CST: HOW WE WORK

Strengthening the capacities of HDSS members and training their staff to conduct high quality health and demographic research are central goals of INDEPTH and the raison d’être of this Section in the Secretariat in Accra. We enhance scientific productivity and improve quality of data collection, analysis and management. In short, we build a pool of highly trained and efficient young researchers/scientists in member centres.

We serve member centres in the following ways:

  • Offer Scholarships for the MSc. programmes at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa as part of the INDEPTH Leadership and Scientific Development Programme;
  • Provide partial support to young scientists from member centres on PhD programmes;
  • Build PhD training into major projects and working group activities;
  • Support to HDSS scientists to attend short courses at IPSR at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand and other universities;
  • Organise training workshops or other capacity strengthening events on various HDSS issues;
  • Responsible for the INDEPTH Data Management Programme (IDMP) which includes INDEPTHStats, iSHARE and OpenHDS;
  • Standardise research methods across HDSS members;
  • Facilitate mentorship and technical support visits to member centres through the use of resource persons drawn from within the network (Secretariat, the SAC and other member centres) or from elsewhere; and
  • Facilitate cross-site scientific visits, and promote on-site training courses and internships.