SAI LEADERSHIP AND STAKEHOLDER MEETING AUDITING PREPAREDNESS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)

Transcription

1 SAI LEADERSHIP AND STAKEHOLDER MEETING AUDITING PREPAREDNESS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS) JULY 2017 UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK Organised by the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) Opening Remarks by Lara Taylor Pearce Vice Chair of IDI Board and Auditor General of Sierra Leone Assistant Secretary General, UNDESA, fellow Heads of SAIs, representatives of stakeholders, colleagues from the SAI community and the UN, ladies and gentlemen. As the Vice Chair of IDI Board, I am delighted to welcome you to this landmark meeting. Given the current very important development issues at hand, it is very important that such a meeting of various stakeholders happens. In September 2015, the United Nations and its member countries adopted an inspiring and visionary Agenda 2030-the Agenda for sustainable development-as we are all aware there are 169 targets and 304 proposed indicators to implement in achieving this vision. The vision, principles and goals of the agenda has found strong resonance in the work done by INTOSAI and the main vision of every Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), which is to contribute value and benefits for citizens. We are of the view that in many Developing nations, the earlier MDGs were not fully achieved, and we must, as oversight institutions in our countries, ensure that this time round we do achieve the SDGs, and our citizens feel the positive effect of proper implementation. 1 P a g e

2 During the 2016 INCOSAI, all SAIs in the community voted for the adoption of a strategic plan that included Contributing to the follow-up and review of the SDGs within the context of each nation s specific sustainable development efforts, and SAIs individual mandates as a cross cutting priority. As an INTOSAI body, it is IDI s mission to support SAIs in enhancing their performance and capacity, with the ultimate aim of making sure that there is increased contribution to the value and benefits of citizens. In reviewing the agenda itself, one is unclear about what is being said about oversight, auditing, or independent review of implementation of the SDGs. We must remember that in order for programs and projects under this agenda to be beneficial, both financial and non- financial resources have to be properly directed to the relevant areas. The effectiveness of these interventions has to be assessed to ensure that there is benefit to the citizenry of the world in all instances. It is therefore very important that Supreme Audit Institutions being watchdogs and oversight bodies, make themselves very relevant in this agenda. How can we fit in? What can we do? A reflection of our role as IDI, has brought out three possible areas of intervention; 1. Advocacy of SAI role in the implementation of SDGs- how can the IDI bring to the forefront of our development partners, the importance of SAIs in the implementation of SDGs in our countries. 2. Facilitation of SAIs in meaningfully including SDGs in their strategic direction Making sure that SAIs include SDG issues in their strategic and annual work plans and; 3. Supporting SAIs in conducting high quality audits of both preparedness and implementation of SDGs at the national level. In my country Sierra Leone, the 17 SDGs have been aligned to the eight pillars as per the country s National Action Plan (Agenda for Prosperity) The current programs and projects under these pillars are monitored through oversight committees in Parliament. 2 P a g e

3 In addition, there is a National SDGs Focal Point Officer at Ministry of Finance and Economic Development who directly monitors the progress/status of these SDGs. However we must all bear in mind that there is still much to be done in readiness for the SDGs. There is the key issue of awareness raising to be done. Are our citizens aware of what the SDGs are all about? Yes,there are bill boards on SDGs being mounted around, but do citizens really understand this new phenomenon? They need to be able to monitor and ensure impact during and after implementation? Have our governments prioritized the key goals that are achievable by Are the plans in place? There is also the issue of revenue generation and revenue mobilisation to consider. In situations where there are significant leakages in the revenue systems, how can the programs under the SDGs be funded? Where procurement is a major red flag area for corrupt practices, how can this be managed to ensure that procurement under the projects and programs are indeed complete and fit for purpose. Ladies and Gentlemen, these and many other related matters have to be well managed to ensure that there is success by At my SAI level, while keeping in mind ISSAI12 (The Value and Benefits of Supreme Audit Institutions making a difference to the lives of citizens), we have not yet conducted a specialised audit on the implementation status of the SDGs, we however continuously audit the financial activities of the government taking in to cognisance the SDGs as priorities of the government. It is envisaged that some version of Performance Auditing will play a vital role in addressing the areas of efficiency, economy and effectiveness of the implementation of the programs and projects under the SDGs. A recent INTOSAI article by OLACEFS clearly mentioned the role of environmental and sustainability issues in this agenda.there is a lot to be done. 3 P a g e

4 Ladies and Gentlemen, this meeting, which is the first of its kind for IDI, is our attempt to promote the role of SAIs in the implementation of SDGs, to encourage SAIs to take up audits of preparedness using a whole of government approach, and to facilitate deeper discussion and dialogue on key areas of inquiry in the cooperative audit that the IDI will facilitate together with our partners. We have tried to bring together stakeholders across a very vast and varied spectrum so that we can share experiences and perspectives on the opportunities and challenges in auditing preparedness for implementation of SDGs. We have attempted to build an agenda that will give us opportunities to interact around key themes of auditing preparedness for integration of Agenda 2030 in the national context, means of implementation and follow up and review. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all SAIs present in this room for their tremendous response and enthusiasm for participating not only in this meeting, but also the interest shown in the cooperative audit of preparedness. We are very enthused by your interest. While we are always happy to support you, this audit will require all of us as SAI leaders, to provide strategic direction, commitment and resources for this new area of work. The Auditing SDGs programme is a large cooperation with a number of stakeholders. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our key stakeholders for their support and guidance for the programme. I would like to specially mention the INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee, which is our main partner in this programme. Your role here cannot be overemphasized in this venture. The IDI board is truly delighted to see the expanding cooperation between the IDI and UNDESA. This is the first time that IDI has partnered with UNDESA to organize this scale of event, and I would like to express our gratitude to UNDESA for its support and excellent cooperation now and going forward. It is very important that the role of SAIs in auditing not only preparedness 4 P a g e

5 for implementation of SDGs, but the actual implementation process itself is recognized and supported by the UN. In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, let me leave you with this apt adage, If we walk alone, we walk fast. If we walk together, we walk far. We look forward to working together and walking far on this road of contributing value and benefits to citizens by auditing sustainable development goals in our national context. I thank you. 5 P a g e