//Financial management

Financial management

In the last two years, the EDCTP finance team has invested much effort implementing the Secretariat’s Administrative and Operational Improvement Plan following an internal assessment in April 2013. This included putting in place the necessary systems and controls for the financial management of the EDCTP2 programme. This resulted in a very positive outcome of the ex-ante assessment, a pre-condition of the Delegation Agreement, carried out in August 2014 by Moore Stephens PLC on behalf of the European Commission. The EDCTP achieved satisfactory rating with no major findings in all the pillars assessed.

To address financial management challenges at the level of EDCTP beneficiaries, EDCTP is participating in the International Financial Governance Consortium (IFGC). This consortium aims to develop an integrated approach to address some of the financial management challenges faced by funders of research in sub-Saharan Africa. Partners in this initiative include the UK Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. Various meetings to identify common ground were attended by EDCTP partners such as the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Irish Aid), the Danish Building Stronger Universities in Developing Countries (BSU), the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), the Foundation Mérieux, and the Royal Society.

The meetings have resulted in initiatives by some of the partners comprising: exchange of inherent risk information, financial monitoring templates, policy documents, costing information and due diligence check lists; performance of joint internal audits; and joint financial management training. Discussions are currently in progress to develop a standardised Financial Management Assessment Tool (FMAT) for assessing the financial management capacity of beneficiaries. The ultimate objective is to develop an internationally recognised standard of what constitutes Good Financial Grant Practice (GFGP) that will be of mutual benefit to all partners involved.