Ciet
Food in Johannesburg

We want to see epidemiology used to make public services work better, reach more who need them, and be more accountable.

Our aim is to move epidemiology's centre of gravity from universities in rich countries toward places and situations where it is needed most: in developing countries, in emergencies and among marginalised populations. And in addition to medical epidemics, we want to see epidemiology used against social epidemics like gender violence and corruption. Achieving this has much to do with where the epidemiology skills reside. To build effective research skills, we ourselves have to do quality research. We focus on evidence that can be used to achieve an impact, using a particular mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. The CIET strategy for moving from research to decisions is to communicate evidence effectively. As researchers and research trainers, we build partnerships in a process we call SEPA: socializing evidence for participatory action. Where the main focus is on accountability, the application of this set of methods is often called a Social Audit. From health to agriculture and education, from the impact of land mines to monitoring child rights, from public transport to the justice system, CIET research topics have broadened both thematically and geographically since CIET’s work is funded by national governments, international aid and development organizations, foundations, other NGOs and universities. CIET Canada was created in Ottawa in late 1994 and CIET Europe in London in CIET is an international group of non-profit, non-governmental organizations, academic institutes, charities, foundations and trusts dedicated to building the community voice into planning and good governance. These entities form the CIET group, a world-wide network built on the guiding principles of decentralized management and local partnerships. Its technical resources are its specialists in community-based research, each with several years of professional service in developing countries. Physicians, epidemiologists, planners, social scientists and communications experts are deployed rapidly to work wherever their technical support is requested. In addition to CIET’s Research Fellows and Research Associates who are responsible for the field work, a small Support Group is responsible for administration, project development, contracts, matching skills to tasks, and publishing, cut across programmes. Overhead costs are kept to a minimum by contracting with, rather than hiring, those who perform support and field functions. As an independent contractor, each individual is responsible for her/his own professional expenses, including insurance, taxes, materials, and technical tools. In recent years CIET has developed national non-governmental organizations to house the measurement skills developed through its training activities. The main CIET training institute, which runs short courses and Masters and Doctoral programmes is located in Acapulco, Mexico. CIET has offices in Botswana, Mexico, Nicaragua and Pakistan as well as in New York, Johannesburg, London and Ottawa.