By Sarah Markley, Deputy Secretary-General of PASAI and Director, International Engagement, Office of the Auditor-General of New Zealand
Twinning between developed and developing SAIs, also known across the INTOSAI community as peer-to-peer partnerships, is proven to play a critical role in positive shifts in SAI capability. PASAI is committed to being involved in all proven capability building modalities so twinning is a prominent feature of PASAI’s new 2024–2034 strategy. Significant to the new strategic approach PASAI will not only support any twinning partnership that have been enabled through bilateral funding arrangements but is now in the business of enabling partners too.
As part of new agreements with core development partners, PASAI has allocated funding to enable those Australian state and territorial audit offices that are willing to participate in its twinning program to do so.
While this is great news for the south Pacific and Westminster-aligned members, PASAI wants to be able to facilitate twinning relationships for all its members. So, we are continuing to work on achieving a funding agreement to enable PASAI’s north Pacific members to establish partnerships as well.
PASAI’s confirmed twinning partnerships
PASAI is committed to enabling as many twinning partnerships as possible across our region. To maximise the relationships that are possible in our small region, we have decided not support partnerships which result in multiple developed SAIs supporting one developing SAI, if this leaves another developing SAI without a partner. Discussions at the recent Australasian Council of Auditors-General (ACAG) meeting enabled some clarification of partnerships and agreement on a PASAI twinning framework.
The partnerships that have been agreed to receive PASAI funding support are set out below. The matches were agreed considering contextual factors such as Parliamentary alignments, strengths, focus areas and historical relationships.
| PASAI developing SAI | Twinning partner |
|---|---|
| Fiji | Western Australia |
| Kiribati | Australian Capital Territory |
| Tonga | South Australia |
| Tuvalu | Victoria |
| Vanuatu | Queensland |
These newly support partnerships add to the partnerships already in place with bilateral funding support from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT):
| PASAI developing SAI | Twinning partner and funder |
|---|---|
| Cook Islands | New Zealand – MFAT |
| Papua New Guinea | Australia – DFAT |
| Samoa | New Zealand – MFAT |
| Solomon Islands | New South Wales – DFAT |
PASAI’s twinning program framework
With funding secured and new partnerships confirmed we have been working on establishing a framework to support the expanded twinning partnership program.
While there are administrative details that have been notified to those who will be supported by PASAI funding here’s some key information about how the twinning program framework we have developed will work.
Funding – How much are we putting into twinning partnership support?
Based on the current core development partner funding agreements PASAI has set aside funding to specifically support each twinning partnership. At this stage there is a maximum of NZD$600,000 per year available for this program. Each SAI in a partnership needs to carefully consider the volume of support it has the capacity to provide or receive each year. PASAI will ensure the total funding available for twinning work is allocated across the partnerships.
What can twinning partnerships work on?
There are no restrictions on what activities can be supported through the PASAI-funded program. However, coordination and alignment with the Secretariat’s activities is key to success. While working in any part of the twinning program it is critical that we continue to check complementarity and duplication risk by asking ourselves:
Are the activities we are planning to do with our twinning partner complementary to what PASAI is offering them through SAI individual support or through regional programs?
Have we ensured that what we are planning to do with our twinning partner will not duplicate anything offered by PASAI?
Planning and implementing – making the exciting part happen
A critical part of achieving complementarity and avoiding duplication will be embedding PASAI’s twinning support program into its annual planning process.
For the 2025–26 year onwards an agreed annual plan of activities for each twinning partnership will be developed and documented through a PASAI-lead annual planning process. This process will be rolled out for the first time in February/March 2025. It will focus on making sure there is alignment across PASAI’s work stream, providing budget information so members involved can plan well and setting ourselves up to enable good quality reporting on what we achieve. Once agreement is in place, the twinning partners will be responsible for implementing the plan in the new financial year.
There will likely be hiccups and suggestions for improvement in future years will be welcomed, but the process will be here to stay as coordination is going to be critical to success and to reporting on that success at the end of the year.
PASAI’s program directors’ knowledge of SAI needs will be invaluable to the annual planning and ongoing delivery of twinning support. Ensuring the relevant PASAI program director plays an active role in twinning partnerships is important. Directors should be included as an integral part of activity planning.
Measurement and reporting processes
Setting up systems to measure achievements of all PASAI-supported twinning partnership activities is a critical part of the new framework. We are busy working on establishing measures to demonstrate success, twinning work data collection processes and other financial and outcome related reporting requirements. Once these are ready they will be shared with PASAI’s supported twinning partners.
We are excited to see the growth of our twinning program and look forward expectantly to reporting great results from our new partnerships. And we won’t forget those who don’t yet have a partner or funding support – we are working hard to enable each of PASAI’s members to have the opportunity to participate in this proven form of capacity building.
