In [him] 1192 and at http://www.hivinfo4mm.org/blog/_archives/2010/5/13/4527843.html the [him] moderator suggested that the Mae Tao clinic would be more transparent if it posted auditor's reports. The moderator received the emails below. The auditor's reports are now posted at http://maetaoclinic.org/?page_id=104

HIV Information for Myanmar [him] is happy to have catalysed a step towards transparency on the part of this nongovernmental organisation working in HIV. All nongovernmental organisations - big or small, international or community based, inside and outside - are accountable to both their communities and their donors. Financial transparency is part of being accountable.

[him] moderator

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Dear HIM moderator,

We have an independent audit conducted every year and have had so since 2000. All of our international donors receive copies of this audit. We also have 18 monthly donors meetings where issues of financial management and monitoring and evaluation of services at the clinic are discussed at length. All of our financial records, policies and procedures are made available to all of our donors.

I would sincerely appreciate it if you would please publish a detraction to your posting.

If you require copies of these, please let me know.

Lisa Houston

Former Financial Manager
Mae Tao Clinic

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Dear HIM moderator,

I am glad to know that you think we do good work. I think so too, and I also still think that we are first and foremost accountable to our patients. And I also agree that being accountable to our donors is very important. As you can tell from Lisa’s input, the MTC management team has taken financial accountability and transparency seriously. In
addition, I have asked our webmaster to post the annual audit for the past five years to our website.

Mae Tao Clinic is a large community based organization, and it has enjoyed the support of many donors. My quote in the article simplypoints at the fact that there is still a large amount of need that is not being met, and I wish we could be doing more.

Atsuko