Developing confidence as well as auditing practices: how SAI Tajikistan moved into the driving seat in their GSAI development experience
In 2022, the Chamber of Accounts of the Republic of Tajikistan (CART) joined the GSAI – theGlobal SAI Accountability Initiative. GSAI’sgoal is to mobilise medium- and long-term support for a small group of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) working in challenging environments.
For Tajikistan’s Chamber of Accounts, GSAI is a path to the development of the SAI. It provides an opportunity to continue to strengthen the institutional development of the body and its human resources. Joining the initiative contributes to the training of skills and mastering modern methods of auditing, bringing the work process in line with international auditing standards, provides an opportunity to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation, strengthen knowledge in the field of public audit, build a platform for the exchange of experience and knowledge, as well as helping the CART to inform stakeholders about its role, mandate and activities and attract donors for support.
A major aim of GSAI is to encourage the SAI to drive their own development plans. Initially, CART was sceptical about the possibility of implementing the project on its own. Instead, they wanted to hire a local consultant who would be familiar with the current context and would help to implement the project on the ground, together with the staff of the Chamber of Accounts. However, discussions during the planning of the project included detailed descriptions of both the tasks and the distribution of responsibility for their implementation. It became clearer and more realistic for the SAI to implement the project by applying the GSAI approach, supported by partners including the peer SAI which in Tajikistan’s case is SAI Azerbaijan, and without the addition of local consultants.
Together with GSAI partners – SAI Azerbaijan, CIPFA and IDI – CART decided to appoint a project management team comprising partner representatives who are familiar with the country context and have appropriate language skills to communicate effectively between each other. Through the joint efforts of all partners, the deep understanding of the CART context, and the absence of language barriers, it was possible to plan and organise the project efficiently. Despite the fact that the project has a rather complex design and several partners, the SAI of Tajikistan successfully and efficiently cooperates with all partners and implements the planned activities on time.
During implementation of the project, SAI staff involved in the work process gained new knowledge during seminars organised within the framework of the project. In particular, new approaches to stakeholder engagement analysis were identified, which had not previously been used in any ministry and department, and the CART is now becoming a pioneer in conducting stakeholder analysis among government agencies.
“As the main goal of further development of this area is to increase efficiency, transparency and ensuring responsible management of public resources, CART plans to implement these innovations not only within the framework of its activities, but also to share the knowledge gained at the level of the entire state apparatus.”
states Mr. Valimat Mavlonzoda, Standards, Methodology, Analysis and International Relations department head.
Mr. Mavlonzoda continues:
“We believe that the implementation of the project within GSAI will provide our Chamber of Accounts with the opportunity to continue developing its own potential and reach a new level of sustainable development and productivity.”
Further improvement of the efficiency and quality of the audit activities of the SAI, by analysing the causes and consequences of the identified shortcomings in the process of developing and reviewing the draft state budget as well as the formation of the revenue and expenditure parts of the state budget, will lead to the enrichment of the state budget – thanks to the external financial and technical support provided by the SAI’s valuable partners.
