Leo Devillé — hera - right to health and development

Leo Devillé, M.D., M.Sc. Health Planning and Financing, Health System Expert

Leo's main expertise covers planning, organisation, financing, management and evaluation of health services and health systems; health economics, health policy and operational research.

Over the past 30 years, Leo Devillé has worked as a senior adviser to many development agencies, governments and private institutions, both in low, middle-income and industrialised countries.
During the 1990's Leo Devillé was linked to the Public Health School of Brussels, where he taught health economics and developed health systems research. He was also linked to the LSHTM (London, department of Health Economics), where he reviewed the scope of evaluation methodologies used by most important international development agencies. Later, he taught health economics at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp.
Leo Devillé is founder of hera (1990) and led the institution as from the start. From 1995 to 2021 he was Chief Executive Officer of hera.
Leo Devillé was one of the key experts involved in developing a blueprint for the Flemish health system in the 21st century, a policy-oriented document developed under his guidance for the Flemish Government. He worked as chief of cabinet for health in the Flemish Government in 2001 and was a member of a scientific think-tank in health systems.
He supported the health network in EuropeAid in synthesising the EC experience and expertise in health development, with a view to developing possible approaches towards supporting sector support (SWAp) and budget support. And, on behalf of the Evaluation Unit of EuropeAid, developed evaluation tools for assessing health sector performance. Leo Devillé has been involved at the policy level in many countries implementing health SWAps, supported MOH and development partners in changing attitudes and introducing procedures and mechanisms for successful SWAps and guided annual reviews of health sector performance in many countries. Recently, he contributed towards proposing future strategic directions for IHP+ and lead the IHP+ global monitoring of aid effectiveness in 2014 and 2016. He contributed to the set up the Health Advisory Services (HAS) at DEVCO/EC and manages large FCDO third party monitoring contracts.
Leo Devillé has guided several global, thematic evaluations for different development and research agencies including the AFD, AusAid, the Belgian Cooperation, Danida, EC, Gavi, the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp), ICDDR’b, IDRC, FCDO (DFID), Norad, UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women, WB and WHO. He has also supported WHO and AsDB in writing discussion papers for the High Level Forum (MDG, SWAp and budget support). Leo Devillé completed assignments in more than fifty countries worldwide.

UNICEF's Level 2 (L2) emergency response was carried out in collaboration with the National Bureau of Risk and Disaster Management and focused on 10 districts in three priority regions in the South of Madagascar. A hera team was selected to evaluate the L2 response with a dual objective of learning and accountability.

hera leads the HISP Consortium, Advancing Health and Social Justice

We are delighted to announce that hera, in steadfast commitment to the values of equity, social justice, and human rights-based development, was recently awarded another four-year contract to lead the consortium for the Knowledge Hub on Health, Socio-Economic Inequalities, and Social Protection (HISP). This follows two similar successful Health Advisory Service contracts that hera implemented between 2014 and 2022.

Advancing Service Delivery in Namibia: UNICEF and USAID's Initiatives for Efficient Health Procurement

UNICEF contracted hera to work on supporting and building consensus between the MoF and Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) as well as key partners on practical PFM solutions to improve service delivery in the health sector, ensuring value for money and sustaining service provision for impact.

Update on the Spotlight Initiative Mid - Term Assessment: Eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls

In October 2020, hera was awarded a two-year contract with UN WOMEN for the Mid-Term Assessment of the Spotlight Initiative, a multi-year initiative between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN), focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s (Gavi’s) Fragility, Emergencies and Refugees (FER) policy

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s (Gavi’s) Fragility, Emergencies and Refugees (FER) policy has been in effect since June 2017.

Evaluation of the roadmap "demographic dynamics in Africa 2017-2021" (AFD)

Changes at hera - A message from Leo Devillé

Switching the Poles

External Evaluation of the UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP) 2013-2017

hera was selected to conduct the fourth external evaluation of the HRP covering the period from January 2013 to December 2017.

Review of the implementation of recommendations from thematic evaluations of a strategic/global nature

This review of the implementation of recommendations from global evaluations aims to promote the use of evaluation evidence for learning and accountability purposes and highlights areas for action where WFP can maximize the achievement of its mission.

Bridging the Gap in Health Care Services in DRC with the ASSR Programme

Operating in four provinces of DRC – Nord Ubangi, Kasai, Kasai Central, and Maniema – the ASSR programme targets an estimated population of 9 million. The anticipated maximum value of the ASSR programme over its 18-month duration is £35 million.

Summative evaluation of the WHO Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE) Initiative

In 2012 the government of Canada provided a grant to the WHO Global Malaria Programme (GMP) to support the scale-up of the diagnosis and treatment of children with pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria by Community Health Workers, an approach known as integrated community case management (iCCM). The six-year programme, labeled the Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE) initiative, distinguished itself from other internationally funded iCCM programmes by aiming to achieve universal health coverage for all children in hard-to-reach areas within selected geographic boundaries.

Assessing the Impact: BMGF & DFID's Reproductive Health Programmes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

In an effort to promote reproductive health and accessibility to quality-assured reproductive health commodities in low- and middle-income countries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Department for International Development (DFID), now known as the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), rolled out two independent, yet complementary, programmes geared towards ensuring hormonal contraceptives become more readily available, of high quality and affordable.

Leo Devillé, M.D., M.Sc. Health Planning and Financing, Health System Expert

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