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