Innovations in public accountability: the role of SAIs and citizens

Transcription

1 Development Management Branch Workshop Innovations in public accountability: the role of SAIs and citizens AIDE-MEMOIRE United Nations Public Service Day and Awards Ceremony June 2014 Seoul, Republic of Korea 1

2 1. SPONSORSHIP AND PURPOSE This two-day workshop on Innovations in public accountability: the role of SAIs and citizens will look at tools and resources for assisting SAIs to engage with citizens and fight corruption. The workshop is among others that will take place on the occasion of the 2014 United Nations Public Service Day and Awards Ceremony (UNPSA) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 23 to 26 June The overall theme of the 2014 UNPSA is Innovating Governance for Sustainable Development and Well-being of the People. The workshop will be organized by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DPADM/DESA) with the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), the World Bank Institute, Social Accountability Practice (WBI) and INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI). In its Resolution 57/277, the United Nations General Assembly designated 23 June as the United Nations Public Service Day. Its purpose is to celebrate the value and virtue of service to the community at the local, national and global levels, with prizes to be awarded to public sector organizations for contributions made to the cause of enhancing the role, prestige and visibility of public service. Since 2003, DPADM has organized every year the United Nations Public Service Day and Awards Ceremony, a global event where innovators from the world meet to present and discuss their awarded initiatives to improve citizens quality of life. 2. BACKGROUND At the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the international community identified critical factors to accelerate the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs) by 2015, and those for sustainable development for the post-2015 development agenda. Among them, the Member States highlighted good governance, including citizen engagement and accountability. A lack of public participation, transparency and accountability undermines democratic governance; weakens the rule of law; endangers peace and security; and risks waste, mismanagement and corruption in development. Inclusive sustainable development is more likely to happen if the public participates and communities engage in peaceful and productive ways. Governments have a duty and a self-interest to engage citizens in policy-making processes. They can 1) strive for an accurate identification and analysis of public problems, 2) increase the responsiveness of essential services, and 3) promote transparency and an open and inclusive accountability process inside public administrations. People empowerment begins by increasing their participation in development policies and programmes. At Rio+20, Member States also recognize(d) the need for significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources and the effective use of financing, in order to promote 2

3 sustainable development. 1 This view reflects a broader evolution of accountable governance processes and structures whereby governments increasingly partner with and depend on the civil society and the private sector to achieve national development goals. Thus, more governments strive to provide information to their citizens on the use of public resources to enhance transparency and accountability within public institutions including through the use of information and communication technology (ICT). Democratic governance gives Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) a critical role in holding governments to account and enabling legislative oversight. SAIs are a critical part of the national accountability architecture. Given their mandates to watch over government accounts, operations and performance, they are natural partners of citizens in exercising public scrutiny. The scope of SAI s work is to increase transparency for the benefit of citizens through external auditing. Therefore, this workshop seeks to assist SAIs to assess their readiness to engage with citizens and fight against corruption by reviewing innovations in auditing standards and processes. Finally, this workshop will use as main resources, two publications generated by collaboration between DPADM and INTOSAI: the Compendium of Innovative Practices of Citizen Engagement by Supreme Audit Institutions for Public Accountability and a Collection of Important Literature on Strengthening Capacities of SAIs on the fight against Corruption. 3. CONTEXT DPADM assists Member States in strengthening their governance systems, including fostering efficient, effective, transparent, accountable and citizen-centric public administrations and public services through reform, innovation and technology. The United Nations General Assembly and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), through their numerous resolutions 2 on public administration and development, provide the mandate for DPADM to foster good governance and sound public administration. In addition, the UN Convention against Corruption 3 promotes and strengthens measures to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively. The Convention establishes that each State Party shall take appropriate measures to promote transparency and accountability in the management of public finances. Such measures shall include a system of accounting and auditing standards and related oversight. INTOSAI is a global non-governmental organization for external government auditing that promotes efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and transparency of public administration by strengthening SAIs. For more than 60 years, it provided an 1 United Nations, Realizing the Future We Want for All, Report the Secretary-General, (A/CONF.216/1.1) New York, June 2012, paragraph 252. For the complete report, please check: 2 The United Nations General Assembly resolutions 49/136 of 28 February 1995, 50/225 of 19 April 1996, A/RES/53/201 of 22 February 1999, 56/213 of 21 December 2001, 57/277 of 20 December 2002, 58/231 of 23 December 2003, 59/55 of 2 December 2004, 60/34 of 30 November 2005, all on public administration and development; The United Nations Economic and Social Council resolutions 2002/40 of 19 December 2002, 2003/60 of 25 July 2003, 2005/3 of 31 March 2005, 2005/55 of 21 October 2005, 2006/47 of 28 July 2006 and 2007/38 of 4 October 2007, 2008/32 of 25 July 2008, 2009/18 of 29 July 2009, 2011/2 of 26 April 2011 and 2011/22 of 27 July 2011, all on public administration and development. 3 A/RES/58/4 of 31 October

4 institutionalized framework SAIs to promote development and transfer of knowledge, improve government auditing and enhance capacities. The Lima (1977) and Mexico (2007) Declarations of INTOSAI called for legislative frameworks for independent government auditing. The INTOSAI s goal is to support its member institutions to foster transparency, enhance accountability, fight corruption and thus, contribute to sustainable development. General Assembly s resolution 66/209 on Promoting the efficiency, accountability, effectiveness and transparency of public administration by strengthening Supreme Audit Institutions, recognized that SAIs play a key role. Overall, the audit-based knowledge and experience of SAIs can provide valuable advice for future initiatives, including the post-2015 development agenda. World Bank Institute s Social Accountability Practice (WBISG) has been organizing: global conferences, trainings, panel discussions and other global partnership actions and activities related to good governance for improving transparency, social accountability and fostering citizen engagement. Within this context, the Practice has a program on Advancing Public Participation in the Budget and Audit Process (PPBA). PPBA program helps SAIs to leverage CSOs to increase the effectiveness of value for money audit by creating awareness of SAIs and CSOs on the entry points for collaboration and by supporting and building capacity of CSOs to 1) generate evidence of mismanagement, inefficiency (by using social accountability tools) so that SAIs can use them as an input into their formal audit (participatory audit planning), 2) undertake joint performance audit without compromising the independence of SAIs (joint audit), 3) monitor the status of SAIs recommendation so that CSOs can use that information as an input into their advocacy work (setting up Audit Report Implementation Committees (ARICs). The INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) is the capacity development body of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). It supports more than 140 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in developing countries in their efforts to sustainably enhance performance, independence and professionalism. The IDI provides this support by facilitating and coordinating effective SAI capacity development programmes; developing and disseminating global public goods; strengthening regional bodies, networks and communities; and mobilizing scaled up and more effective support to SAIs. The IDI also serves as secretariat to the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation, established to enhance the volume and coordination of support, as well as the strategic focus on strengthening SAIs in developing countries. 4. OBJECTIVES The workshop s overachieving goal is to build new capacities through the provision of new tools to assist SAIs to assess their readiness to engage with citizens and fight corruption. The following are the specific objectives: Presenting tools and good practices of SAIs to gauge their readiness to engage citizens and for incorporation into their audit standards the readiness of government agencies to engage with citizens in the management of development policies and programs; Looking at innovations for assisting SAIs to strength their capacities to fight corruption. 4

5 5. THEMES FOR DISCUSSION There is no blue print on how to foster citizen engagement regarding public auditing processes and social accountability actions. Nonetheless, what is helpful is a common understanding of these aims, including the setting of policy regulatory and organizational frameworks and the development of channels/modalities and relevant capacities. In addition, it is also helpful to consider citizen s rights and responsibilities. Citizens have the civic right to have a voice in all governance and public administration matters. (And where this right is not respected, they can claim this right.) At the same time, they share a responsibility with the State for the development of their country and society. This means that the civil society has the responsibility to engage in monitoring and overseeing public expenditure. In order to support citizens to add public value, public officials also have the responsibility to share information with the citizens. Whether viewed as a cause or consequence of underdevelopment, corruption diverts scarce public resources for private gain, distorts the distribution of public goods and services, undermines the rule of law and destroys public trust in government which impedes financial investments and economic growth. Given the high and varied cost of fighting corruption, prevention through measures within and outside of the public sector is key to safeguarding resources. The UN Convention Against Corruption recognized the importance of prevention by dedicating a chapter to various administrative practices and social measures. Within this context, guiding questions of the workshop include: What are the obstacles to and the implications for transparency, accountability and citizen engagement? What are the institutional arrangements required for implementing accountability tools and actions? What are the suitable mechanisms for fostering participatory accountability systems? What are the effective practices of cooperation between government agencies and citizen in order to enhance public accountability? What is the value and benefit of SAIs? What is its principal role? How can SAIs contribute to good governance? What further demand exists for research and capacity development? What are the methodologies and tools for civic engagement for SAIs? What is the role of citizen participation in government auditing? How can the audit function support preventing corruption and fraud in government agencies? How can internal and external audit deal with these agencies? What are the best practices and initiatives for fighting corruption? How can the capacities of SAIs on the fight against corruption be strengthened? What is the role independent anti-corruption commissions in citizen engagement? What is the role of DESA, INTOSAI and WBI in capacity building and capacity development? 5

6 6.1 EXPECTED OUTPUTS The workshop on Innovations in public accountability: the role of SAIs and citizens is expected to have the following outputs: Trained and informed auditors, auditees, NGOs and CSOs on democratic and participatory governance based upon practices included in the Compendium of Innovative Practices of Citizen Engagement by Supreme Audit Institutions for Public Accountability publication; Enhanced knowledge of all participants on social accountability strategies and anti-corruption tools according to knowledge included in the Collection of Important Literature on Strengthening Capacities of SAIs on the fight against Corruption publication; Improved knowledge transfer tools for assisting SAIs to engage with citizens and anti-corruption; Partnerships among DPADM/DESA, INTOSAI, WBI and IDI. 6.2 EXPECTED OUTCOMES This event is expected to have, in the short and middle term, the following impacts: Improved processes of engaging citizens in auditing and fighting corruption; Contribution to empowered citizens around the world to exercise their rights to hold their governments accountable for the effective use and disbursement of public funds, through engaging with SAIs; Contribution to good governance and promoting sustainable development through citizen mobilization and participation in public auditing processes. 7. ORGANIZATION The workshop is being organized by the Development Management Branch (DMB) of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management in partnership with the World Bank Institute Social Accountability Practice (WBI) and the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). These organizations will support the workshop by facilitating substantive preparations as well as by disseminating the contents and outputs. 7.1 Participants At least 30 participants are expected. Profile of the participants: Winners of UN Public Service Awards, Development stakeholders, Civil society representatives, Academics, Public sector external and internal auditors, 6

7 Independent anti-corruption commissions representatives, Senior government officials, Representatives of international organizations, UN DESA, INTOSAI and WBI staff. 7.2 Official Languages The event will be conducted in English. 7.3 Electronic Networking All the documents of the meeting will be posted on the United Nations Public Administration Network ( 7.4 Format of the Meeting The Workshop will be conducted as a series of thematic discussions over two days, following a programme provided in advance to all participants. The format aims to prioritize deliberation and interaction among all participants to generate collective knowledge. 8. CONTACTS UNDESA/DPADM Ms. Elia Yi Armstrong Chief, Development Management Branch Division for Public Administration and Development Management United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs armstronge@un.org Mr. Daniel Bato Inter-regional Advisor on Public Accountability Development Management Branch Division for Public Administration and Development Management United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs bato@un.org Ms. Patricia Penuen Programme Assistant Development Management Branch Division for Public Administration and Development Management United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs penuen@un.org 7

8 INTOSAI Mr. Robert Sattler Head of Cabinet INTOSAI General Secretariat Rechnungshof INTOSAI Generalsekretariat Dampfschiffstraße Wien Tel: +43 (1) Fax: +43 (1) sattler@rechnungshof.gv.at Mr. Bernhard Seitz INTOSAI General Secretariat Austrian Court of Audit Dampfschiffstraße Wien Austria Tel: intosai@rechnungshof.gv.at WORLD BANK INSTITUTE Mr. Keith McLean Lead Social Development Specialist, Social Accountability Practice, The World Bank Institute (WBI) 1818 H Street, NW, Washington DC USA kmclean@worldbank.org Ms Carolina Vaira Operations Officer Social Accountability Practice The World Bank Institute (WBI) 1818 H Street, NW, Washington DC USA cvaira@worldbank.org Tel:

9 INTOSAI DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE Mr. Einar Gorrissen Director General c/o Riksrevisjonen Pilestredet 42, Post Box 8130 Dep N-0032 Oslo, Norway Tel: Mr. Shourjo Chatterjee Knowledge Manager c/o Riksrevisjonen Pilestredet 42, Post Box 8130 Dep N-0032 Oslo, Norway Tel: