On Monday, June 13, 2022, A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the United Nations Agency for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the Supreme Audit Office of the Republic of Srpska Public Sector.
The memorandum was signed by Auditor General Jovo Radukic and David Saunders, UN Women Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. UN Women was represented by Edita Miftari, Manager of the Regional Project “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality – Towards More Transparent, Inclusive and Responsible Governance in the Western Balkans” (2020-2024), funded by Sweden.
This memorandum seeks to promote responsible management of public resources, make progress in meeting gender equality obligations by domestic laws and policies, and international obligations and requirements within European integration, as well as further strengthen the capacity of the Supreme Audit Office in the field of integration of principles of gender equality, gender-responsive budgeting, and conducting gender audits.
Cooperation will take place through various modalities of support, such as conducting professional training of audit staff in the field of monitoring gender indicators in budget execution reports, support in learning and knowledge exchange between supreme audit institutions in BiH and countries in the region, support for regional knowledge exchange and learning according to positive practices in the field of gender audit of the performance audit of supreme audit institutions in other European countries, etc.
The Supreme Audit Office supports the UN Women mandate under UN General Assembly Resolution 64/289 and the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022-2025, and as part of its independent audits can assess the extent to which gender equality principles are integrated into public policies and budgets, and thus contribute to the overall promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
These efforts are in line with the principles of INTOSAI P 12 (Values and Benefits of SAIs – Driving Change in Citizens’ Lives) as part of the International Framework of Professional Disclosures for Supreme Audit Institutions as well as the current strategic priorities of the Supreme Audit Office, INTOSAI and IDI.
