Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) leaders and members of Parliaments from 16 countries and territories in the Caribbean met in Castries, St Lucia to discuss oversight, accountability, and public engagement from November 26-28, 2024. The workshop Engaging the Public in Strengthening Accountability through Key Oversight Institutions was jointly coordinated by CAROSAI (the Caribbean Regional Organisation for Supreme Audit Institutions), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI). The workshop was hosted by the Director of Audit of St. Lucia together with the Parliament of St. Lucia.
“As one of CAROSAI’s strategic priorities is ‘People Engagement,’ the workshop was very timely as it aims to enhance stakeholder engagement for greater audit impact and fosters effective stakeholder relationships and partnerships,” confirmed CAROSAI Secretariat representatives. The workshop is one of the activities under the IDI-IPU partnership MOU and piloted in the region to support CAROSAI’s Strategic Plan.
The workshop’s overall objective was to strengthen engagement between the two institutions to enable them to work meaningfully both individually and jointly with the public on the importance of accountability and the results of oversight work. During the opening speeches it was emphasised that amid the declining trust in public institutions the workshop underscored the crucial role of oversight institutions to ensure transparency, accountability, and effective governance for the benefit of citizens.
Conditions for engagement in the region
Throughout the workshop, the representatives discussed different approaches and tools for engagement. The participants heard good examples of how to engage the public and strengthen oversight, such as:
- The SAI of Cayman Island’s release of Reports on Public Interest,
- Jamaican civil society organisations (CSOs) using of SAI Jamaica’s audit reports to monitor accountability, and
- The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago’s extended oversight activities through the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Public Accounts Enterprises Committee (PAEC) and the Committee on Public Administration and Appropriations.
- The delegates recognised that country structures require them to make best use of their own resources, while working within small teams. The SAIs will have to stay relevant while meeting their mandates through audit coverage. Members of Parliament (MPs) may have to handle the oversight function in addition to their duties in Parliament.
The delegates acknowledged common factors which affect their work on accountability and oversight, including: - Education and information on mandates and the objective of oversight is recognised as key to removing some of the existing biases towards public institutions.
- Communicating messages of accountability needs to be objective to foster change.
In some cases, institutional limitations to oversight must be addressed to increase impact and may require broader reforms.
Joining forces for impact
The workshop resulted in a roadmap for future SAI-Parliament collaboration covering seven key areas for future collaboration. Delegates agreed to continue to work both jointly and at country level to strengthen SAI-Parliament exchanges in the region and further engage citizens on accountability and good governance. CAROSAI confirmed its commitment to take this work forward together with relevant regional counterparts, with the goal of raising the profile of accountability in regional high-level fora. “We look forward to a finalisation of the road map which will guide member SAIs on how to collaborate with the Parliamentarians to strengthen the accountability mechanism and add value to our citizens.”
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