TCU expands international cooperation to advance multidimensional poverty auditing
By Secom / Serint
The participation of the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) in the meeting of the Working Group on Evaluation of Public Policies and Programmes (WGEPPP), held in Rabat, Morocco, broadened the exchange of experience among supreme audit institutions (SAIs) and brought new references for the development of multidimensional poverty auditing. The Court's delegation comprised chief auditor Jorge Oliveira Castro, auditor Giuseppe Antonaci, the project leader, both from AudBenefícios, and Raisa Ojala, from SETA.
Coordinated by Giuseppe Antonaci, the project brings together 13 supreme audit institutions to collaboratively develop international guidelines for audits that consider poverty in its different dimensions, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1.2.
In addition to presenting the Brazilian experience, the participation enabled TCU to expand and strengthen its international network and to learn about experiences that may help improve audits in Brazil. The discussions provided, for example, insights from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on citizen participation and on the use of outcome measures in audits. The experience of the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) informed reflections on communication with parliaments and citizens. The programme included presentations, practical cases and debates on different audit approaches.
Raisa Ojala facilitated a discussion of audit cases presented by the Maldives, Madagascar and Algeria. The debate made it possible to share different approaches and identify issues of common interest, which have already fed into discussions on the theme of the next WGEPPP meeting, scheduled to take place in Brazil in 2027.
According to Jorge Oliveira Castro, international cooperation helps to improve the Court's work. Taking part in international networks allows us to share experiences, test ideas and bring solutions to Brazil that strengthen our own work. The project will now move on to the next stages of development and testing, with the participation of partner institutions.
In the case of multidimensional poverty, this exchange is particularly important because the approach is still new to the audit community. The multidimensional poverty audit project will now move on to the next stages of development and testing, with the participation of partner institutions in the international network.
