SAIs and Citizen engagement EIP partners have produced a working paper on ‘Supreme Audit Institutions and Citizens Engagement Strategies: a Stocktake’ which explored the specific goals of SAIs in engaging citizens; the different mechanisms and instruments used, and their respective risks and costs; and the benefits of engagement and ways of mitigating bottlenecks to greater transparency and participation.
A first learning alliance workshop was held in October on this issue of Supreme audit institutions and citizen engagement. It brought together 7 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) (Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, France, Philippines, South Africa, Zambia) with CSOs and representatives of development agencies to identify and share good practices on citizen engagement with SAIs. Pairing SAIs with each other and with CSOs enabled the sharing of innovative practices of citizen engagement; understanding how these were relevant for specific contexts and; identifying how peer-to-peer exchanges could support reform efforts in different countries. A policy brief on Supreme Audit Insitutions and Citizen Engagement is available here.
Supporting the development of accountability institutions such as parliaments and national audit institutions, as well as increasing the inclusiveness of reform efforts. A project on external stakeholder engagement with Supreme Audit Institutions of several countries aims, for example, to better understand how external stakeholders, including citizens can participate in national audit work. A second phase of this work will develop a Checklist on good citizen engagement practices.
Additional work is being planned on strengthening parliamentary oversight. There is a need to ensure that institutions put in place mechanisms for parliamentary engagement in decision-making. By recognizing, encouraging and institutionalizing the participation of citizens, civil society and parliaments in deciding, planning, implementing and assessing national development plans, policies, programs, budgets and legal reforms, institutions will become more accountable.
