Gender Equality and Inclusion: A Strategic Priority for SAIs

By Annie Subactagin-Matto, Director – Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting, PASAI

Gender equality and inclusion is key to achieving positive economic and social outcomes for nations and communities. In recent years progress has been made to reduce the gender gap and create equal employment opportunities and outcomes for women and men, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: ‘Achieve Gender Equality’ in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In the Pacific region, the Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration 2012 underlines collective national and regional leadership commitment to lift the status of women in the Pacific and empower them to participate fully in economic, political and social life. Other notable regional commitments to implement gender equality include the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Revised Pacific Platform for Action on Advancement of Women and Gender Equality (2005 to 2015), the Pacific Plan, and the 42nd Pacific Island Forum commitment to increase the representation of women in legislatures and decision making.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated gender inequalities with negative economic, health and social impacts on women, girls and other marginalized populations. To ensure that momentum towards achieving greater gender equality is maintained, public and private sector entities are encouraged to adopt a strategic approach to mitigate this risk and achieve a thriving and inclusive society.

Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) play a critical role in promoting gender equality in the public sector by role modelling relevant strategies, policies and practices, and by creating an awareness of the importance of gender equality through their audit work and recommendations. SAIs can create and promote a diverse, gender-balanced and inclusive workplace by identifying gender equality as a strategic priority and building inclusive internal practices that lead to gender equality in an organisation.

In addition to aligning strategic planning and priorities with overarching whole-of-government gender policy,  SAIs may consider the following action points to promote gender equality and inclusiveness in their organisation by applying a gender lens to the following aspects of ongoing management practice:

1. Strategic planning

• Identify gender as a key strategic theme in the SAI’s long-term strategic plan. This will have a positive flow-on impact on SAI internal governance policies and practices, and will influence the identification and selection of audit topics with a focus on gender equality.

• Develop a gender strategy to promote a fair, inclusive and merit-based work environment. An effective gender strategy can be based on a root-and-branch survey of a SAI’s current gender metrics - including existing diversity, the potential for women and men to receive training and progress to senior and leadership positions, the inclusiveness of the working environment and retention rates filtered by gender.

• Update existing HR strategy to include equal employment opportunities for recruitment, training, progression and leadership opportunities.

2. Operational planning and management

• Develop an operational plan that includes activities to promote gender equality.

• Review current operational practices to identify existing barriers to the equal participation and advancement of women within the SAI.

• Design an action plan to address barriers to equality and inclusion in the workplace and in the community.

• Review and update existing policies to promote gender equality.

• Develop a gender-responsive budget by allocating adequate resources towards internal projects and interventions designed to promote and increase gender equality and inclusion.

3. Monitoring, evaluation and reporting

• Collect disaggregated gender data and use gender-based analysis (GBA) to monitor, evaluate and improve the effectiveness of SAI policies and initiatives aimed at reducing gender inequality.

• Ensure top-down management commitment and establish mentors and champions to model and promote gender equality and inclusiveness, and to ensure that the established gender strategy is being operationalised and implemented.

• Develop appropriate internal and external communications and messaging to promote an inclusive and supportive work environment

• Report on gender issues and indicators in the SAI Annual Report to Parliament.

Impactful SAI policies and practices can result in gender equality at all levels within the SAI (including senior management), increased productivity and the recruitment and retention of top talent.

Auditing Gender Issues

Once gender equality has been established as a long-term strategic theme, SAIs can include gender as part of its audit program and progress with assessing gender issues as a part of performance audits in different sectors. SAIs may also consider adopting a gender lens in financial and compliance audits – such as auditing budget allocation towards programs and initiatives promoting gender equality (e.g. programs promoting women’s participation in business, education and community development).  

 The decision to undertake gender performance audits may present the need to balance and manage existing audit priorities and SAI capability. This may be especially relevant for SAIs with a small staff size and limited capability. During the audit selection and planning process, due consideration must be given to whether audit team members have sufficient subject matter expertise to conduct the audit, in the absence of which an expert may be engaged to plan and conduct the audit.

 Our next blog will focus on key considerations and best practice to conduct a gender-focused Performance Audit. In the interim we would like to draw your attention to a recent Performance Audit by SAI Fiji focusing on the effectiveness of the implementation of the Women’s Plan of Action. A special focus has been placed on the thematic area of ‘Elimination of Violence against Women’ to assess progress towards the commitment made by the Fiji Ministry of Women, Children & Poverty Alleviation to reduce violence against women – available here: http://www.oag.gov.fj/reports-to-parliament/

What’s next?

• Stay tuned to read more about the following topics forthcoming in our blog series:

• Gender performance audit: key considerations and best practice.

• Environmental audit.

• Building resilience: managing productivity and staff wellbeing in a remote working environment.

• Upskilling for the future: what capabilities do auditors need in an era of AI and digitisation?

We welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing about other priority topic areas of interest. Please email: secretariat@pasai.org

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The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is the official association of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in the Pacific region, and a regional organisation of INTOSAI and promotes transparent, accountable, effective and efficient use of public sector resources in the Pacific.  It contributes to that goal by helping its member SAIs improve the quality of public sector auditing in the Pacific to recognised high standards.  Due to the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID19), this has restricted PASAI’s delivery of our programs to our Pacific members and in lieu of this PASAI will be providing a series of blogs on various topics that may help auditors think about some implications to service delivery as a result of COVID19. 

For more information about PASAI refer www.pasai.org

Strengthening procurement practice: key questions for public entities

By Annie Subactagin-Matto, Director – Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting, PASAI

Effective procurement policies, procedures and practices are essential for public entities to ensure value-for-money, accountability and public confidence. This blog contains a series of questions auditors can use to assess the effectiveness of public entity procurement processes and procedures, and to identify gaps and areas for improvement to further strengthen them. These questions apply to both developed and developing countries in which our PASAI member SAIs operate.

Good governance for procurement

• Does your organisation have appropriate governance arrangements in place for procurement?

• Do these arrangements support effective accountability of management and relevant staff?

• Are there effective delegations to allow procurement to be managed effectively?

• Are there effective means for informing and engaging with relevant staff about procurements so they can make informed decisions when required?

Appropriate procurement staff delegations, reporting systems and a clear distinction between management and the governing body enable good procurement practice. While managers carry out day-to-day operations, the governing body ensures that appropriate systems and processes are in place, including setting the organisation’s procurement strategy and holding management to account. Overlaps of management and governance responsibility (such as when governing board members sit on tender evaluation panels) are not good practice and should be avoided.

Planning for significant capital projects

• How confident are you about your organisation’s capital expenditure forecasting and that enough resources are available to achieve current forecasts?

• How has your organisation engaged with suppliers to determine their capacity and levels of interest?

• Public entities must be encouraged to plan and monitor their future capital programmes pipeline and related procurement to achieve allocated budgets and deliver to the community. Early interactions with suppliers about upcoming work can increase supplier engagement and reduce barriers to supplier participation.

Conflicts of interest

• Does your organisation have adequate policies and processes in place for staff to:

o   declare and manage risks from conflicts of interest?

o   record gifts and hospitality from suppliers and potential suppliers?

• Conflicts of interest can have legal and ethical dimensions. Public entities can mitigate this risk by maintaining a register to declare conflicts of interest and their management, and the treatment of gifts, hospitality and other incentives from suppliers.

• In the context of ‘Small Island Developing States’ (SIDS) with close knit communities, this is normally a challenge. Hence it is vital to define and refine criteria or parameters to manage conflict of interest situations. 

Emergency procurement

• Does your organisation have guidance for staff about:

o   what constitutes an emergency

o   the procedures that should be followed for an emergency procurement.

• How does your organisation ensure that anyone making an emergency procurement can be appropriately held to account for their decisions and actions?

Public entities may need to quickly procure goods and services to respond to unforeseen and urgent circumstances – for instance procuring Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. While there can be some procurement flexibility in an emergency, public entities need to maintain accountability through full and timely documentation, including of decisions made. Conflicts of interest and other procurement risks need to be actively managed through clear procedures and guidelines for staff and procurement plans.

Procurement capability and capacity

• Does your organisation have enough staff capable of leading procurement practice?

• Are all relevant staff receiving appropriate procurement training, development, and support?

Public entities must ensure that relevant staff have the required skills and that policies and processes are kept up-to-date. If the entity has only one staff member responsible for procurement, it is recommended that they connect with staff from other organisations, regional working groups and communities of practice to share experience and expertise and to provide back up arrangements when needed.

Procurement policies and training

• Are procurement policies up-to-date to address new and emerging risks relative to national and international events affecting government priorities?

• What assurance is there that staff are complying with procurement policy and processes?

Regular training on current procurement best practice is essential. Supporting staff to gain professional procurement qualifications where the extent of procurement activity warrants it is also important. Undertaking regular internal audits of procurement activity, provides confidence to governance that policies have been implemented effectively and any issues arising are addressed. Good training and regular monitoring will promote good procurement practice.

Contract management

• Does your organisation know which suppliers it is contracting with and what its obligations are?

• What assurance is there that:

o   your organisation is fulfilling its own contractual obligations

o   suppliers are meeting contracted performance requirements, and that actions are taken when performance falls below contracted levels?

• Does your organisation monitor contracts throughout their life cycle to ensure that they deliver the intended value for money?

Public entities need to monitor, manage and evaluate supplier performance to assess value for money. Having trained staff and systems and processes for recording contracts, tracking supplier progress and managing supplier non-performance are essential to ensure output quality and value for money.

Achieving broader outcomes through procurement

• Is your organisation clear about its role in promoting the holistic (social, economic, environmental) well-being of citizens by reducing inequality and increasing inclusiveness of disadvantaged and marginalised population?

• Does your organisation understand how procurement can contribute to those outcomes?

• How have those outcomes been incorporated into your organisation’s procurement policy and processes?

Public entities must be encouraged to consider appropriate broader outcomes when purchasing goods, services or works. These outcomes or ‘secondary benefits’ can include environmental, social, economic and cultural benefits to create greater equality and a more inclusive society.

Source: https://oag.parliament.nz/2020/local-govt-procurement/docs/local-govt-procurement.pdf

What’s next?

Stay tuned to read more about the following topics forthcoming in our blog series:

• A focus on gender equality and inclusiveness in audit practice.

• Staying productive in a remote working environment.

• Ensuring staff wellbeing in an online setting.

• Upskilling for the future: what capabilities do auditors need in an era of AI and digitisation?

We welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing about other priority topic areas of interest to you. Please email: secretariat@pasai.org

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The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is the official association of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in the Pacific region, and a regional organisation of INTOSAI and promotes transparent, accountable, effective and efficient use of public sector resources in the Pacific.  It contributes to that goal by helping its member SAIs improve the quality of public sector auditing in the Pacific to recognised high standards.  Due to the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID19), this has restricted PASAI’s delivery of our programs to our Pacific members and in lieu of this PASAI will be providing a series of blogs on various topics that may help auditors think about some implications to service delivery as a result of COVID19.  

For more information about PASAI refer www.pasai.org