Affichez cette page en françaisTogether with our partners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we built a tool that unlocks critical financing insights—and makes sure funding meets the nation’s needs.
The challenge
Throughout a long-term mpox outbreak in DRC, public health officials had limited insight into allocated funds, which crippled coordination and hampered response efforts.
The solution
Resolve to Save Lives and government partners created a financial tracking tool to increase transparency, improve coordination and align funding with national priorities.
The impact
The tool revealed funding gaps, allowed officials to realign resources and now serves as a model for other countries to use global health funding for local priorities.
The challenge
How can we mount a successful mpox response without full visibility of financing?
In December 2022, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared a national mpox outbreak that has since resulted in over 17,000 cases and 47 deaths. Yet while the disease surged, public health officials didn’t have a comprehensive view of how funding was being allocated to support different response activities across the country. Officials scrambled to gather information to make decisions at weekly national coordination meetings, but the data was often outdated, incomplete or simply unavailable.
The solution
A government-owned financial tracking tool
Together with the Emergency Operations Center, which is part of the National Institute of Public Health within DRC’s Ministry of Public Health, Resolve to Save Lives supported the country’s dedicated preparedness team—also known as the “A-Team”—to develop a simple, effective and sustainable financial tracking tool using a web-based spreadsheet application. The tool offers senior stakeholders, including government officials, implementing partners and donors real-time insight into how mpox response funds are being distributed across the country.
The team created the tool with a focus on long-term accessibility; that meant no custom software, no dependency on external consultants and fully owned by the government. Each week, donor partners input their financial commitments into a restricted sheet only they can access and edit. Those inputs then feed into easy-to-digest summaries and dashboards for senior decision-makers. The Emergency Operations Center leads the day-to-day management of the tool, with strong internal leadership ensuring its continued relevance and sustainability.
“At the recommendation of the World Bank, we developed a tool that brings clarity to the mpox funding landscape,” said Michel Eyenga, the senior monitoring and evaluation advisor for DRC’s dedicated preparedness team. “We built a solution that’s simple, sustainable and government-owned—not a bespoke system that will disappear once the crisis ends.”
What is a “dedicated preparedness team”?
Also known as “Acceleration Teams” or “A-Teams,” these preparedness experts help organize stakeholders to develop, cost, implement and monitor National Action Plans for Health Security. In DRC, the A-Team supported the set up of a multisectoral coordination framework for health security; supported planning and communication efforts; and is helping government agencies use World Bank funds.
Informing critical decisions
Each week, the Emergency Operations Center staff update the dashboard and present insights at the National Coordination Committee meetings. These include a breakdown of support levels from different donor partners; where funds are being distributed; and the exact response efforts—e.g. PPE procurement and mpox lab tests and vaccines—funds support. Equipped with this single view of critical funding information, officials can now effectively pinpoint funding gaps across provinces and identify resource allocation disparities. While the tool itself is simple to use, it supports an ongoing system for financial coordination, linking data entry, weekly review and real-time decision-making into a replicable, government-led workflow. The tool also allows officials to assess the consequences of and mobilize alternative support following any funding delays.
The impact
Better, faster decisions
What began as a simple financial tracking tool became the foundation of a broader system that connects data, coordination and decision-making in real time. For the first time, there was a clear, view of how resources were being distributed—and where they were falling short. Bottlenecks in province-level support became visible. Disparities between funding commitments and on-the-ground needs surfaced. And for a country navigating a fast-moving outbreak, these insights meant better, faster decisions that ultimately saved lives.
Dr. Dieudonné Mwamba Kazadi, Director General of DRC’s National Public Health Institute, emphasized that the tool marked a turning point: “It ensures transparency and accountability. Coordination has really been improved, and as we continue to use the tool, it will be further enhanced.”
A model for other pathogens and countries
In addition to supporting DRC’s mpox response, the tool is also serving as a model for other teams seeking to mobilize resources. There is interest from the World Bank and other partners and discussions on how it could support other pathogens and countries. The A-Team in DRC, meanwhile, is continuing to work with health officials to sustain and expand its use. That means continuing to develop local capacity to maintain the tool by training officials at the provincial level and addressing internet connectivity gaps that could prevent real-time updates.
Streamlining partnerships and aligning donors
“This isn’t just a tool—it’s a shift in how people have created clarity and taken ownership under pressure,” said Jobin Abraham, a director at Resolve to Save Lives. “With real-time visibility, government officials in DRC are cutting through the fog of fragmented funding and competing demands. They’re making faster, more deliberate decisions, streamlining partnerships and aligning support around national priorities. It’s a powerful example of anchoring in purpose, staying steady amidst uncertainty and reshaping systems to overcome complexity.”