Commonwealth programme to promote good governance

More than 24 senior finance officials from Commonwealth member countries are attending a workshop in New Zealand to improve their internal auditing skills.

The training, known as ‘Building Pyramids in the Valley’ is being held at the Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand from 20 to 30 August 2007. Participants from developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific have been brought together in a programme designed to enhance leadership in public expenditure management and improve financial management skills. It also involves ‘shadowing’ the work of civil servants in New Zealand to gain first-hand experience in the principles and practices of internal control and audit, as well as encouraging officials to share experiences from their respective countries.

‘Building Pyramids in the Valley’ is supported by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation and the School of Accounting and Commercial Law at Victoria University.

Susan Harrysingh, an official from Trinidad and Tobago, said the opportunity to work alongside civil servants in New Zealand has been an “eye opener”.

She explained: “The framework for governance in the Commonwealth is generally homogeneous, with variations of the same basic structure. New Zealand has broken barriers in the fundamental structure of their public service and there is great value to be obtained from understanding the framework that supports the performance-based evaluation of their public service in practice.”

New Zealand’s Corrections Internal Audit Director, Martin Leck, said: “It’s encouraging for New Zealand to be seen as forward-thinking in terms of internal auditing activity.

“We may be on the edge of the world, but I consider New Zealand to be at the forefront of public sector internal auditing and risk management. It is also valuable to get different perspectives and see that we face similar challenges.”

Public Expenditure Management Adviser at the Governance and Institutional Development Division at the Secretariat, Kaifala Marah, said the training is a departure from traditional workshops and seminars and is designed to focus on the transfer of knowledge and skills from high-capacity institutions within the Commonwealth in a practical, sustainable and measurable way.

Mr Marah added that the programme also offers participants the opportunity to become members of the Commonwealth Public Expenditure Thematic Fellowship, enabling them to draw up a one-year collective action plan. This is part of the overall objective of disseminating best practices on internal audit and internal controls in Commonwealth countries.

Key Links:

• Governance