Transfer of Infectious Diseases Institute to Makerere University completed in June 2005

The following excerpts are printed with permission from “Infectious Disease Institute, Makerere University, Annual Report 2005”, Kampala, Uganda”, pp. 9, 22

Pangaea turned the vision into reality

Pangaea was approached by Pfizer and the Academic Alliance for AIDS Prevention and Care in Africa (“AA”) in May 2001 to act as the implementation partner for the Infectious Diseases Institute (“IDI”) project and to manage and administer the Pfizer grants awarded to establish, develop and operate IDI. (See “New Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University to Enhance HIV/AIDS Treatment and Training in East Africa”.)

In its role as implementation partner, Pangaea has been responsible for managing construction of the IDI building on-time and within budget, establishing the administrative and fiscal systems necessary for IDI programmes to run in a high quality and sustainable manner, and managing the implementation of IDI programmes.

An underlying principle guiding the development of IDI has been to ensure that the Institute would become a sustainable, Ugandan-controlled entity. This goal has guided every aspect of the project implementation from hiring and mentoring local staff and creating a building design that takes into account local conditions and materials, to establishing systems that can be supported locally.

The same principle of local control was evident in the process of transferring ownership of the Institute from Pangaea to Makerere University at the end of June 2005. Pangaea has supported the efforts of Makerere University’s faculty of medicine and central administration to achieve a successful and seamless transfer of Institute ownership, governance, and management from Pangaea to the University.

Pangaea continues to provide consulting assistance to IDI management to help achieve the goal of maintaining and evolving the quality of the organizational and infrastructural capacity upon which long-term sustainability depends.

The place of IDI within Makerere University

In October 2001, the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Pfizer Inc. and The Pfizer Foundation giving responsibility to Pangaea for IDI’s construction and programme development. Pangaea was also to establish and manage the project finances, administrative infrastructure, and programmes on behalf of and in cooperation with the AA. To carry out this mission, Pangaea established the Infectious Diseases Institute Limited (IDIL), a Ugandan company limited by guarantee registered as a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

In November 2002, Makerere University, Pangaea, and IDIL signed a MOU establishing a mutually agreeable framework under which IDI would be constructed and operated at Makerere University’s Faculty of Medicine. It also set forth the conditions under which ownership of the Institute would be transferred from Pangaea to Makerere University. In July 2004 a committee was established by Makerere University’s Management Committee, chaired by the Dean, Faculty of Medicine, to facilitate the transfer of ownership.

The programmes and services of IDI, notably training and research, are complementary to the mission of Makerere University. At the same time, IDI’s corporate identity provides the benefit of autonomous operation on a day-to-day basis. With this “NGO Model” the university retains the Infectious Diseases Institute Limited (corporate) structure and IDI operates as a separately incorporated company limited by guarantee, registered as an NGO.

The NGO governance/management model, whereby Makerere University oversees IDIL as a separate company limited by guarantee, was accepted by all of the university’s decision-making bodies, and in June 2005 IDIL was formally handed over to the university effective July 1. At the point of transfer Makerere University replaced Pangaea as the primary owner of IDIL and appointed a new Board of Directors. Makerere’s governance of IDI will be exercised through its ownership of IDIL and the appointment of the IDIL Board of Directors.