The online training phase (phase one) of the trans-regional capacity building programme for public debt auditors in supreme audit institutions (SAIs) which the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) is undertaking in cooperation with UNITAR and UNCTAD was recently concluded. Thirty-one (31) SAI audit teams (89 persons in total) from Africa, Asia and Europe have been trained in 10 online sessions organized by UNITAR including online virtual discussions for networking and information exchange among participating SAIs.
Feedback from participants has been very encouraging, with 82% of French language participants and 98% of English language participants considering that the aims of the online training phase were met completely or to a large extent.
As an example, one participant concluded: “As an individual who is passionate about making my country (Liberia) a better place for the next ten thousand generations, this course is more than words on paper, it is the opportunity to affect change and be a change agent via the work I do, so the course has provided me the tools necessary to be a part of building effective, efficient, and economical institutions, that can insure that public resources are guarded from fraud, waste and abuse; and used to benefit the people.”
With the increasing demand from SAIs, especially African SAIs, for capacity development in public debt audit, the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) decided to undertake through the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) a trans-regional capacity building programme for audit of public debt management.
The programme, which has been developed and implemented in cooperation with UNITAR and UNCTAD, includes an e-Learning component. For the first time, both INTOSAI and UNITAR are running such a comprehensive programme simultaneously in two languages - English and French. It is also the first time that African supreme audit institutions participate in a public debt management programme.
In phase two of the programme, which will end in March 2010, SAI teams are currently putting the various concepts and good practices they have learned in phase one to practice through developing an Audit Plan through the UNITAR e-Learning platform with the support of a panel of senior audit experts. In phase 3, participants and experts will meet face-to-face to plan the pilot public debt management audits they will conduct in 2010 in their countries based on their audit plans. In early 2011, the audit findings and conclusions will be reviewed in a final audit review meeting before being tabled and adopted by the SAIs.
It is hoped that the programme will promote good governance in participating countries through better transparency and accountability in public debt transactions, enhanced public debt management (PDM) systems, and institutionalization of a system for carrying out PDM audits at regular intervals.
Click here to view the IDI link.