The Manali Medical Aid Project from its inception has been organised to leverage as transparent an operation as is possible. Clearly, misuse of funds is a concern for any overseas aid project and our project looks to address the need for transparency in the following ways.
1. Indian law requires that all NGOs with a religious affiliation (which legally characterises the Lady Willingdon Hospital as it is a Christian Mission Hospital) keep a separate financial account for offshore contributions and an itemised audit is required to be sent each Indian financial year to the government.
This gives any sponsor the ability, if required, to request a full description of amounts received and amounts spent. This requirement by Indian law gives us a level of transparency rarely enjoyed in most foreign aid projects. Further to this, one person is responsible for the administration of this account and the account is in no way linked to hospital administration accounts. Consequently, greater control and accountability is achieved owing to a more transparent operation.
2. UQ Medical Students each year attempt to hold some of the projects (e.g. health camps, vaccination campaigns) during their elective. This allows (1) learning and experience for medical students (2) project administration experience for the students and (3) transparency of operation in that students can confirm what has been bought and what has been delivered.
3. The students running the Manali Medical Aid Project keep an ‘open questioning’ policy, and any legitimate request for information will be fulfilled. We also publish yearly reports on the Project’s progress.
4. The Lady Willingdon Hospital is a Christian Mission Hospital and is over 70 years old. A vast amount of the hospital’s infrastructure is donated by international groups and has enjoyed countless fruitful and ongoing international partnerships. Its reputation in appropriately administering funds is demonstrated through decades of project partnerships manifested by the many donated buildings and equipment on-campus at the hospital.
5. The Lady Willingdon Hospital staff, many of whom have trained in Australia, are extremely vigilant and concerned about any possibility of wrongdoing. We have found the staff to be outgoing and extremely cooperative in providing accountability so that our sponsors’ fears may be allayed.
6. At the conclusion of each phase of a project, the hospital staff’s project liaison will write a report, outlining, for example, how many children were vaccinated, for what, and what supplies were used etc. Reports always include photos and stories so that our sponsors can directly see the impact they’re having.
