Citizen Participatory Audit

Enhancing Transparency, Accountability and Citizen Participation in the Public Audit Process

In April 2012, ANSA-EAP and the Commission on Audit of the Philiippines (COA) formalized a partnership to implement a two-year Participatory Audit Program that focuses on providing technical assistance to the COA in its efforts to open public audit processes to citizens. Its overall goal is to contribute to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the use of public resources.

Under the program, COA and ANSA-EAP will design, test and institutionalize the conduct of participatory audits through several pilot projects.

In participatory audit, citizens (civil society, academic groups, community members, private sector) and the COA work together to audit the processes of delivering public services and government programs. As a result, transparency and accountability in the way government performs its functions is enhanced.

The components of the program are:

Partnership Building – Terms of Engagement among stakeholders will be established through a consultative and collaborative approach. Project designs will be drawn to specify parameters and operational approaches to pilot the participatory audit services undertaken by COA.
Capacity Development – This will build the capacity of primary stakeholders, mainly civil society actors, COA auditors, and other government officials to undertake participatory audits. For greater effectiveness, capacity building will becarried out in actual work situations and be oriented towards improving practice.
Public Communication – An integrated communication plan will be designed to create awareness of the program, and generate support for it from internal and external stakeholders.
Knowledge and Tools Generation -To facilitate knowledge sharing and ensure that best practices are replicated, the experiences of CSOs and government agencies will be documented into case studies. The use of informal systems and tools such as lifestyle checks will be pursued and documented.

Related Documents

Memorandum of Agreement with the Philippines’ Commission on Audit and ANSA-EAP
The Journey of Citizen Participatory Audit
CPA Learning Guidebook

Practice Briefs

The Joint COA-Citizen Audit Process
Citizen Tools and Methodologies in Participatory Audit
Building a Participatory Audit Agenda: A Strategy for Institutionalizing Citizen Participatory Audit
The CPA Initiative: Framing the Participatory Audit Approach

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