TCU Director of Institutional Communication, Sandra Bragança, Selected for ProInter

Part of the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) team since 2010, the Director of Institutional Communication, Sandra Regina Bragança e Silva, has been selected to take part in the 3rd edition of the Women in Leadership program, which is part of the TCU Exchange Program in Audit and Government Management (ProInter-TCU).

This year, the program will be carried out in a hybrid format, with online activities from October 6 to 8 and in-person sessions in Pretoria, South Africa, from October 13 to 17. I decided to apply for the program because of the opportunity to exchange experiences on contemporary topics such as equity, diversity, and inclusion, said the director.

Professional Background

Over her 15 years of service and dedication to the Court, Sandra Bragança has contributed to departments within the General Secretariat of the Presidency (Segepres) and to senior officials offices. She has worked in the Office of Protocol and Institutional Events (Aceri), as well as in the offices of a member of the Public Prosecution Office within the TCU and of a minister.

Over time, I started working in the Department of Communications (Secom), where I gained varied experience as deputy advisor and later as director of communication. With the creation of the Department of Specialized Support (Seae), under Minister Ana Arraes's administration in 2021, I was involved in setting up the new department and took on my first director position at the TCU, she explained.

Exchange and Learning

Launched in 2023, ProInter is designed for women who hold, or aspire to hold, leadership positions in their Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) affiliated with the Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (OISC-CPLP), the TCU, and AFROSAI-E (the English-speaking subgroup of the African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions).

I was both surprised and delighted to see my name on the list published in the TCU Bulletin (BTCU), as I believe this will be a valuable experience for my professional journey, the director noted.

Back at the Department of Communications since 2022, Sandra looks forward to the 3rd edition of ProInter. I expect to listen and learn a lot, meet colleagues from other SAIs, reflect on the role of women in leadership positions, and contribute to finding practical solutions to foster equity in audit institutions, she added.

Women in Leadership

Focusing on themes such as human rights, equity, diversity and inclusion, leadership, and gender-responsive budgeting, the program aims to foster dialogue and the exchange of experiences and knowledge.

In addition, the program seeks to develop strategies and disseminate good practices for auditing public policies related to human rights and equity, thereby strengthening the role of women leaders in the international arena.

To me, a woman in leadership is the perfect alchemy between reason and intuition, intelligence and sensitivity. In my view, a world with more women leaders not only in the domestic sphere but also in professional spaces is a more civilized, fairer, and more humane world, the director concluded.