The World Organization for Animal Health and PREZODE are establishing a joint working group to enhance WOAH’s science-policy expertise by engaging in PREZODE’s Pillar 5 (stakeholder co-design). The group will focus on: Community involvement; Policy engagement and awareness of stakeholders; Science-civil society- policymakers dialogue; Promoting One Health approaches and intersectoral collaboration; OH network coordination. The call for experts to join this group is open from the 20th of November to the 19th of December.
The terms of reference for this call are as follows:
Background and context
The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) is a leading intergovernmental organisation representing 183 Members worldwide. Through its activities, WOAH makes a decisive contribution to improving animal health, protecting animal welfare and strengthening Veterinary Services. The Organisation provides transparent information on world’s animal health situation, and promotes international standards, particularly in terms of the safety of trade in live animals and animal products.
WOAH is committed to the One Health approach to tackle health threats at the animal-human-environment interface and focuses on strengthening the vital role of the animal health sector, recognizing that the leadership of Veterinary Services and animal health authorities is essential to protect global health. WOAH also joins efforts of the different relevant sectors and stakeholders, including the Quadripartite collaboration on OH, consisting of FAO, UNEP, WHO, and WOAH.
PREZODE is a global initiative launched at the 2021 One Planet Summit to prevent zoonotic disease emergence through science-based solutions. By analyzing biological, ecological, and socio-economic drivers of spillover risks in complex ecosystems, PREZODE develops practical tools for pandemic prevention while safeguarding food security and livelihoods. The Initiative’s key features include: employs bottom-up, participatory approaches to co-create solutions with local communities, serves as a knowledge hub for policymakers through its One Health framework, and focuses on translating research into actionable risk-reduction policies.
Scope of Science-Policy Dialogue Working Group
This working group will enhance WOAH’s science-policy expertise by engaging in PREZODE’s Pillar 5 (stakeholder co-design), focusing on: community involvement, Policy engagement and awareness of stakeholders; science, civil society, and policymakers policy dialogue, promoting One Health approaches and intersectoral collaboration and OH network coordination.
Objectives
The working group will combine PREZODE’s research strengths with WOAH’s policy networks to achieve the following objectives:
- Strengthen OH Science-Policy Integration to bridge gaps between scientific evidence and policy formulation by synthesizing OH research into actionable recommendations for governments and stakeholders.
- Advocate for OH Policy Adoption to drive adoption of OH principles in global/regional frameworks.
- Build Capacity for OH Governance to enhance institutional capacity to implement OH policies at national levels.
- Facilitate Multisectoral Collaboration to foster collaboration among scientists, policymakers, and communities to co-design OH policies.
- Monitor and Evaluate Impact through tracking the effectiveness of OH policies informed by the working group’s outputs.
- Amplify Stakeholder Engagement by ensuring inclusive dialogue with marginalized groups (e.g., farmers, Indigenous communities).
- Leverage Digital Tools to use technology to democratize access to OH data and policy tools.
Membership, composition and responsibilities
The working group is organised as follows:
- Coordinators: a WOAH OH Senior officer (Chadia Wannous) and a PREZODE Science leader (Marisa Peyre), co-responsible for leading the group, chairing meetings, and facilitating consensus-based decision making.
- Members: Experts on OH science and policy. They actively contribute their expertise to the discussions, development and review of documents, propose actions, and support implementation. Members dedicate 5–8 hours/month to meetings and document reviews.
- Secretariat: a member of the WOAH OH team and of the PREZODE team will assist with coordination, documentation, reporting, meeting organisation, and communication. Secretariat members may rotate and be renewed every year.
Roadmap and governance
Members of the working group will define the shape, goal and objectives of the WG, understand the mechanisms in place for science-policy dialogue and create synergic opportunities, develop a workplan to achieve such objectives, and effectively communicate the developments of the activities.
The working group will meet once per month virtually or in person, where possible. Additional meetings may be set as needs arise and decisions will be made by consensus.
Effectiveness of the WG will be assessed via completion of workplan deliverables, participation in the WG meetings, and feedback from partners.
The working group will operate for an initial period of two years, with renewal upon revision of scope of work, objectives, and evaluation. The Terms of Reference will be reviewed annually and updated if necessary.
Calls for expression of interest to join the expert group
Experts interested in this call have to send their CVs and motivation letters to the WG coordination team: marisa.peyre@cirad.fr and c.wannous@woah.org
Up to 25 experts (taking into consideration gender, geographic and thematic representativity) will be selected jointly by the WOAH and PREZODE WG coordination team through a call for participation of their respective networks. The group will be ideally composed of experts:
- With different relevant skills (Health Policy and legal aspects, One Health, Social sciences, Economics, Pandemic PPR, Community engagement).
- From different types of organisations (Research, NGO, CSO, Government, International Organisations) and different stages of professional development.
- Working in different sectors (animal, human, environment).
Calendar
- Publication of the call for experts: November 20, 2025.
- Deadline for applications: December 19, 2025.
- Announcement of the Selection of the 25 experts: January 20, 2026.
- Kick-off meeting of the working group: End of January 2026.