The 9th meeting of the INTOSAI-Donor Steering Committee was kindly hosted in Cape Town on 5-6 October by the Auditor-General of South Africa, Mr. Kimi Makwetu. Participants welcomed the synergies from holding the meeting, for the first time, in connection with the annual meeting of INTOSAI’s Capacity Building Committee (CBC). Together, the meetings saw participation from over 100 representatives from SAIs and development partners. 

The Steering Committee approved a new strategic direction for the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation. The Global Call for Proposals will continue to be the flagship activity of the Cooperation. It will take a two-tier approach: Tier 1 will be an inclusive, rolling process where applicants can submit concept notes at any time, while Tier 2 will provide more intense support to a smaller group of SAIs that have a stronger need for scaled-up and strengthened support, such as those in fragile and conflict environments. 

Through an increased focus on communicating capacity development results and successes, the Cooperation’s stakeholders focus on influencing behaviour change to strengthen the way support is provided to SAIs. To support this, the Cooperation will also launch the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation Portal – a new web-based platform which will integrate all activities of the Cooperation, and provide a common space for presenting information on SAIs and capacity development projects worldwide. Stronger measurement of results will also be central to the Cooperation. 

Steering Committee members also expressed their support for the 2017-19 strategy for the SAI Performance Measurement Framework (SAI PMF). The SAI PMF is a global tool to assist SAIs to better measure and manage their performance, and is expected to be endorsed by the global SAI community at the INTOSAI Congress this December. The Cooperation has been a strong supporter of the SAI PMF and contributed to its development through strategic advice and financing pilot assessments and training events. It will remain engaged in an advisory role and through partnering on implementation of assessments. From 2017, the CBC will take on the role of strategic governance lead for SAI PMF, while the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) takes the operational lead. 

Background

The INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation is a strategic partnership between the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and 23 development partners to scale up and strengthen support to Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in developing countries. It was established with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2009. The Cooperation is unique in bringing together partners who share a common goal of enhancing accountability, public financial management, transparency, and good governance through strengthening SAIs. 

Leadership of the INTOSAI-Donor Steering Committee is provided by Joint Chairs and Vice Chairs from the INTOSAI and donor communities. The SAI of Saudi Arabia is Chair and the SAI of United States is Vice Chair for INTOSAI. The World Bank is Chair and the UK Department for International Development is Vice Chair for the Donors. 

For further information on the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation, please contact the INTOSAI-Donor Secretariat within the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI): intosai.donor.secretariat@idi.no