PAP-APP team members and NAO The Gambia staff discussing audit strategies

The Gambia – Audit Constellation Project

IDI and the National Audit Office of the Gambia (NAO) have been working closely together since 2018. What was at first a smaller, focused project under the umbrella of the Accelerated Peer-Support Partnership programme (PAP-APP) has now become a 5-year, multi-component partnership including peer SAIs as well as advisors from some of the world’s most prestigious non-governmental organisations.

The purpose of the Audit Constellation Project is to support the NAO to deliver its strategic priorities during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis. In doing so, we aim to build up not just the NAO, but also the constellation of actors needed to ensure audits lead to meaningful change for citizens. This aim is grounded in Principle 12 (The value and benefits of SAIs) of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions.

Everything we do is led by NAO and grounded in the office’s own plans and systems. We have brought together a first-rate team of NAO staff, peers, and other advisors to tackle the office’s biggest challenges—from improving key internal procedures through to delivering high-quality and citizen-friendly versions of audit reports. We are also piloting an agile approach in the project, with an emphasis on empowerment, experimentation, feedback, and iteration.

Further, our unique partnership structure, including an Advisory Council made up of peers as well as international NGOs, is fostering relationships for NAO both in and outside of the INTOSAI community that will long outlast the project itself.

Funding

The support is provided as a part of the Accelerated Peer-Support Partnership programme (PAP-APP). It has benefitted from funds provided by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office as well as a pool of funding from the Austrian Development Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Iceland, Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs France, SAI Qatar, Irish Aid, and the European Commission.

Project-supported documents from the National Audit Office of The Gambia