SPMR - Strategy, Performance Measurement and Reporting. Archives - Page 5 of 7

Meaningful indicators, meaningful results – a strategy mid-term review to improve impact

Two years after starting to implement its fourth strategic development plan, the Tribunal de Contas of Cabo Verde launched a mid-term review aimed at assessing the progress of the plan – and most importantly, its effectiveness and relevance to improving impact on the management of public affairs.

The participation in the SPMR initiative led to improvements from the previous strategic plans. For instance, the current strategic plan now includes an integrated human resources plan and an IT strategy that allows a holistic view of the Tribunal’s strategic planning process. It captures the SAI priorities as an institution supporting the country public financial management with a focus on improved judgment process and financial responsibilities.

Of particular interest, the strategic development plan refers to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index to measure its impact on the improvement on the management of public affairs.

The strategic development plan is supported by an operational plan covering the same period. This approach provides an overview of the 60 activities to be delivered throughout the five years period to implement the strategic development plan.

The operational plan sets clear and measurable targets and provides information on resources needed to execute it. Having clear targets is again a key element of a strategic plan as it helps to assess the performance of the execution of the plan.

The Tribunal de Contas has developed its own Planning, Monitoring and Control Guide which requires a mid-term review of the strategic development plan reflecting strategic management best practices. Indeed, while a strategic plan is usually set for a period like 5 years in the case of Cabo Verde, strategic management always requires flexibility. To that end, assessing the strategy effectiveness is key and that it the purpose of the mid-term review that the Tribunal de Contas decided to conduct.

The first thing to do was to prepare the terms of reference detailing the objectives, scope, methodology, and timeline together with the resources necessary to conduct the review.

The SAI decided to conduct this mid-term review through its Planning and Quality Control unit using the activity reports produced by the Tribunal de Contas for years 2020 and 2021 and information directly collected to the operational units for the first part of 2022.

The mid-term review proved to be very positive as it highlighted the areas where improvements are necessary hence allowing the President of the Tribunal to make necessary decisions to prioritize the activities for the second half of the strategy term. Notably, the SAI will focus on measuring the public perception of the SAI and its impact on the management of public resources for the benefit of the citizens.

The team in charge of the mid-term review was very familiar with the strategy and operational plan as its members participated in the SPMR Initiative. Thanks to this training, they were able to find solutions to the methodological issues they face during the review design and execution process.

A mid-term review of the strategy is essential to ensure we are on the right path and that the strategy is well executed to produce its expected impact

Luís Ortet da Veiga, Director General

The challenge was to select meaningful indicators and to ensure the quality of the information collected. Then the interpretation of the results constituted another challenge because explaining the reasons of those results was very important to provide useful information for decision-making by leadership.

Mário Tavares, Head of the Planning and Quality Control Unit

No strategy or operational plan is set in stone. Plans are living documents, which should respond to a changing environment, by possibly adjusting performance expectations and priorities. Once the parameters are in place, they set a robust ground for agile strategic management.

Laurent Grosse-Kozłowski, Manager Governance, IDI

This is what a mid-term review allows and by doing so, the Tribunal de Contas of Cabo Verde has set a clear path for a higher performance in the next two years.

AUTHORS

Laurent Grosse-Kozlowski, Manager SAI Governance.

The State Audit Office of Georgia’s continuous pursuit of excellence in strategic management

The State Audit Office (SAO) of Georgia has a long-standing reputation of being a highly credible, transparent, and effective Supreme Audit Institution committed to serving its citizens. Despite its already strong performance, upheld by bilateral support, the SAO has seen clear benefits in joining IDI’s Strategy, Performance Measurement and Reporting (SPMR) initiative, with a view to becoming a truly global SAI that leads by example.

In late 2019, the SAO decided to join the SPMR initiative, working towards a mid-term update of the 2018-2022 strategic plan. An interim SAI PMF assessment in early 2020 demonstrated that the SAO had already reached significant progress towards its strategic goals. For example, they had succeeded in finalising the implementation of ISSAI standards on financial and compliance audits and had established quality control procedures and practices such as hot reviews. Externally, the SAO leadership had prioritised strengthening relationships with the Parliament to support them in better follow-up of audit reports and holding executive agencies accountable for their performance.

SPMR played an important role supporting the strategy revision process and providing inputs for further strengthening SAO’s organisational development. The SAO team worked under the guidance of Ms. Angela Cullen, deputy auditor general of the SAI of Cayman Islands, who acted as their adviser and SPMR resource person. The joint work resulted in a revised strategic framework and updated strategic plan in line with the SPMR methodology and handbook, which captured existing challenges and selected priorities. Later on, as a result of participation in the e-Learning courses on operational planning, monitoring and implementation, the SAO prepared a new template for the operational plan and crafted new process for performance monitoring.

The SAO’s active participation in SPMR and its hospitality deserves special attention. Throughout the SPMR initiative, the Georgian team has consistently shared their experiences, challenges and lessons learnt in the area of strategic management. This has been greatly appreciated by their peers from the region. The SAO also hosted the SPMR strategic planning workshop, which was the last event of the initiative to be held in-person before the onset of the pandemic. The beautiful city of Tbilisi and the numerous activities organized by the SAO made the SPMR strategic planning workshop a particularly memorable event for the participants.

Despite those impressive achievements, the SAO identified some remaining challenges that called for an update of the strategic plan. One such obstacle is that the SAO does not have the mandate to audit government revenue – a legislative challenge that, albeit outside of its complete control, the SAO strives to influence through its work and communication activities. Another is that, while the SAO aims to enhance its audit activities in the area of IT systems of public entities, particularly in light of the pandemic, this calls for internal strengthening of IT audit capacity. Finally, as the SAO remains committed to acting as a model organisation, it identified that it had some outstanding work towards establishing standard operating procedures for their internal ethics control system, as well as for impact assessments.

In the words of the SPMR advisor to the team, Ms. Angela Cullen:

It has been a huge pleasure to work with the SAO Georgia team on their journey of further enhancing the approach to strategic planning, and performance monitoring and reporting. Over the last two years, they have done a tremendous amount of work. They revisited and updated their strategic plan, reporting on some major achievements and identifying prioirities for the remainder of the five-year period to 2022. They also developed annual operational plans to help focus on the delivery of strategic priorities and set up a new approach for monitoring and measuring performance, which will allow the SAO Georgia to be more efficient and effective in its reporting of performance. I have been incredibly impressed by their commitment and desire to continuously improve.

Leadership in Strategic Planning – The Kenya Story

The Office of the Auditor-General of Kenya is one of the largest SAIs in the English-speaking region of Africa. It serves as a model institution in its regional community and supports its peers in many ways. No surprise, then, that Ms. Nancy Gathungu of Kenya was more than willing to support OAG Botswana on their journey of a SAI PMF assessment and strategic planning in September 2019. She acted as a resource person within the Strategy, Performance Measurement, and Reporting (SPMR) initiative of IDI.

Ms. Gathungu quickly realised through her work with Botswana that Kenya shares many of the same organisational challenges as their peers and recommended her SAI to join the initiative. At this point the SAI was in a transitional phase with no appointed AG and a strategic plan about to run out.

At the same time, other SAIs in the region had advanced with the SPMR initiative. This did not discourage SAI Kenya from joining and aiming at catching up on the progress of their peers. On short notice, Ms. Gathungu compiled a team to conduct an accelerated SAI PMF assessment. IDI supported this by organising a SAI-level fast-tracked training for the team in Nairobi.

High levels of motivation among staff members ensured fast initial progress in the assessment; the SAI faced challenges in finalising it, however. The appointment process for a new AG took several months, leaving a leadership vacuum in the SAI, and preventing progress for a while.

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu exercised leadership qualities to ensure the successful finalisation of the SAI PMF assessment during challenging times

At a workshop in Nairobi, the OAG’s SAI PMF team got trained and planned the SAI PMF assessment, under the able leadership of Elizabeth Odede (Sitting, far left)

After a process that took longer than anticipated, Ms. Gathungu was named the first female Auditor-General in the history of Kenya in 2020. She focused vigorously on finalising the SAI PMF assessment with her team, which was subsequently independently reviewed by an IDI-appointed reviewer. She formed a new team to take forward the SAI’s strategic planning efforts and finalise a strategic plan towards mid-2021.

During all that, Kenya had to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic much like the rest of the world. Intermittent lockdowns and working-from-home arrangements posed an additional challenge to the team while it was working on defining the SAI’s strategic priorities based on its SAI PMF assessment.

Simultaneously, OAG Kenya continued to live up to its model character in the region, for example by supporting a gender and inclusiveness assessment of its peer institution in South Sudan. Learning from that experience, the SAI set out to conduct a similar assessment in Kenya.

The assessment provided an additional priority for the SAI’s strategic plan. This ensures that the SAI will become more gender responsive. It also shows a continuous practice of the SAI to adopt new impulses and to learn from supporting its peers. The strategic planning team is now faced with a wide field of priorities and resource constraints that have become more pronounced during the pandemic.

While the SAI is still working on its final strategic plan, its main priorities are shaping up, based on its SAI PMF assessment, assessment of stakeholder views, and gender assessment: Improving the SAI’s audit work by updating its methodology for emerging challenges, strengthening the SAIs communication towards its stakeholders, and streamlining the SAI’s organisational management to make best use of its limited resources. While SAI Kenya is a provider of support to some of its neighbours, it also has benefited from support by its peers from Sweden for many years. The OAG of Sweden is committed to continue its support and align it to the new strategic plan from 2021 onwards.

OAG Kenya, under the leadership of its AG Gathungu has recently published an abridged version of its SAI PMF assessment and is about to publish its new strategic plan. It is committed to the quality of its audit, to improving organisational practices for ensured implementation of its strategic plan and to contributing to gender equality in its society. With those ambitions, the SAI of Kenya continuous to set standards for the peers in its region.

Shaping a positive future using strategic management processes in a time of challenges and emerging democracy– the Tunisia story

In the words of the strategic planning team of the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Tunisia, "While we cannot predict the future comprehensively and accurately, we can seek to adopt governance mechanisms that enable us to apply a continuous reality check and change the course of action if necessary.

At a time when Tunisia is facing many difficulties, challenges and scarcity of funds, optimism -in general- leads us to hope that change is possible and that the future will be better than the past.”

The Tunisian Court of Accounts joined the Strategy, Performance Measurement and Reporting initiative (SPMR) in 2019, with the aim of exchanging experiences with peer Arab SAIs and adopting advanced approaches.

Throughout its participation, the Court has continuously applied strategic management as a mechanism to positively influence its public sector environment.

The SAI of Tunisia’s SPMR journey was characterized by its thoroughness and continuity.

This helped the team weather all challenges posed by the external environment, such as the pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn, as well as safeguarding the country’s democratic system. The culmination of this work was the new strategic plan for the period 2022-2026.

The strategic plan centers around three goals:

Establishing a fair and efficient financial judiciary

Strengthening the confidence of the Tunisian citizens in the Court of Audit and strengthening its communication and interaction with its environment

Contributing to accountability and transparency in the disposal of public money and improving the performance of the public sector

To facilitate those goals, the Tunisia Court of Accounts aims to enhance the coverage, quality and publication of its key audit and other products, in accordance with international standards. The Court also plans to upscale its own efforts to lead by example in transparency and accountability and intensify its stakeholder engagement efforts.

It is noteworthy that the Court’s unique judicial role has been strengthened in recent years, which also motivates the third goal in the new Strategic Plan. Through its work, the Court contributes to protecting the emerging democracy in Tunisia by ensuring the application of the provisions of the electoral law through monitoring the financing of electoral campaigns, detecting violations and sanctioning perpetrators.

The new strategic plan builds on solid preparatory work. The Tunisian SPMR team began by building a thorough understanding of the SAI’s current and recent performance, by completing the self-assessment of performance by adopting the SAI Performance Measurement Framework (SAI PMF). The Court also approached its key internal and external stakeholders in order to better understand how they regard its current performance, and what do they expect of its future work. Since studying the past is important for those who want to plan for the future, the team also reviewed the extent to which the previous strategic plan’s objectives and planned activities were achieved. This helped the team understand what was completed and what was outstanding, and design better solutions going forward.

These results allowed the team to develop a comprehensive view of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and identify the main strategic issues, or key fundamental questions to drive the new strategic direction of the Court. Extensive working sessions with members of the SAI of Tunisia ensured ownership through a participatory approach for the new strategic plan.

This experience allowed us to align our mission, vision, and values with all the characteristics of the Court’s work, as well as with expectations of stakeholders, and to strengthen the interdependence between them. This will support us to better respond to challenges and be an SAI that keeps pace with development and makes a difference.

Strategic planning team

Our participation in the SPMR initiative was an excellent and invaluable experience. It allowed us to update our SAI PMF report and obtain an objective and comprehensive overview of the current performance of the Court. SPMR supported us to formulate our strategic plan for the period 2022-2026 along with the operational plan for the year 2022. The workshops in which we participated explained to us the requirements, objectives, and advantages of strategic management, which enabled us to be well prepared to develop the plan, and gave us the opportunity to explore and learn from the experiences of counterpart SAIs from different countries, and to establish exceptional relationships with our colleagues from Arab SAIs and with the IDI team.

Strategic planning team

Despite the global health crisis and its impact on the continuity of the institutions’ operation, the Court has been keen, throughout its participation in the SPMR initiative, to fulfill its commitments and to adhere to the path agreed upon with the INTOSAI Development Initiative. The Court’s team participating in the initiative has shown continuous objectivity, perseverance and dedication to ensure the quality of its work. These efforts will eventually make it possible to shape a positive future using strategic management process despite challenges.

Abdelhakim Ben Lazreg, INTOSAI Development Initiative

Recognising that strategic management requires solid implementation processes, the SAI Tunisia team worked in parallel on both the strategy and the first operational plan for 2022.

The team received reinforcements from Court’s support department to develop a holistic annual plan that specified in more detail the activities related to the implementation of the strategy in its first year.

The proposed activities aim to improve auditing processes, including a better alignment with ISSAIs, a risk-based approach, and a review of approaches to strengthening the capacity of members of the Court. The operational plan also focused on mechanisms for improving internal and external communication, quality assurance approaches, strengthening the Court’s internal control system, and enhancing familiarity with the technology and programming tools. Through these activities, the Court aims to improve its image and role as a model institution, which adds value to the efficiency of the public sector and supports transparency and accountability.

There are many factors that have contributed to the positive experience with strategic management of the SAI of Tunisia. Crucially, the commitment of the SAI senior management has been indispensable. In addition, the participating team took care to build a common understanding on the nature and importance of strategic management. A highly participatory approach facilitated an agreement on the common vision for the Court, considering the external and internal environment. The alignment between the strategic and the operational plan will support a better decision-making that considers the financial repercussions and the strategic importance of activities.

CO-AUTHORS

Fadhila Gargouri, SP team member from SAI of Tunisia

Nihed Maaloul, SP team member from SAI of Tunisia

Abdelhakim Ben Lazreg, Senior manager, INTOSAI Development Initiative

Commitment and performance for strategic management in the face of challenging events

The Chamber of Accounts of Azerbaijan (CoA) is a relatively young Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) that is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021. CoA joined the Strategy, Performance Measurement and Reporting (SPMR) initiative in 2019, as part of the first cohort. Despite changes in the team composition and various challenging events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the CoA has demonstrated remarkable progress and results in the area of strategic management.

The CoA team was among the first ones in the initiative to finalise the report on the self-assessment against the SAI Performance Measurement Framework (SAI PMF). Throughout the evaluation process, the team worked rigorously and objectively, highlighting and analyzing the current state of the CoA’s performance and the root causes thereof. In a subsequent step, a comprehensive analysis of the main internal and external stakeholders of the SAI, such as the Parliament (Milli Majlis) and other public authorities, provided supplementary information to the SAI PMF results on how to such actors view the SAI and what do they expect from its work.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the CoA team found itself in the midst of the finalization of the SAI PMF report, and in the process of developing the new strategic plan for the period 2021-2025. Despite the challenging situation, and the change in the composition of the team, work on the SAI PMF report and the strategic plan remained on track and in 2021, the CoA Strategic Development Plan was finalised.In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the CoA team found itself in the midst of the finalization of the SAI PMF report, and in the process of developing the new strategic plan for the period 2021-2025. Despite the challenging situation, and the change in the composition of the team, work on the SAI PMF report and the strategic plan remained on track and in 2021, the CoA Strategic Development Plan was finalised.

The strategic plan sets out ambitious goals for the coming period, such as enhancing the CoA’s own transparency and accountability, a focus on digital transformation, as well as continued efforts to enhance the quality of the audit work inline with the International Standards for Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs). The CoA’s mandate to provide an opinion on the draft and implementation of budget law, the draft and implementation of extra-budgetary funds, as well as other fiscal issues occupy another priority area in the new SAI strategy. Through focusing on those key products, CoA aims to make a strong contribution to the implementation of Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Results-Oriented Budgeting reforms in Azerbaijan. The SAI is also seeking to enhance its relevance and improve the confidence of its stakeholders in the results of its work.

The CoA strategy is a good example of how the SPMR approach to strategic planning works in practice. The strategic plan includes a well-structured results framework, clear indication of capacity needs and gaps in relation to each output, and a specification of a sequenced approach to closing capacity gaps over the duration of the strategic planning period. The plan considers the availability of human and financial resources. In parallel to the finalization of the strategy, the team also worked on the preparation of the first operational plan for 2021, which specifies in more detail the activities related to implementing the strategy in the first year.

In 2021, the team leader of CoA’s team participating in the SPMR initiative, Ms. Vafa Mutallimova, became a Board member of CoA’s leadership. Ms. Mutallimova had been instrumental to CoA’s successful participation, but also made sure the team continued its strong performance upon her delegating her role in the team to a colleague. Reflecting on CoA’s participation in SPMR, Ms. Mutallimova remarked:

It was an invaluable experience for us to take part in SPMR. It provided us with the opportunity to have good-quality management information, to measure our performance against internationally recognized standards and complete an objective and comprehensive overview of the Chamber’s performance for the benefit of the management and future activity of Azerbaijan SAI. We would like to thank the management and the staff of IDI for this wonderful initiative through which we prepared a SAI PFM report, drafted our Strategic Development Plan for 2021-2025 and are currently developing the Operational Plan. We have identified what we need to do in the coming years. The meetings showed us ways to improve our internal documents, gave us the opportunity to explore and leverage on the experiences of peers from different countries. Our colleagues from foreign SAIs, as well as the IDI team have become friends with whom we will keep in touch for years. We believe that the cooperation between IDI and the Chamber of Accounts of the Republic of Azerbaijan will be strengthened and we would have more chances to be involved in IDI’s future initiatives and trainings.

Comment from SPMR advisor to the CoA team, Dafina Dimitrova:

Throughout its participation in SPMR, the CoA team has demonstrated consistent objectivity, perseverance and dedication to quality in their work. The resulting changes in the SAI strategic management process of the CoA, the continuous support of SAI leadership and the ambitious, yet realistic new SAI strategy will certainly make a difference to the performance of the CoA.

Download This Story As A PDF

Download ↓

CREFIAF SPMR Knowledge Sharing Workshop – SAIs reflect and share experiences on support received over the last four years in Strategic Management From 8 to 12 May 2023, the five SAIs from Sub-Saharan Africa that are participating to the SPMR initiative gathered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, for the closing activity organised for the French-speaking group under the 1st round of the intervention, launched in CREFIAF region in 2019. The objective of the workshop was to provide an opportunity for SAIs to reflect on the outcomes of their participation in this long-term initiative aimed at improving SAI governance for increased performance. The workshop was based on interactive exchanges on participating SAIs’ achievement through the received support, how did it affect positively their strategic management practices, and what could be considered for improving the delivery and the impact of such an initiative in the future. The workshop combined plenary discussions with group work sessions in SAIs teams. A significant focus was put on having a multiple – perspective conversation on the outcomes, the challenges and the perspectives related to applying the different stages of the SAI strategic management cycle and framework throughout the SPMR initiative. Compared to previous SPMR events which they attended under the same intervention, during this final workshop the SAIs of Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, and Chad had a more active role. Participants generously shared their own perspectives and reflections on the process followed throughout the initiative and its results. SAIs teams expressed and demonstrated a particular engagement in sharing their experiences with e.g., assessing their current situation based on the SAI PMF, developing strategic and operational plans, and building robust implementation, monitoring, and reporting processes as per the SPMR methodology, in light of their different constraints and institutional arrangements. The workshop was also the opportunity to factor in the perspective of other capacity development providers that are engaging with the same SAIs in the region in different areas that also have implications on the SAIs’ strategic management process. The intention was to get their perspectives on the SPMR approach, and to hear their own experience on critical questions such as seeking alignment of the support offered with SAIs’ priorities and context, etc. The Court of Accounts of Côte d’Ivoire offered a wide media coverage of the event, and of the SPMR initiative in gerenal. The SPMR initiative supports the whole strategic management cycle of the participating SAIs over the course of four years and is supported by the Swiss Secretariat for the Economy (SECO). Based on available resources, needs and interest, CREFIAF SAIs will be offered participation in another round of the SPMR initiative from the end of 2023. IDI will then seek to factor in relevant lessons learned from implementing the first round in the region.

The INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) is delighted to share its newly developed Guidance Note on Strategic Management for INTOSAI Regional Organisations.

The Guidance Note aims to synthesise a general strategic management framework, approach, and principles and allows regional organisations to tailor these elements to their unique contexts, needs, and challenges. It serves as a reference on strategic management for INTOSAI regions, which they can use to benchmark and improve their own governance and performance.

At the heart of this guidance note lies the Strategic Management Model for INTOSAI Regional Organisations, also known as the Regional Value Chain, which is presented in relation to the SAI value chain. The description of each stage of the strategic management process is accompanied by specific examples from the INTOSAI community.

The development of this guidance note would not have been possible without invaluable contributions from the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee (CBC) and Regional Organisations, such as AFROSAI-E, ARABOSAI, ASOSAI, CAROSAI, CREFIAF, EUROSAI, OLACEFS, and PASAI.

Download Guidance Note

Within the scope of the IDI’s Strategy, Performance Measurement, and Reporting (SPMR) initiative, 18 representatives from 9 SAIs gathered in Istanbul to attend the workshop on Strategy Implementation and Reporting.

SAI of Paraguay – achieving a Strategic Plan for an innovative vision

The challenges and pillars of the new Strategic Plan At the end of 2019, the Contraloría General de la República de Paraguay (Comptroller General / CGR / SAI of Paraguay) joined the SPMR initiative (Strategic Plan, Measurement and Report) to work on the development of its new Institutional Strategic Plan (ISP). This decision made sense considering that the current ISP ended in 2021, but it was also an opportunity for the Senior Management of the SAI – the Executive Committee, led by the Comptroller General – to be able to capture the vision subsequently agreed upon for the CGR:

To be recognized for promoting good governance and transparency with innovative and competent processes in the control of State resources, to make a difference in the lives of citizens.

Even though this vision is supported by the CGR’s mandate, it has a relevant yet innovative component which made it naturally challenging. Beyond giving its audit mandate greater technical quality and coverage and working on aspects of institutional governance, the intentions were for the CGR to contribute to strengthening accountability in general.

The SAI aimed to position itself as a model organization that leads by example, that meets the technological demands of the control activity, that develops an efficient communication policy, and above all – hand in hand with the development of capacities – that has innovative annual audit plans that incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as well as inclusive and gender approaches. The active role of the CGR in various OLACEFS working groups, commissions and committees, as well as the imminent assumption of its Presidency (starting in 2022), and its work in subregional groups, were also aspects considered within the developing process of the ISP 2022-2026.

To be recognized for promoting good governance and transparency with innovative and competent processes in the control of State resources, to make a difference in the lives of citizens.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with colleagues from the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Paraguay in the formulation of its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. I have been able to appreciate how, through the logic of the IDI Strategic Management Manual, they have been able to structure an innovative – but feasible – plan, which is consistent with the vision of its highest authorities, and which is expected to redound in favor of the Paraguayan people. Notwithstanding the value that our contribution may have, I am convinced that these achievements have only been possible from the absolute commitment of the staff of the Comptroller’s Office and its Leaders.

The robust process behind the strategic plan

So how did the SAI build this innovation into its audit and strategic plans? First of all, the implementation of a robust PMF-SAI diagnostic, as well as the analysis of key stakeholders, allowed the identification of an adequate baseline. This included various aspects to work on and capacities to develop, as well as competencies already present in the CGR that would contribute to future strategic objectives of the new ISP.

Based on the challenges identified, and with the firm support of the authorities – who made it clear that this process was essential for the institution – work began on the new ISP. With support from IDI, the team led by the General Directorate of Planning and Reports to completed the ISP inputs – in accordance with the vision. with an ever-present emphasis on the feasibility of the ISP and its operational plans. The highly participatory nature of this process – twenty-six dialogue tables with General Directorates and staff from audit and support areas – should be highlighted. This allowed the construction of diverse and necessary consensuses, about strategic issues and required capacities, and about the products that made up the ISP. From a broader perspective, this contributed to the robustness of the SPMR process, the legitimacy of the plan’s components, as well as to its early socialization.

The strategic plan, its products and innovative character: SDG and gender approach

As a result of this process, the CGR of Paraguay was able to base its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan on the development of six inter-related products:

Product 1: Reports of audits and other control activities, opportune, pertinent, of quality and published.
Product 2: Consolidated actions to promote the Sustainable Development Goals within the framework of control activities.
Product 3: Management systems that include the dimensions of the human talent function.
Product 4: ICT as an innovative control resource.
Product 5: Systems of public integrity and institutional transparency consolidated as pillars of the Institution.
Product 6: Effective, integrated, timely and quality relationship systems with interested parties.

As summarised by Comptroller General Camilo Benítez Aldana when the Strategic Plan was formalised (May 2022), “The participation of the CGR in the SPMR program has allowed us to develop a high-quality strategic plan focused on planning, measurement and operational reporting that aims to transform the CGR into an organization that leads by example and that can guarantee the provision of value and benefits to citizens, contributing to the Objectives of Sustainable development”.

Without diminishing the importance of the other products, the relevance given to the 2030 Agenda of the SDGs underlines the innovative nature of the ISP. Product 2 has even been generated for the SDGs to be promoted within the framework of control activities. Moreover, this product entails a structured strategy, which includes not only activities for formalizing the methodology for auditing the implementation of the SDGs, but also others such as mapping the commitments assumed by the Government of Paraguay and a strategy about the goals and targets to be audited – and related sequence – as well as the integration of SDGs´ control actions in an awareness-raising and external dissemination strategy, and the continuous training of human resources on the audit of SDGs.

The same Product 2 highlights another innovative aspect of the ISP: the mainstreaming of the gender-based approach in the organizational culture. As in the case of the SDGs,the comprehensive strategy not only refers to the methodological tool to be used to achieve this objective within audit processes (mainly the well-known Gender Policy and NonDiscrimination adopted by OLACEFS in 2021), but also to a continuous training and awareness on the matter, and the commitment to approve the SAI’s own policy on gender equality and non-discrimination.

In the words of Mag. Sebastián Gil (IDI Manager), advisor to the SPMR team from SAI Paraguay:

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with colleagues from the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Paraguay in the formulation of its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. I have been able to appreciate how, through the logic of the IDI Strategic Management Manual, they have been able to structure an innovative – but feasible – plan, which is consistent with the vision of its highest authorities, and which is expected to redound in favor of the Paraguayan people. Notwithstanding the value that our contribution may have, I am convinced that these achievements have only been possible from the absolute commitment of the staff of the Comptroller’s Office and its Leaders.

AUTHORS

Sebastián Gil, IDI Manager of Capacity Development for OLACEFS and advisor to SAI Costa Rica and SAI Paraguay under SPMR – Senior specialist on Supremen Audit Institutions

Cape Verde

Meaningful indicators, meaningful results – a strategy mid-term review to improve impact

Luís Ortet da Veiga, Director General

Mário Tavares, Head of the Planning and Quality Control Unit

Laurent Grosse-Kozłowski, Manager Governance, IDI

AUTHORS

Meaningful indicators, meaningful results – a strategy mid-term review to improve impact

The SPMR initiative is co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO

Georgia

The State Audit Office of Georgia’s continuous pursuit of excellence in strategic management

In the words of the SPMR advisor to the team, Ms. Angela Cullen:

The Georgia Success Story

The SPMR initiative is co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO

Initiative

Topics

Kenya

Leadership in Strategic Planning – The Kenya Story

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu exercised leadership qualities to ensure the successful finalisation of the SAI PMF assessment during challenging times

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu exercised leadership qualities to ensure the successful finalisation of the SAI PMF assessment during challenging times

Kenya Success Story

The SPMR initiative is co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO

Initiative

Topics

Tunisia

Shaping a positive future using strategic management processes in a time of challenges and emerging democracy– the Tunisia story

The strategic plan centers around three goals:

Strategic planning team

Strategic planning team

Abdelhakim Ben Lazreg, INTOSAI Development Initiative

CO-AUTHORS

Shaping a positive future using strategic management processes in a time of challenges and emerging democracy– the Tunisia story

The SPMR initiative is co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO

Initiative

Topics

Azerbaijan

Commitment and performance for strategic management in the face of challenging events

Comment from SPMR advisor to the CoA team, Dafina Dimitrova:

The SPMR initiative is co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO

Initiative

Topics

CREFIAF SPMR Knowledge Sharing Workshop – SAIs reflect and share experiences on support received over the last four years in Strategic Management

Initiative

Topics

Recent News

INTOSAI Development Initiative and Partners Launch Effort to Strengthen the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine for Greater Accountability

How do you turn audits into sustainable audit practices?

Nominations are now open for the 2026-2027 PESA English and Arabic editions

IDI and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Sign on to a Shared Vision for the Future

Guidance Note on Strategic Management for INTOSAI Regional Organisations

Initiative

Topics

Recent News

INTOSAI Development Initiative and Partners Launch Effort to Strengthen the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine for Greater Accountability

How do you turn audits into sustainable audit practices?

Nominations are now open for the 2026-2027 PESA English and Arabic editions

IDI and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Sign on to a Shared Vision for the Future

SPMR Round 2 participant SAIs gather in Istanbul at the Strategy Implementation and Reporting workshop, 6-10 February 2023

Initiative

Topics

Recent News

INTOSAI Development Initiative and Partners Launch Effort to Strengthen the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine for Greater Accountability

How do you turn audits into sustainable audit practices?

Nominations are now open for the 2026-2027 PESA English and Arabic editions

IDI and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India Sign on to a Shared Vision for the Future

Paraguay

SAI of Paraguay – achieving a Strategic Plan for an innovative vision

The strategic plan, its products and innovative character: SDG and gender approach

In the words of Mag. Sebastián Gil (IDI Manager), advisor to the SPMR team from SAI Paraguay:

AUTHORS

SAI of Paraguay – achieving a Strategic Plan for an innovative vision

The SPMR initiative is co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO

Initiative

Topics