On April 26, a joint webinar "Citizen engagement in public administration" was held with the participation of experts from the World Bank, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Regional Audit Institutions of the Russian Federation and SAIs of the CIS countries.

Timur Makhmutov, Head of the Department for International and Regional Cooperation of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, welcomed the participants with an opening speech. He thanked the team of the Russian office of the World Bank for their help in organizing an Online INTOSAI International Scientific and Practical Conference under the auspices of the INTOSAI Chair, noting the participation of Edward Olowo-Okere, Director of the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice, as a speaker of the Plenary session. He also recalled that cooperation between the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the World Bank Group has a long history.

“Memorandum of Understanding between the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the World Bank Group has been in effect since 2011, it served as the starting point for the development of bilateral relations. Experts of the Accounts Chamber actively participate in the WB events, on an ongoing basis use its analytical and information products. The webinar can serve as a new round of partnership development,”

said Timur Makhmutov.

Roby Senderovich, Practice Manager for Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank, outlined the main communication problems and invited participants to discuss successful models of citizens’ involvement in SAI control and analytical activities.

Carolina Vaira, Senior Corporate Governance Specialist of the World Bank, highlighted three main arguments for the development of cooperation between SAIs and civil society: increasing the effectiveness of audits and developing a risk-based approach, more attention to audit results from government authorities, strengthening the independence and legitimacy of the audit. The practice of conducting “civil initiative audits” of the SAI of the Philippines and an electronic platform with all relevant audits of the SAI of Chile, which registers citizens' appeals and monitors the implementation of decisions, were presented as successful cases.

The World Bank consultant Songjun Kim presented the experience of South Korea on interaction between SAIs and the public. The high level of legal culture, civic consciousness, as well as strict criteria for the selection of external experts allowed to significantly increase the  citizens' involvement in control activities. Nevertheless, according to the general comment of the participants, the experience of South Korea is unique and reflects the particular features of the country's social and state structures.

Pavel Demidov, Head of the Department for External Communications of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, supported the approach to develope initiatives for citizens’ participation in the audit process at different stages. However, he stressed that experts must be of a high level of professionalism and responsibility. In this regard, the efforts of the Accounts Chamber are focused on explaining to the public the objectives, methodology and significance of the audit and are aimed at increasing the level of citizens' confidence.

During the event, a large number of participants were registered. In this regard, it was decided to continue the practice of expert seminars.