The INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) and the United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs (UNDESA) jointly organized a Supreme Audit Institution Leadership and Stakeholder Meeting on “Contributions of Supreme Audit Institution to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals”, which was held from 19 to 20 July 2018, at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York.
The meeting generated substantive discussions on the emerging findings and lessons learned from auditing preparedness for SDG implementation. It revealed that SAIs in different regions have made significant progress in planning and conducting SDG-related audits and assessing the preparedness of governments for SDG implementation. Relevant lessons from these audits will be useful to other SAIs which are just starting to audit SDGs. Discussions highlighted the importance of engaging with other stakeholders around SDG audits and effectively communicating audit results. Participants reflected on some of the specific challenges SAIs face for auditing SDGs, including strategic, operational, methodological and capacity issues. The importance of SAIs’ contribution to the review of SDG 16 was highlighted. Ideas about the actions SAIs could take to raise awareness and give visibility to their work on SDGs and about the messages to be conveyed to policy makers for strengthening SDG implementation were discussed as part of the way forward.
More than 160 participants from SAIs and stakeholders attended the meeting. It was also attended by stakeholder organizations: UNDESA Statistic Division; International Budget Partnership (IBP); Inter-Parliament Union (IPU); Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA); United Nations Office of Internal Oversight (OIOS); Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA); Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (CAAF); International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD); EvalSDG; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore; and UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority.
(All the documents of the meeting available at the event website: http://bit.ly/SAIs4SDGs)
The meeting sessions can be viewed at