FUNDAR PROMOTES CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN THE WORK OF SUPERIOR AUDITING OFFICES

From November 5th through the 7th, 2007, Fundar participated in the 19 th International Congress of Institutions of Supreme Audit of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), which groups more than 180 countries. Representatives of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) of all around the world got together to discuss, mainly, the auditing of public debt, its administration and accountability, as well as the role of the SAI towards the Performance Evaluation System, based on key indicators. The meeting was headed by the Superior Auditor's Office of the Federation (ASF) of Mexico.

In the Congress, Fundar and the International Budget Project (IBP) promoted civil participation in the auditing processes. Particularly, they promoted within the recommendations of the “Mexican Agreements” document, the inclusion of the SAI's consideration of “the establishment of work relations with CSO which participate in activities related to development; the use of key national indicators for widening the exchange of information; and the promotion of different functions which can be performed by each SAI, related to development and the use of indicators in order to promote transparency, accountability and governmental efficiency.”

In addition, Fundar and the IBP impelled that the latter recommendation to the SAIs on joint work with civil society organizations be considered, in turn, as an obligation of the INTOSAI.

In order to complement these “Mexico Agreements”, approved unanimously by all the delegates that participated in the Congress, the INTOSAI will establish a joint working panel with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations (UNDESA) with the goal of exploring the possibilities of joint work among civil society organizations and the SAIs, while promoting civil participation in auditing processes. Leading this working panel will be the SAI of Korea, which has innovated in mechanisms for direct citizen participation in auditing tasks.

Furthermore, Jorge Romero, Executive Director of Fundar, Warren Krafchik and Vivek Ramkumar of the IBP, as well as Adil Khan of UNDESA participated in a panel that exposed the experiences of Mexico and the world on work between civil society and the SAIs towards democracy, transparency and accountability. This panel also had the participation of Julian Alfonso Olivas Ugalde, Head of the Legal Affairs Unit of the ASF of Mexico, who pointed out that the Auditor's Office will be open to receive evidences and recommendations of civil society, just as it receives them from public offices and, given the case, incorporate them in its work and conclusions.

In sum, the agreements approved within this Congress, as well as the commitments made by the Auditor's Office, are a very important window of opportunity for the involvement of civil society in the Auditor's Office work and in order to strengthen its own work, so as to ameliorate the fight against corruption, as well as transparency and accountability.