South Sudan has been experiencing a series of political, economic, security and humanitarian crises. As government and opposition forces fought one another over the last years, the people of the country suffered, and the institutions were neglected. The advent of a Revitalized Peace Agreement (R-ARCSS) of September 2018 and its progress with a coalition government in 2020 have created a new opportunity for peace, reconciliation, and progress in the country. But for the peace process to succeed, a number of provisions in the R-ARCSS need to be carried out to strengthen the country's institutions and public financial management system. Chief among this is improving the capacity and mandate of the National Audit Chamber (NAC), the Supreme Audit Institution of South Sudan. The NAC is a key oversight institution and has a crucial role in promoting better governance in South Sudan by providing audits of public funds and institutions. According to the peace agreement, NAC shall have a newly revised act granting independence, and it shall clear the audit backlog within six months after the start of the transition period, which begins with the formation of a coalition government.
In preparation for this renewed effort to strengthen South Sudan's institutions and NAC's work with government oversight, peers from the audit offices in Kenya and Uganda came to Juba in January 2020. During their time in South Sudan, the peers trained and advised many of the auditors at NAC. The NAC auditors received extensive training in compliance audit methodology. The visiting peers and NAC staff also worked jointly to develop a backlog audit strategy, helping NAC to be better prepared to fulfil its duties as outlined under the peace agreement.
Cooperation for the training is part of the National Audit Chamber Strategic Change Project, a joint project by the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), AFROSAI-E and Office of the Auditor General of Kenya.
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For more information on IDI's work in South Sudan, click here. |