Given that SAIs are to “watch” over government accounts, operations and performance, they should be natural partners of citizens in exercising public scrutiny. The scope of the SAI’s work is to increase transparency for the benefit of citizens, through external auditing. The effectiveness of SAI operations can be ensured only through sustained interaction with the various stakeholders, which include the executive, the legislature, media, civil society organizations and citizens.
IDI has hosted a series of training and review workshops on the strengthening of SAIs communication practices through the development of stakeholder engagement strategies. During this period, SAI teams from approximately 78 SAIs across the INTOSAI Regions have been taken through a series of interventions that include among others;
- Introduction to SAIs Engaging with Stakeholders and stakeholder mapping
- Development of Strategies for engaging with Stakeholders
- Review of the strategic plans and practical tools in the operationalization of the action plans.
The courseware used for the above-mentioned interventions was derived from the guide that the IDI Developed on stakeholder engagement practices. This guide is intended to help SAIs formulate and implement strategies that could, in turn, lead to enhancing audit impact through stakeholder engagement. The guide describes a comprehensive set of mechanisms by which SAIs can engage with stakeholders, and the different stakeholders the SAI may consider engaging with to achieve greater audit impact.
As part of the lessons learnt so far on the programme and the feedback received on the guide from both the participants and other stakeholders, IDI held an update meeting in Sousse Tunisia from 15th-19th of October 2018. The meeting was attended by 3 participants, 2 IDI Managers and 1 Resource Person from Tunisia. The new version of the guide will soon be uploaded to the website for further feedback.
| For further information about the SAIs Engaging with Stakeholders Programme, please see the webpage here. |  |