Dear colleagues,

Happy New Year from IDI! We extend a warm welcome to 2023 to you all, along with this reminder of our many rendezvous and collaborations in 2022.

To our great joy after the enforced isolation of the previous two years, many of these connections (such as INCOSAI in November) were in-person, or delivered via the mixture of live and online interaction we have all come to know as 'hybrid'.  As soon as the barriers to travel lifted - and where it was both useful and with due consideration of the environmental impact - IDI's team ventured far and wide to support capacity development, either for individual SAIs or to attend global events in the regions like the gathering of the newest cohort of SAI Young Leaders in Thailand.

Many of you also joined us in Oslo for in-house learning events and conferences, or to provide expert input to the development of our initiatives and programmes. We even managed to get most IDI staff members together for the first time in three years for a meeting in August, in which we enjoyed some team-building activities and worked on the Strategic Plan 2024-2029, with input from new Chair of the IDI Board, Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen.

Of course, a good proportion of IDI's programme was delivered online. Our digital connections have continued to build and streamline during 2022, with a focus on videos and the development of our own apps including e-SAI PMF and IDI Learn. Our Learning Management System (LMS) achieved a record 3 million pageviews, mostly as a result of being so well used by the many hundreds of you attending the PESA-P pilot in professionalisation for SAI auditors which launched in August 2021. Many successfully completed PESA-P in 2022. Congratulations to all involved!

Throughout the whole of 2022, we looked to the future with a renewed sense of vigour and a sharper focus on what we will all need as a community - and even as a planet - to move forward with confidence. This perspective is evident in our Operational Plan for 2023, the last year in our current Strategic Plan, and in the way we're shaping the Strategic Plan for 2024 onward. We look forward to sharing this with you all over the coming months, and connecting with you very soon.

With very best wishes for a peaceful and productive 2023. 

Einar Gørrissen  
Director General 

1 January 2022. The year began with the appointment of the IDC Goodwill Ambassador for SAI Independence. The Right Hon. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Administrator of UNDP launched into her new duties straight away, meeting with IDC's Steering Committee and recording an extensive video interview in which she shares her vision for SAIs.

In the months that followed, she worked alongside IDI's SAI Independence team to speak at significant global events like the IBP's Open Budget Survey launch, the EITI-IDI conference, and the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group. In each, she advocated for SAI independence and underlined emphatically its role in governance integrity. IDC GA interventions will continue to provide impact and intense focus on SAI Independence during 2023.

In February 2022, with the pandemic still very much in evidence across the globe,  an INTOSAI Journal article on strengthening the relationship between SAIs and the International Monetary Fund highlighted IDI and IMF's efforts to follow up on IMF's US$110 billion emergency COVID-19 financing via SAI audits. 

It noted the joint IMF-IDI paper covering themes like the Letters of Intent (LoI) agreed between governments and IMF, many of which included a commitment for SAIs to audit the emergency spending and publish the results.

IDI then followed up with a number of SAI case studies to find out how this LoI process rolled out in actuality.  Many thanks to the SAIs of Madagascar, Jamaica, South Africa, Malawi and Sierra Leone for sharing their findings both during and after the audit of emergency funding. 

Peer-to-peer support and SAI-focussed capacity development through partnerships with IDI, donors and INTOSAI regions continued to flourish in the first quarter of 2022. For instance, IDI and AFROSAI-E's collaboration with the federal Office of the Auditor General of Somalia (OAGS) entered its next phase for 2021-25, with MFA Norway providing financial support of 7,4 million NOK. In Madagascar, under the umbrella of the USAID-funded TANTANA project, the Court de Comptes hosted a well-attended Performance Audit Planning Workshop.

Midway through the month, IDI and partners launched the CDC-DRC Peer Support Project 2022-2025 in a colourful hybrid ceremony. The event was well attended both in Kinshasa and online with speeches from the Norwegian Ambassador in the DRC, the AGs of Somalia and Sweden, the First Presidents of the Courts of Accounts of DRC and Tunisia, and IDI Director General Einar Gørrissen.  
 

Auditing for preparation and implementation of the UN's SDGs has been a major undertaking for the Professional and Relevant SAIs workstream, with initiatives including the publication of IDI's SDG Audit Model (ISAM) and the roll out of SDG cooperative audits around the world. SDG-related audits include the Audit of Strong and Resilient National Public Health Systems related to SDG 3.d, carried out by 40 SAIs since 2020, and SAI Uganda's pilot  audit on the Elimination of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women (EIPVW) linked to SDG 5.2.

With SDGs on the agenda of the Arab Forum the previous month, April saw a number of reports being issued by SAIs in another region, OLACEFS, as a result of the CASP audits initiatives. In addition, IDI's article on CASP (short for Auditoría Cooperativa de Compras Públicas Sostenibles utilizando análisis de datos or the Audit of Sustainable Public Procurement using Data Analytics) captured a number of driving principles and lessons learnt from across the region. Auditing SDGs towards the 2030 Agenda will continue to be a key focus for IDI and for SAIs in the coming years.  

May saw global stages opening up for donors, partners, regions and INTOSAI as pandemic restrictions eased significantly.  As travel and in-person meetings became possible, IDI's Einar Gørrissen and Petra Schirnhofer grabbed the opportunity to meet with INTOSAI's General Secretariat at the Austrian Court of Audit (ACA) while visiting the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Austrian Foreign Ministry. 

Einar also spoke at AFROSAI-E Governing Board meeting, before returning to Oslo to take part in IDI's inaugural attendance of charity event, the Holmenkollen Relay Race. It's hoped this will now become a tradition for the IDI family! 

Strategic and operational planning, risk management, measurement and assessment - all were on IDI's SAI support agenda during June 2023. At the beginning of the month, around 230 participants world-wide attended a webinar introducing SAI PMF as a fundamental tool for developing the capacity of a SAI. Next, six SAIs from the CREFIAF group of the Strategy, Performance Measurement and Reporting (SPMR) initiative gathered in Yaounde, Cameroon to share experiences and good practices related to the SAI strategic management. 

Soon after, 10 SAIs from AFROSAI-E and EUROSAI regions shared their strategic management experiences at the knowledge-sharing workshop in a hybrid event in Oslo and online. As well as refreshers on performance assessment, strategic and operational planning, performance monitoring, and risk management, the group were introduced to IDI's new initiatives and digital tools, like E-SAI PMF and IDI's online strategic planning tool – StORy. To cap off a busy month, the SAI PMF Repeat Assessment video was launched. 

Even before the increased digital demands of the COVID-19 years, IDI acknowledged the huge requirement for improving support for SAIs in the areas of ICT and further digitilisation. From the way that IDI provides some of its services to SAIs to the way SAIs deliver their own services to governments and citizens, the role of technology is paramount. 

In mid-2022, IDI launched and upscaled a number of digital initiatives. For SAIs to use directly, the Well-Governed SAIs team introduced pICTure, for information management through ICT that supports SAI processes and communication. The Professional and Relevant SAIs work stream, meanwhile, opened up Leveraging on Technological Advancement or LOTA to assist SAIs in their core audit work. In addition, IDI launched its own app - Learn IDI - for SAI colleagues to access the Learning Management System (LMS) directly from their devices. 

If July was the month of technology, then August was definitely the month of 'people', with a number of human resources activities and initiatives rolling out. The IDI staff meeting took place in and around Oslo, with opportunities for team building as well as in-depth discussions on the next Strategic Plan 2024 - 2029. IDI's Chair of the Board and Auditor General of Norway, Mr. Schjøtt-Pedersen, also spoke with staff about IDI's strategic direction. As part of the team meeting, IDI's HR department were delighted to preview the new IDI Employee Video, featuring interviews with a number of IDI staff and a focus on IDI's inclusivity, diversity, and welcoming work environment. 

Building on the Human Resources theme around this time, IDI discussed and finessed HRM practices in SAIs with regional experts, launched TOGETHER, the new initiative for Human Resource Management (HRM), ethics and gender in SAIs, with a well-attended open house/Q&A and created a brand new video to support the pilot workshop. 

September was a busy month for most, including the Mastery team who held a future-proofing masterclass in Morocco with 12 SAI leaders from three different regions. It was also a particularly active month for the Global Foundations Unit with regard to the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation (IDC). The 15th INTOSAI-Donor Steering Committee Meeting, held virtually in September 2022, consisted of two topical open sessions as well as the closed IDC Steering Committee (IDSC) meeting. The IDSC meeting itself was also conducted virtually, with two sessions to facilitate participants from all time zones. The Session 1 recording features Mohamed M. Ali, Auditor General of SAI Somalia; Allizon Milicich, Fiduciary Senior Financial Management Specialist,  and Jan van Schalkwyk, Executive in SAI South Africa and CBC member. 

This was also the month in which the re-invigatorated GCP Tier 1 initiative was launched as BUSS - Brokering Upscaled SAI Support. With a new name and visual identity, the BUSS set forth to a pilot workshop in CREFIAF region. Later, GCP Tier 2 was also re-launched as the Global SAI Accountability Initiative - GSAI. 

IDI's SAI Independence team reached an ever-increasing audience in October. In partnership with Transparency International, they co-hosted a global event to luanch the TI-IDI Resource Kit for CSOs, providing tools, resources and information to civil society organisations. With this information to hand, CSOs can understand and help to advocate for and support their SAI's independence from the executive. The first to trial the Resource Kit, SAI Solomon Islands held a pilot session with several CSOs to increase knowledge and support for the country's integrity and accountability systems, in which the SAI plays a key role. The Resource Kit is now available in four languages. 

In addition, the SAI Independence team support Goodwill Ambassador, Helen Clark, in her messaging around independence for SAIS on a number of global platforms including the G20, while hosting workshops and connecting with other key organisations themselves through the World Justice Forum and meetings at the Hague, to name a few. 

November was a month for pledging commitment to a brighter future, starting with the SAI leaders and stakeholders who committed to ‘Facilitating Audit Impact’ at an IDI-ASOSAI workshop and, in the previous month at the launch of IDI-ADB Sustainable Performance Audit Practices in ASOSAI program. 

Centre-stage in November was the in-person INTOSAI Congress in Rio de Janeiro, hosted by SAI Brazil. With a strong 'IDI at INCOSAI' presence, IDI's management team took the opportunity to sign a number of MoUs with key partners and launch three major initiatives for IDI for the coming years: Equal Futures Audit (EFA), LOTA Pioneers and CCAA, the Global Cooperative Audit of Climate Change Adaptation Actions. Rounding off a highly successful and interactive INCOSAI, IDI was delighted to become the first recipient of the inaugural Kimi Makwetu Award for Excellence in Capacity Building. 

INCOSAI also played host to IDI's Board Meeting. The Board approved IDI's Operational Plan and Budget for 2023, and discussed direction and details for the next Strategic Plan 2024 - 2029. As the Board said farewell to Board members Pamela Monroe-Ellis and Lara Taylor-Pearce, two new Board members were appointed during the meeting: SAI Kenya's Ms. Nancy Gathungu and Dr. Al-Angari of SAI Saudi Arabia. 

2022 ended with the same busy intensity with which it had begun. It was a year in which IDI focused even more closely on the cross-cutting priority of gender and inclusivity. Invitations to the Equal Futures Audit Changemakers initiative, launched at INCOSAI highlighted IDI's close attention to putting equality and the principle of 'leaving no one behind' at the top of the audit agenda for the future. 

Across November and early December, IDI once more supported UNWomen's campaign of 16 Days Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), with a spotlight of some of the instances in which IDI moved from awareness to action such as in the Together initiative and in audits around gender, diversity and inclusion. At the end of that campaign on Human Rights Day, 10 December, IDI announced the extension of the Userway accessibility widget from the LMS only to use on all IDI websites, for increased inclusive access for all.