For Civil Society Organisations

SAI Independence Resource Kit

For Civil Society Organisations

A joint initiative from Transparency International and INTOSAI Development Initiative

SAI Independence Resource Kit for Civil Society Organisations

Independent, effective and credible Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) are an essential component of political systems and indispensable to democracy-building. To hold governments to account and add value to citizens, SAIs must be able to maintain independence from the bodies they audit.

When SAI Independence is threatened, institutional oversight activities can be impaired, weakening a country’s integrity and accountability systems and increasing democratic backsliding. SAI Independence has deteriorated in recent years and SAIs are not able overcome threats to their independence alone. To overcome this, IDI has partnered with Transparency International to broaden collaboration between SAIs and civil society organisations (CSOs) and published the resource kit "Safeguarding the Independence of Supreme Audit Institutions" in Fall 2022.

As strong actors in the accountability ecosystem, CSOs can help to safeguard and enhance SAI Independence and raise awareness of the challenges SAIs face through influence and outreach. CSOs have the unique capacity to advocate for SAI Independence whenever a threat arises and take action with a large network of stakeholders. This resource kit provides key insights and resources for CSOs to support SAIs at the global, regional and national level.

By using this Resource Kit, CSOs can learn about:

the importance of SAI Independence
existing SAI-CSO collaboration
collaborative advocacy and assessment tools

In addition, users of the kit can learn about the kit’s scalable pilot initiatives that are already underway, including dialogues and workshops to enhance engagement and collaboration between SAIs and CSOs on-the-ground.

Civil society organisations ensure greater transparency and accountability of public resources and play a significant role in enhancing checks and balances in democracies. As such, IDI is looking forward to strengthening partnerships between the SAI and CSO communities to ensure SAI Independence features strongly in the fight against corruption.