Joint Seminar on SDGs, Oversight a Success!
The International Seminar on “Sustainable Development Goals and Oversight” held in Santiago, Chile, shortly after INCOSAI XXII, came to a successful conclusion. The seminar’s aim was twofold—to serve as a platform to disseminate the 2030 Agenda and to encourage discussion on the role external control should play in implementing the goals. In addition, the seminar provided an opportunity to launch the OLACEFS Coordinated Audit on preparing governments for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Latin America.
The event was jointly organized by the OLACEFS Special Technical Commission on the Environment (OLACEFS-COMTEMA) and the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Chile. Additional organizations supported efforts, including Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Office (FAO).
Participants in the event included technicians from the SAIs of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela, who will also take part in the coordinated audit.
The first day and a half of the seminar focused on common thematic areas with discussions focused on the sustainable development goals—what they are, their purpose and how the various nations should orient their work in order to achieve them.
Group discussions followed where participants were separated into groups concentrating on two different topics. The first group discussed the challenges of achieving the SDGs, with an emphasis on various sectoral issues, such as health, education, gender and public works. The second group discussed preparing auditors (from member SAIs of OLACEFS who will be taking part in the coordinated audit) on evaluating the readiness of national governments for meeting SDG 2 Goal 4.
The seminar, linked to the commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day, also addressed how corruption hinders efforts to achieve SDGs; undermines democracy and the rule of law; violates human rights; distorts markets; and threatens human security. As such, a strong call was made for governments, civil society, the media and the general public to participate in, and address, challenges to promote anti-corruption practices.
The seminar on Sustainable Development and Oversight included technicians from the SAIs of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
To access the presentations, videos and picture galleries for the event, please click here.
