The workshop, entitled Enhancing Public Governance: A Roadmap for Sustainable Reform, was organised in Beirut, Lebanon on 5-6 December 2011, in response to the interest of the SAI of Iraq in experience related to transformation of their counterparts from other countries. Among the speakers and commentators of the workshop, there was Jacek Jezierski, President of the NIK.
During his key presentation, President of the NIK focused on the Polish experience from the transformation period following 1989. Iraqi auditors were particularly interested in the relation on how the NIK had changed from a post-communist institution into a modern audit body operating in a democratic country. 'For a democratic state to function, it is necessary to have a professional audit body that would be independent of the executive and that would safeguard public money spending. In a democratic world, such institutions are the norm,' said Jacek Jezierski.
While his second presentation was dedicated to the importance of information policy and effective communication for SAIs. He presented the example of the NIK's new information strategy that focuses on participation of the NIK in the public debate.
Experiences related to the importance of an independent audit body in establishing structures of a democratic state, as well as comments on public finance management and governance, were also presented by other speakers invited to the workshop: Saskia J. Stuiveling, President of the SAI of the Netherlands, Anthony Hegarty from the World Bank, and representatives of the SAI of France, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
The workshop was financed by the World Bank.
