Networks of Public Accounts Committees:

A Global Perspective

Mitchell O’BrienGovernance Specialist

Team Lead – Parliamentary Strengthening Program World Bank

Networks of Public Accounts Committees

o Public Accounts Committees (PACs) are the primary parliamentary mechanism for providing financial scrutiny of the budget.

o No two PACs are the same. In order to learn from each other and identify good practice, communities of PACs have sought to establish and foster parliamentary networks.

o These networks touch most continents and include PACs from different parliamentary traditions – the newest being NAPAC

o Each network is different and operates to achieve different purposes. However, each network can learn from the experience and practice of their fellow networks.

What is a Parliamentary Network?o Parliamentary Network = Formal associations of parliamentary institutions

characterized by a set of relationships, personal interactions, and connections among participants.

o There is an emphasis on information flow and helpful linkages. o A Parliamentary Network is the term used in the parliamentary community to

describe what, in other fields, are called Communities of Practice (CoP) or learning networks.

Parliament is a practice, not a science o Learning networks made up of a community of practitioners are able to collect

both tacit (informal) and explicit (formal) knowledge from individual experts from diverse sources and from, potentially, remote locations, in order to benefit the learning community.

NAPAC is a Community of Practitionerso The parliamentary community has embraced this approach as it facilitates PACs

from multiple jurisdictions learning from each other.

Outline1. Existing PAC Learning Networks2. Recurring qualities/ Design

Features of Successful Learning Networks

3. Examples of capacity building techniques used by other PAC Networks

4. Discussion

Existing PAC Learning Networks

Existing PAC learning networksCCPAC 1981ACPAC 1989APAC 1997

SADCOPAC 2003EAAPAC 2004

WAAPAC 2009ARAPAC 2011

Nordic PAC Network 2012Pacific PAC Network (Nascent) 2013

AFROPAC 2013

There are also Communities of Practice that dovetail with the work of the formal networks - LOCoP

Canadian Council of Public Accounts Committees (CCPAC)

o CCPAC was formally established in 1981 and managed a three-member board of directors.

o The CCPAC meets annually to discuss issues of concern to public accounts committees and holds a conference every two years or as requested by members of the council.

o Membership of CCPAC is open to all public accounts committees in Canada and currently consists of 14 territories

CCPAC Membership

House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts- Alberta: Standing Committee on Public Accounts

- British Columbia: Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts- Manitoba: Standing Committee on Public Accounts

-New Brunswick: Standing Committee on Public Accounts- Newfoundland and Labrador: Standing Committee on Public Accounts

- Northwest Territories : Standing Committee on Government Operations- Nova Scotia: Standing Committee on Public Accounts

- Nunavut: Standing Committee on Oversight of Government Operations and Public Accounts

- Ontario: Standing Committee on Public Accounts- Prince Edward Island : Standing Committee on Public Accounts

- Quebec: Committee on Public Administration- Saskatchewan: Standing Committee on Public Accounts

- Yukon: Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Australasian Council of Public Accounts Committee (ACPAC)o ACPAC was formed in 1989 to facilitate the

exchange of information and opinions relating to PACs and discuss matters of mutual concern.

o Every two years a jurisdiction is appointed as the Secretariat and takes charge of all operational activities of ACPAC. The PAC of the jurisdiction and its Secretariat effectively becomes the ACPAC Secretariat.

ACPAC Membership

Parliament of Australia: Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit

Australian Capital Territory: Public Accounts CommitteeNew South Wales: Public Accounts CommitteeNorthern Territory: Public Accounts Committee

QueenslandPublic Accounts and Public Works Committee

Tasmania: Public Accounts CommitteeVictoria: Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Western Australia: Public Accounts CommitteeNew Zealand: Public Accounts Committee

Association of Public Accounts Committees (APAC) – South Africa

o APAC was established in 1997 after initial discussions to consolidate, harmonize and find best-practice models of oversight and accountability within the PAC fraternity in South Africa

o It was clear to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the 9 provincial PACs that they would be able to carry out their responsibilities more efficiently if they joined forces through forming an association

o APAC delivers its programs using a transitional Secretariat that rotates between its various jurisdictions

o APAC seeks to improve the quality and performance of the PACs in South Africa and to improve the capacity of individual members of the PACs to function more effectively

APAC Membership

SCOPAEastern Cape

Free StateGauteng

KwaZulu-NatalLimpopo

MpumalangaNorth West

Northern CapeWestern Cape

Southern African Development Community Organization of Public Accounts Committees

(SADCOPAC)

o In May 2002, at an exploratory meeting in Kimberly, South Africa, members of PACs from various African nations resolved to form SADCOPAC

o SADCOPAC was officially launched in October 2003 in Johannesburg, South Africa

o The SADCOPAC Secretariat is hosted by the National Audit Office in Tanzania

SADCOPAC Membership

AngolaBotswanaLesothoMalawi

MozambiqueNamibia

SeychellesSouth Africa

SwazilandTanzaniaZambia

Zimbabwe

East African Association of Public Accounts Committees (EAAPAC)

o In February 2004, the Public Audit Committees and Auditors General from six national and one regional Parliament from Eastern Africa met in Mombasa to discuss best practices for PACs

o After three days of deliberation, the PACs present resolved to form a regional organization of PACs to enhance information sharing, conduct training, exchange ideas on best practices and strengthen the oversight voices of parliaments in the region

o It was agreed that the EAAPAC would have a leadership structure comprising an Executive Committee, formed by the Chairs of the member PACs and a Secretariat to be based in the Kenya Parliament

EAAPAC Membership

UgandaSouth Sudan

KenyaTanzaniaRwandaBurundiEthiopia

West African Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC)

o The West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC) was formed in February 2009 as a voluntary organization aimed at promoting the effectiveness of PACs in the ECOWAS states

o The WAAPAC Secretariat is embedded within Civil Societyo It was born out of the need for networking with the view of sharing

and achieving best practices and where appropriate, harmonizing and standardizing the work of the PACs in the West African sub-region

o In 2011 WAAPAC extended an invitation to Francophone Finance Committees to join WAAPAC so that WAAPAC membership could reflect all countries in ECOWAS

o The Nigerian National Assembly is a foundation member

WAAPAC Membership

BeninBurkina FasoThe Gambia

NigerGhanaLiberia

MaliNigeriaSenegal

Sierra LeoneTogo

Asian Regional Association of Public Accounts Committees (ARAPAC) o ARAPAC membership is open to legislators who are

members of national Asian PACs or of similar legislative committees scrutinizing public spending and post expenditure accounts

o The Secretariat is established on a rolling basis, changing with each elected host parliament for a two year term

o ARAPAC membership is open to all PACs (or equivalent) of countries whose SAI is a member of the Asian Society of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI)

ARAPAC Membership

AfghanistanBangladesh

BhutanIndonesiaMaldivesSri LankaThailand

East TimorVietnamPakistan

Nordic Public Accounts Committee Forum

o Formed as an outcome of Nordic PACs seeing how effective African sub-regional network were in enhancing capacity

o Membership includes Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Greenland

Pacific Network of Public Accounts Committees

o Pacific PAC Chairs and Auditors-General convened in Fiji in 2013

o Acknowledging the benefits of the network learning approach to capacity strengthening for geographically disbursed institutions, they decided to form a knowledge network for Pacific PACs

o Membership includes Tonga, Somoa, Cook Island, Nuie, Nauru, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, PNG

AFROPAC

o Recently inaugurated Pan-African PAC association open to all PACs in Africa

o Secretariat to be hosted by the Kenyan Parliament

Commonalities between Networks

Membership: Membership is defined by Committee - Committee consists of Members and the Secretariat Broad Definition of PAC: Each Network embraces various forms of Parliamentary Audit Committees. These include: National, Sub-National, or Audit Committees specific to a country’s parliamentary traditions

Difference between Networks

The strength of the PAC network often reflects the strength of the secretariat. PAC networks use 4 different secretariat models:(i) Hosted by Parliament (NAPAC)(ii) Hosted by a CSO(iii) Hosted by an SAI(iv) Floating

Recurring Qualities/ Design Features of Successful

Learning Networks

Common Design Features

There are recurring qualities/ design features that can be grouped around the following attributes: Size (number of members) Purpose or objective (achievement of a mutual goal) Degree of formality (informal ↔ formal) Level of members’ commitment Leadership (the degree of sustained leadership by members,

for instance if the CoP is based on distributed leadership in which multiple core members serve as leaders)

Self-organizing vs. sponsored

Moving from Inception to Implementation

o The way these attributes are either incorporated as purposeful design elements, or nurtured as organic/ emerging characteristics, has an impact on the success and sustainability of a network

o Applying the above design framework can assist founding members of the community develop a clear vision as to what kind of learning network should be shaped, in order to effectively support the organizational and development goals of the community members

o In principle, NAPAC has agreed on its constitution and it will be inaugurated tomorrow.

o Attention now moves from inception to considering how to bring the vision to life.

What does NAPAC do now? How does NAPAC do it?

Examples of Capacity Building techniques used by other PAC Networks

Capacity Building Techniques-A Institutional and organizational support to network secretariats to assist them

in stewarding learning networks and communitiesExamples:o Network working groups focused on specific topics, or network

organizational issues such as communication strategies/ operational elements (ARAPAC)

o TA to network Secretariat to enhance know-how on using social learning methods in Network activities

South-South & South-North Exchange - Learning between networks Examples:o NAPAC and other PAC networkso NAPAC and other national, regional, or global networks such as

AFROSAI Knowledge exchange activities within the network guided through a

membership mappingExamples:o Bringing together NAPAC champions and PACs that have identified a

similar capacity constraint

Capacity Building Techniques - B Peer exchange/assist

Examples:o EAAPAC Pilot Peer Assist for South Sudano SADCOPAC Clerk Attachment process

Structured learning around technical areas in order to enhance operational effectiveness

Examples:o Targeted training for Clerks at the end of larger network gatherings

Integrating networking and community strengthening elements as part of traditional knowledge exchange and structured learning activities

Examples:o Surfacing common topics of interest/ concern during knowledge

exchange activities; and helping to design community learning responses to build and share experience (Good practice development process)

Capacity Building Techniques - C Action-orientated planning/ Value creation

Examples: o Convening PAC Members, Committee Clerks and

other parliamentary institutions, to collaboratively develop approaches to performance challenges

Participatory knowledge capture techniques Examples:

o Using Wikispaces during knowledge exchange and structured training activities, to create a shared memory and understanding as to technical content and experience shared.

Discussion?