’s strategic plan for 2022 – 2026 has been designed to facilitate more effective and efficient APMEN support to develop regional and country-level capacity to achieve elimination targets.

APMEN Working Groups

APMEN has 3 Working Groups (Surveillance & Response, Vector Control, and Vivax) that represent the core of APMEN’s technical expertise. These Working Groups were established to coordinate and advocate for capacity strengthening at the national and regional level, identify knowledge gaps, and coordinate operational research on questions directly related to malaria control and elimination. The Working Groups also share the common objectives of providing a platform to share research and operational experience between APMEN Country Partners and to develop partnerships with key stakeholders involved in regional, national, and sub-national elimination efforts. The Working Groups’ objectives are based on guiding principles of country ownership, peer-to-peer support and shared technical expertise to address diverse elimination challenges in the region.

Call for Expression of Interest to host the Working Groups

This call invites Expression of Interest (EOI) from partner institutions to host each of the three Working Groups for a period of 2 years (January 2023 – December 2024). Hosting an APMEN Working Group is a distinct privilege and opportunity for interested organizations. It helps to position a partner as a recognized leader in the technical area of expertise, results in higher visibility and exposure at a regional and international level, and provides an opportunity to develop and influence activities related to malaria elimination in APMEN countries. APMEN is part of a joint secretariat with APLMA, and Working Groups have the added visibility and opportunity to leverage the joint platform (APLMA-APMEN) to elevate evidence from their respective regions to the senior policymakers and leaders.

The hosting arrangement for each of the Working Groups will be negotiated by the joint APLMA-APMEN Secretariat and the hosts will be selected based on the following:

• Partner institution’s credibility and reputation for technical expertise and experience, including in research, implementation, and capacity building in the specific technical area of the Working Group
• Demonstrated commitment to supporting the capacity strengthening of APMEN country partners
• Partner institution’s vision for the future of each of the APMEN Working Groups, including identifying potential activities, areas of support, and research priorities
• Partner institution's commitment to gender considerations in its organizational values, working culture, and management systems and structures
• Ability to commit funding for the Coordinator position of the Working Group, including infrastructure support, travel support etc.
• Ability to nominate a senior Technical Expert, who will serve as the Co-Chair of the Working Group, with responsibility for coordinating and providing oversight to the Working Group activities (with minimum 50% commitment)
• Ability to commit funding for supporting Working Group activities such as the Working Group Annual Meeting, capacity strengthening workshops and other activities
• Senior leadership engagement and advocacy to represent and further the Working Group activities, including using social media assets and other communication strategies.

Functions of APMEN Working Groups

A non-exhaustive, indicative list of functions for each Working Group is below and will be further finalized in discussions with the identified hosts, depending on the scope of work. 

• Provide a forum to bring together individuals and institutions with expertise in relevant technical areas to inform, advise and advocate for malaria control and elimination
• Organize and convene meetings, and workshops (online and physical) to share information, best practices and experiences from ongoing research, pilot studies, program implementation
• Monitor changing needs of country programs as the malaria situation on the ground evolves
• Collaborate with other Working Groups on cross-cutting activities and areas with common themes
• Identify and recommend strategies for capacity strengthening in the region using South – South collaboration
• Identify and bring together champions representing at-risk population groups to the forum, where appropriate and feasible
• Coordinate technical support to national malaria control programs, contingent on resource availability and in proper coordination with other key stakeholders (e.g. WHO, other INGOs)
• Prioritize evidence generation and dissemination in geographies that align with focal geographies/countries of APLMA to support national or regional policy reform efforts
• As appropriate, engage in joint programming activity with APLMA
• Ensure that activities are aligned with and complement those of the WHO.

Structure of APMEN Working Groups

All Working Groups have a consistent governance structure with a Chair and a Co-Chair proposed for each Working Group, ideally with representation from a Country Partner for the Chair and Partner Institution for the Co-Chair position. Each Working Group will be hosted by an APMEN partner institution and supported by a Coordinator, located within the host institution. The Working Group Co-Chair and Coordinator from each hosting institution will support the operations of the respective Working Group and will work in close coordination with the APMEN secretariat. The Coordinators will receive strategic guidance for Working Group priorities, development of workplan and financial management from the Working Group Chair/Co-Chair.

Responsibilities of APMEN Working Groups

• Be responsible for preparation of annual workplan and budget, in close consultation with the APMEN secretariat, in response to priorities and challenges articulated by country partners or based on country needs assessments
• Be responsible for identification of an appropriate Chair from a Country Partner for the Working Group
• Be accountable to implement the activities set up the annual workplan and reporting on the progress to secretariat quarterly
• Organize annual Working Group meetings, and regular workshops, TechTalks webinars of the Working Groups
• Identify, develop, and organize Training Courses using South to South collaboration to fulfil the capacity shortfalls of the countries
• Share information around Working Group activities and progress to support advocacy and communications by the Secretariat
• Facilitate effective communications within the Working Group and between the Working Groups, Secretariat, donors and other stakeholders
• Promote engagement of members through updates to APMEN website and contributions to the APMEN newsletter, including publishing a Working Group-focused thematic newsletter once a year
• Consider and promote the Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) approaches in the Working Group activities

Institutions interested in hosting any of the APMEN Working Groups are requested to submit a brief ‘Expression of Interest’ to the APMEN secretariat info@apmen.org by October 31, 2022, Monday (extended deadline). The EOI should contain information on the host institution, outline a high-level vision for the direction of the Working Group over the next two years and a description of the activities proposed, including opportunities for resource mobilization for the Working Group. The EOI should also include detailed information on a financial offer to support the Working Group activities, including staff resources and other funding available for hosting the Annual Meeting, workshops, capacity strengthening activities etc. 

If you would like to discuss this opportunity, please contact us pshein@aplma.org. We will be glad to set up a call to discuss in more detail.