Friday Newsletter
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Dear Centre leaders,
Greetings from the INDEPTH Training and Resource Centre.  We hope you had a fruitful week.  We have the following items for your kind attention
  • Regular external audits/assessments of INDEPTH's internal and financial controls
  • Important VISA requirement for AGM 2017 in Dubai in December 2017
  • New study mapping pandemic potential could help prevent future disease outbreaks
  • INDEPTH congratulates icddr,b, one of our own, the 2017 Hilton Humanitarian Prize awardee
  • Participation in Guttmacher Institute panel discussion
1) Regular external audits/assessments of INDEPTH's internal and financial controls
As part of our efforts to ensure proper financial management of INDEPTH resources, we ensure that the following is always done:
  • Regular reports to the INDEPTH Board on the financial status of the Network. Recently the Board has in addition co-opted Mrs Nellie Taylor, a finance expert, to serve on the Board;
  • Annual financial audits by international audit firms. All our reports are available on the INDEPTH website. Please click here to review our audited accounts since 2001;
  • Auditors report to the AGM on the outcome of audit exercises; and
  • Additional audits or due diligence exercises conducted by or on behalf of INDEPTH funders in the form of external evaluations.
From 2007-2017, one of our key core support funders, Sida/Research Cooperation, has financed the following external evaluations:
  1. November 2007 – Internal Management and Financial Controls; by Carl-Gustaf Gutberg, Consultant, Stockholm, Sweden;
  2. March 2010 – External Review of the Organisation; by Dr. Samson Kinyanjui (Kilifi, Kenya) and Prof. Ian Timaeus (LSHTM, London, UK); and
  3. March 2013 – Internal Management and Financial Controls; by PWC Sweden
  4. April-June 2017 - Internal Management and Financial Controls; by KPMG Finland.
This clearly demonstrates that INDEPTH has always welcomed external assessments. We see these assessments as helpful tools to an organisation like ours. They help us maintain our credibility and they ensure that funders continue to have confidence in how we handle their resources. The assessments are shared with other funders so that they do not need to repeat them.

Management always prepares Management Responses, get these endorsed by the INDEPTH Board before they are submitted to the funder. Observations and recommendations made by the external auditors are taken seriously. An action plan is prepared by Management and endorsed by the Board to ensure  that the actions are implemented timeously.
 
2) Important VISA requirement for AGM 2017 in Dubai in December 2017
The Arabian Park Hotel, venue of the 2017 AGM in Dubai is requesting all participants to 
 complete the attached form to aid the processing of visas.  The visa requirements are:
  1. Clear passport size photograph - Dimensions: 4.3 cm x 5.5 cm, File Size: 40 KB Type: jpg Colored and clear
  2. Clear and valid passport copy of each Guest - (minimum validity of 6 months prior to arrival).
  3. Completed and signed Entry Visa Request Form for each Guest. Click link to download
3) New study mapping pandemic potential could help prevent future disease outbreaks
Identifying local vulnerabilities to mitigate spread of Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fevers in Africa

A new scientific study provides the first evidence-based assessment of pandemic potential in Africa prior to outbreaks and identifies ways to prevent them.

The study, published today in the international medical journal The Lancet, examines the potential for the widespread onset of Ebola or other lethal viral hemorrhagic fevers emanating from communities in African countries. A team of international researchers examined the relative likelihood of four deadly viruses emerging and spreading at several key stages in a possible pandemic, charting and quantifying progress from the first human case through to a widespread epidemic. Read more 
4) INDEPTH congratulates icddr,b, one of our own, the 2017 Hilton Humanitarian Prize awardee
The Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize was today 11 October 2017 awarded to icddr,b, a founding member centre of the INDEPTH Network. The prize is with $2 million in prize money in recognition of icddr,b’s innovative approach to solving global health issues impacting the world’s most impoverished communities.

At $2 million, the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize is the world’s largest annual humanitarian award presented to nonprofit organizations judged to have made extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering.   ICDDR,B is committed to solving key public health problems facing the world’s most vulnerable through innovative scientific research since 1960 Click to read more about Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize  . Read more
5) Participation in Guttmacher Institute panel discussion
We are reaching out today with a very different request. Guttmacher Institute is organizing a panel on reproducibility in research at IUSSP this year on Tuesday October 31st from 3:30-5:00pm.

The formal title of the panel: Is your research reproducible? Common challenges and promising steps

The Objective: To promote the reproducibility of population research by sharing IUSSP member experiences that address common challenges on different dimensions, such as data sharing, programming clarity and research culture, amongst others.  Read more
Policy Engagement and Communications