🌟 Recap: Second Meeting of the SAI Independence Reference Group--
Legal and Institutional Experts Convene to Establish Proactive Advocacy Approach
Prague, Czech Republic— From April 24-28, 2023, INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) held a meeting with members of the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI). The meeting featured discussions focused on IDI’s strategies to advocate for the independence of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in the region, including through the establishment of a proactive advocacy approach.
Attended by nine supreme audit institutions from EUROSAI, as well as the World Justice Project, the meeting gathered important advocates from civil society and oversight institutions to advance discussion. Representatives from SAI Albania, SAI Armenia, SAI Cyprus, SAI Czech Republic, SAI Georgia, SAI Montenegro, SAI North Macedonia, SAI Poland and SAI Romania were present, as well as the current Chair of the INTOSAI Governing Board and President of SAI Brazil, Mr. Bruno Dantas. Additionally, the current President of EUROSAI and the SAI of the Czech Republic, Mr. Miloslav Kala, were also in attendance for the event’s programming.
Here's a closer look at the key takeaways from the event as it unfolded:
The meeting commenced with opening remarks from Mr. Miloslav Kala, who underscored the crucial role of independence for SAIs in carrying out their tasks objectively and effectively. He emphasized that without autonomy and protection from external influence, SAIs cannot serve as reliable public spending watchdogs.
The agenda of the meeting was designed to enable thought leaders and subject matter experts to dialogue about proactive advocacy strategies, particularly to enrich the accountability community’s understanding of such strategies’ value towards improving the independence of SAIs. As such, proactive advocacy can be classified into two thematic groups: reactive and proactive. Regarding advancement of the reactive approach, IDI has established the SAI Independence Rapid Advocacy Mechanism (SIRAM)—a tool that supports SAIs facing independence threats requiring a response. Due to their previous engagement with the SIRAM tool, SAI Cyprus, SAI Montenegro, SAI North Macedonia and SAI Poland gave presentations showcasing their experiences with IDI’s seminal advocacy process designed to address SAI Independence. Conclusively, presenters shared that the SIRAM process had had a positive effect on the institutional environment of the SAIs and had an effect towards ensuring the independence of their SAIs going forward.
Then, participants held discussions to identify potential improvements in the implementation of the SIRAM tool. From the participants’ discussions the need became clear, to create impactful advocacy for SAI Independence more awareness-raising must be done about SIRAM in the INTOSAI community, in addition to integrating newer elements in SIRAM’s methodology which make it more fit-for-purpose for today’s independence threats. Finally, representatives also proposed increasing the use of resources from the INTOSAI community’s capacities, both in terms of expertise on legal matters and analysis on institutional context, to contribute to broader implementation of the SIRAM process by IDI.
Later, sessions shifted to addressing developments within the proactive advocacy approach. Presenting their cross-institutional collaboration, speakers from the World Justice Project and IDI presented their joint project centered on generating qualitative and quantitative information on the role and impact of SAIs within their accountability ecosystems. This informative presentation was complemented further by the presentation of the upcoming joint IDI-OECD project, which aims to facilitate the design and implementation of INTOSAI’s Independence Principles for practitioners with a context specific- approach.
With these inputs in mind, the convening participants agreed to support IDI’s and partners’ efforts to develop and mainstream a methodology that identify weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the legal frameworks of SAIs. As an essential element of IDI’s proactive approach to advocate for the independence of SAIs, enhancing gaps in the legal dimensions of SAI Independence will be of great help to SAIs currently under threat, and other institutions who stand at risk of weakened oversight due to the growing trend of democratic backsliding worldwide. Importantly, this stance to address legal frameworks beyond the analysis of the Constitution and the Audit Act means that regulations related to the role of SAIs as actors in the accountability ecosystem will also be taken into account and meaningfully strengthened.
The meeting was concluded with remarks given by the Mr. Bruno Dantas, serving as Chair of the INTOSAI Governing Board, who indicated that the pattern of independence challenges is one being faced by SAIs at global level. Due to these increasing infringements to institutional oversight, it is imperative for SAIs to continue demonstrating their value to democracy and to the improvement of the lives of citizens at the country level. In this context, he underscored that relevance and saliency of consolidating IDI’s strategies to advocate for the independence of SAIs, keeping this issue at the top of the priority list of INTOSAI’s agenda.
Democratic backsliding poses a significant threat to the stability of SAIs. This challenging scenario makes it necessary to join capacities and efforts to defend and support the independence of SAIs. Stressing the importance of collaborative efforts, IDI Deputy Director General, Mr. Ola Hoem, hinted at future collaborations between IDI and EUROSAI in the ongoing journey to safeguard and support SAI independence. Providing a platform for fruitful discussions, innovative initiatives, and a shared commitment to fortifying the role of Supreme Audit Institutions in upholding accountability and transparency, the Prague Meeting on Proactive Advocacy looks to have been a critical convening for progress towards legal enhancement SAI Independence and oversight as a whole.
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