Ibero-american Coordinated Audit on Sustainable Development Goal 5 Gender Equality - Preparedness of governments for the implementation of SDG 5 (Executive Summary)

Report ID: 315

In 2014, the first coordinated audit on gender equality and equity in OLACEFS began, with the participation of the SAIs of Chile, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. The XXVI General Assembly of OLACEFS, in 2016, approved the proposal of the Citizen Participation Working Group to carry out a new gender audit.

The audit was carried out in a coordinated manner and aimed to assess the preparedness of the national governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela and the local government of Bogotá, Colombia, to implement Sustainable Development Goal 5.

 The specific objectives defined were:

1. To verify that the governments assessed have taken action to adapt ODS 5 to the national context;

2. To verify that governments have identified and guaranteed the resources and capacities (means of implementation) necessary to achieve the goals of ODS 5; and

3. Verify that governments have established mechanisms to monitor, review and report on progress in implementing SDG 5 in their countries.

In order to meet the proposed objectives, a Gender Equality Governance Assessment Scale (ODS 5) was generated to guide the action of the audit teams, using a tool to measure effectiveness called the "Integrated Gender Index". The tool made it possible to assess whether governments' efforts are aligned and coordinated to provide comprehensive responses to the needs and priorities for achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

Based on the integrated gender index, it was concluded that at the level of Latin America and the Caribbean, considering the evaluation of the 3 axes for the 15 national governments, they have reached a degree of effectiveness of 65% in the preparation of the implementation of SDG5, gender equality, are in a development stage with respect to the adoption of processes and mechanisms, and identification of resources and capacities necessary to ensure the implementation of SDG5.

Source: https://www.olacefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/REPORT-SDG-5.pdf

* The report is also available in spanish

** The report of the first gender audit is also available in this catalogue:  https://intosai-cooperativeaudits.org/catalog/report/auditora-coordinada-sobre-el-tema-de-equidad-de-gnero

COORDINATED AUDIT ON GENDER EQUALITY PERFORMED BY THE SUPREME AUDIT INSTITUTIONS OF PUERTO RICO, CHILE AND COSTA RICA (1st gender audit in OLACEFS)

Report ID: 329

The first “Coordinated Audit on Gender Equality and Equity”  of the Latin American and Caribbean Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS for its acronym in Spanish),was conducted as part of the action lines incorporated into the work plan of the Technical Commission for Citizen Participation (CTPC) and was supported by the German Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH), through the OLACEFS-GIZ program.

This Coordinated Audit began in 2014 with the participation of  the SAIs of Chile, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico that resulted in the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding in November the same year. This Memorandum was based on each SAI authority’s interest in performing an audit of this nature, specifically in the areas of education, health and employment, thus contributing with the fulfillment of international commitments made by each of the participating countries in this audit and in turn positioning at the level of OLACEFS on this matter.

The audit analyzed the progress in gender equity and equality in Puerto Rico, Chile and Costa Rica. At first, the audit on a subject or a specific program related to gender equity and equality was carried out on a national level by each participating SAI.

Specific Objectives of the audit:

a) To verify the progress in the implementation of one topic or program linked with the subject of gender equality and equity, in which each participating SAI of this audit will make the corresponding selection, according to their criteria of expertise.

b) To identify and present the common indicators results connected to the topic axis of education, health and employment related to the commitments acquired in international conventions.

c) To determine the criteria that would allow evaluating or assessing the results obtained in the measurements through applied common indicators, linked to the axis of education, health and employment.

As part of the audit, the SAIs of Puerto Rico, Chile and Costa Rica developed a Gender Equity Index, by which monitoring could be provided to a number of indicators linked with the fields of education, health and employment to demonstrate the progress in gender equity and equality in those countries in the period 2009-2013. All these within the framework of international agreements signed by the participating countries of this audit, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals. Because of the implementation of the Gender Equity Index (GEI), it was determined that countries showed progress on gender equity and equality between 2009 and 2013 (2012 in the case of Puerto Rico).

The results of a gender audit, among others, are:

- The evaluation of the implications, for both women and men in any included action, of legislation, programs and public policies to eliminate differences. - Detection of differences and serious problems. - The consideration of opinion of the personnel and the service users (citizens) regarding the achievements and reach of gender equality.

Likewise, the coordinated audit is aligned with the ISSAI 12 -The Value and Benefit of the SAI’s-, making difference in the lives of citizens given the fact that the participant SAI’s act to the benefit of the public interest given the importance of this matter and work on gender issue based on the government institutions that have the responsibility to report the accounts

Source: https://www.olacefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Informe_Ge%cc%81nero_Ingle%cc%81s.pdf

The Pacific Regional Report of the Cooperative Audit of Preparedness for Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals

Report ID: 338

In 2016, 73 SAIs and one sub-national audit office from six INTOSAI regions compromised to participate in an ISSAI-based cooperative performance audit of preparedness for implementation of the (SDGs). The purpose of the cooperative performance audit was to highlight the ongoing relevance of SAIs, by their contribution through high-quality performance audits of country preparedness to implement the SDGs.

In PASAI, 13 SAIs participated in the cooperative audit – Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) National, FSM Pohnpei, FSM Kosrae, FSM Yap,Kiribati, Palau, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. This audit was led by the FSM National Public Auditor’s office in combination with the state SAIs of Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. Because the Public Auditor’s office in the State of Chuuk was in transition, the national office also assessed preparedness in the State of Chuuk. As a result, there was one consolidated audit report that reported on the administrative preparedness to implement the SDGs at the national level plus at the state and local levels.

The cooperative audit was based on a Whole of Government approach. This implies that any audit of the implementation of an individual SDG goal or target will also need to look at its interconnections with other goals and targets.

The SAIs followed the Guidance on Auditing Preparedness developed by UN, the INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee and IDI and during the audit covered the following key audit objectives:

• To what extent has the government adapted the 2030 Agenda into its national context?
• Has the government identified and secured resources and capacities (means of implementation) needed to implement the 2030 Agenda?
• Has the Government established a mechanism to monitor, follow-up, review and report on the progress towards the implementation of the SDGs?

This audit was supported by PASAI by joining with IDI to facilitate the planning and reporting meetings and provided dedicated on-site support to audit teams where required. The report contains lessons learnt from the audit.

Source: https://www.pasai.org/cooperative-performance-audit-reports

Coordinated Audit on upper secondary education in Brazil

Report ID: 367

In 2013, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) and other 28 Brazilian courts of accounts conducted a coordinated audit to identify problems affecting the quality and coverage of upper secondary education in Brazil and to evaluate the government actions aimed at removing or lessening their causes. For this purpose they signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement on 21/03/2013.

The audit was carried out by over 90 auditors throughout the 2013 financial year. They visited about 580 schools across Brazil. The audit was aimed to identify the main problems affecting the quality and Introduction coverage of secondary education in Brazil, as well as to assess government actions that seek to eliminate or mitigate their causes.

The scope of the audit was guided by five thematic axes: management; infrastructure; teachers; financing and coverage, the first two being part of the common core of issues that were evaluated by all the participating Audit Courts. The audit focused on regular high school education, not being analyzed the Youth and Adult Education (EJA) and the Adult Education (EJA) and professional education were not analyzed.

Upper secondary education, aimed at young people aged 15 to 17, was chosen because it is the phase in lower education faced with great challenges regarding the improvement of education outcomes and of educational indicators. States are mandated to place a higher priority on upper secondary education delivery. The public state education networks comprise about 85% of the total enrollments of this schooling phase.

Source: https://portal.tcu.gov.br/biblioteca-digital/auditoria-coordenada-no-ensino-medio.htm

Joint Report Funds earmarked for the implementation of the Swiss–Czech Cooperation Programme to reduce economic and social disparities within the enlarged European Union (in czech)

Report ID: 403

In 2013 the SAIs of  Czech Republic and Switzerland  agreed to perform a coordinated audit of the “Funds earmarked for the implementation of the Swiss-Czech Cooperation Programme (SCCP) to reduce economic and social disparities within the enlarged European Union”.

The objective of the parallel audit was  to verify the compliance of the cooperation programme activities with the relevant obligations stipulated in the Swiss–Czech Framework Agreement (SCFA), signed on 20 December 2007, as well as in the national legislations and guidelines. Both audits aimed at reviewing the implementation system of the SCCP, the reliability of the control and audit system, the fulfilment of programme objectives and selected projects of beneficiaries.

Source: https://www.nku.cz/assets/publikace/svycarsko-ceska-spoluprace-cz.pdf