FOREIGN EXPERIENCE IN CONDUCTING AN AUDIT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE POLICY FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Abstract

The article discusses foreign experience in the field of assessing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by governments around the world, as well as the experience of auditing the effectiveness of the implementation of individual SDGs, and specifically SDG 10 “Reducing inequality within and between countries.” In Kazakhstan, an audit of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals has not been carried out, but in the near future, as the principles of sustainable development advance into the national system of strategic planning and management, it will be necessary to assess the Government’s efforts in this area and progress in achieving individual SDGs, including through state audit on this issue. We can distinguish two types of audit of the implementation of the SDGs at various stages of the introduction of the SDGs into the national agenda: 1) audit of the readiness of the country’s public administration system to implement the SDGs and the compliance of national goals with the Sustainable Development Goals; 2) audit of the effectiveness of achieving the SDGs (all Goals in a complex or prioritizing the assessment of the implementation of a separate SDG).

The article also examines the efforts of INTOSAI, the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), the INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC) and other partners to provide methodological support to SAIs to conduct high-quality SDG audits. Examples of audits of SDG implementation based on the experience of SAIs in Finland and Brazil are also analyzed, with a description of the goals, issues, audit findings and recommendations of auditors for the Governments of the countries.

By auditing nationally agreed SDG targets, SAIs can review how national governments are actively promoting the principle of “Leaving No One Behind” for sustainable development. Moreover, the audit of the implementation of measures on SDG 10 - to reduce inequality - directly correlates with the implementation of this principle of inclusiveness. As part of this article, the websites of SAIs of countries are analyzed for the presence in their audit reports of publications in the field of auditing public policy measures to reduce inequality in its various dimensions and representations (income inequality, educational inequality, gender inequality, inequality in housing, etc.).

In the course of studying the materials of audits of the implementation of the SDGs, the factors that contributed to and hindered the successful implementation of government actions in the implementation of the SDGs were systematized, as well as the criteria for assessing the mechanism for monitoring, reporting and control over the implementation of the SDGs.