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FAREWELL TO OUR 2004-2005 FELLOWS
 The participants in CCAF’s 2004-2005 International Fellowship Program may have graduated last May, but their greatest challenge remains ahead of them.
After nine months of dedicated classroom work and on-the-job training at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, the five individuals representing Argentina, Brazil, Guyana, Pakistan, and Trinidad & Tobago, have returned to their homes and their jobs. Now, from their positions in the supreme audit institution (SAI) of their countries, the graduate Fellows will be hard at work dissemninating the knowledge and learnings brought back from Canada as well as implementing a strategic auditing project they developed while in Canada.
The projects are usually designed to advance the practice of comprehensive/value-for-money/performance auditing, and are approved by the SAI of the participants’ home countries. Mentors and advisors at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada guided each Fellow in the development of a strategy paper setting out his or her project.
AN OUTSTANDING CLASS
This year’s group of graduating Fellows is particularly well qualified to make a difference back home.
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SEBASTIAN GIL (ARGENTINA) worked since 1993 in the Foreign Debt Management Department of Argentina’s National General Audit Office, where his main duties were as a team leader on audits involving public debt stock evolution, portfolio management and financial and economic analysis. Sebastian has post-graduate degrees in international relations and in finance.
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CARLOS CESAR MODENA (BRAZIL) has worked for the Brazilian Court of Accounts since 1992. Before coming to Canada, he was head of the office of one of the Court’s Ministers, where he analyzed audit reports prepared by the Court’s secretariats. A graduate in Philosophy from São Paulo University, he took a course on value-for-money auditing at the UK’s National Audit Office in 1995 and a program evaluation course at Virginia Tech in the US. He was an audit instructor at the Court’s training centre from 1996 to 1999. Recently, he has been studying law at Brasília University.
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CLAIREANN JAMES (GUYANA) obtained her Diploma in Accountancy from the University of Guyana in 1994, and has certificates in several audit-related courses offered by the United States Department of Agriculture. A 20-year employee of the Office of the Auditor General of Guyana, she was most recently an Assistant Auditor General with responsibility for managing four audit teams.
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IMRAN IQBAL (PAKISTAN) graduated in 1982 from Punjab University Law College, and has worked since then in various capacities for the Office of the Auditor General of Pakistan. He has served as Additional Accountant General Punjab, as a director and faculty member of the Audit and Accounts Training Institute and as Secretary of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Internal Auditors’ Pakistan Chapter.
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REAHLA BALROOP (TRINIDAD & TOBAGO) was the Assistant Audit Director of the Comprehensive Audit Division in the Auditor General’s Department of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. A chartered accountant, she is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants of the United Kingdom. |
Below is a list of their projects, along with a link to the papers written by the Fellows located on the CCAF website: www.ccaf-fcvi.com.
CANADIAN LEADERSHIP ABROAD
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 The International Fellowship Program (IFP), more formally called the International Assistance Program for Improved Governance and Accountability, receives funding from the Government of Canada via the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). By increasing capacity in the area of performance/value-for-money/comprehensive auditing in the SAIs of participating developing countries, the program supports Canada’s foreign policy by strengthening democratic institutions abroad.
 In her comments to the Fellows at the May 19th graduation ceremony, Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, said the program has developed a strong reputation internationally. “I often receive comments from my international colleagues about the benefits this program has contributed to the participating countries,” Ms. Fraser said. “This is indeed a source of pride for my Office – and for Canada.”
In the presence of senior representatives from CCAF, CIDA, and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, as well as diplomats from the 2004/05 participating countries, she thanked the Fellows for their hard work and their important contributions to the activities of her Office through their participation on audit teams.
Imran Iqbal, on behalf of the Fellows and their countries, expressed deep appreciation and thanks to Ms. Sheila Fraser and her team at the OAG-Canada for sharing their knowledge, learnings, expertise and friendship. He remarked that the 9 months spent on the Program had been a tremendous learning experience for all the Fellows and that the acquired knowledge and experience will be invaluable to their home organizations in their quest to improve their audit-related activities. Imran also communicated the Fellows’ (and their countries’) gratitude to CIDA for their funding of the IFP and making all of this possible, to their home organizations for giving them the opportunity to participate in the IFP and to their respective families for their support and undertanding in being away from them for such a long period. Finally, he acknowledged the hard work and efforts on the part of CCAF staff for ensuing the Fellows get the most out the Program.
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TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SUCCESS
The 2004-2005 class of Fellows was the 25th since the launch of the program, and the creation of CCAF, in 1980. Over that time, 168 Fellows from 48 countries have graduated from the program.
According to CCAF Executive Director Michael Eastman, “The International Fellowship Program demonstrates how partners working together faithfully over time can produce exceptional results. CCAF looks forward to at least 25 more years of productive partnership.”
We salute the partners of the IFP. They are:
- CIDA, which funds the program;
- The Office of the Auditor General of Canada, which provides on-the-job experience, professional development and other training for the Fellows;
- The Auditor General of Quebec, which provides on-the-job experience, professional development and other training for Fellows from francophone countries (It hosted two French-speaking Fellows from Senegal in 2003-2004, and will welcome two participants in 2005-2006); and,
- The participating countries, which pay the salaries of Fellows while they are in Canada and support the Fellows in implementing their strategic projects and in disseminating the knowledge and leanings upon their return home
The program also receives strong support from CCAF’s International Committee chaired by former Canadian diplomat, Nick Hare. The committee participates in program evaluations, reviews the program’s strategic plan, helps in the selection of countries and participants, and in setting long term direction.
 Both Yves (International Committee member) and Danièle Gauthier contribute enormously to the success of the IFP by hosting the Fellows in the fall and during the winter at their country home in the Laurentians. In recognition of this act of generosity and friendship, this year’s class of Fellows presented a special “Friends of the Fellows Award” to Danièle and Yves and thanked them for demonstrating “a strong bond with and support of the IFP and its participants”. We note that Mr. Gauthier, who is Vice-President of Risk Management at Desjardins Securities, also conducts CCAF's workshop, Accountability, Governance and Reporting on Performance, yearly for the Fellows.
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| INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE
Chair
Nick Hare
Ronald C. Thompson, CA, Assistant Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Antonine Campbell, Principal, International Relations, Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Marie-France Laverrière, Director, Vérificateur général du Québec
Yves Gauthier, FCA, Vice-President, Risk Management, Desjardins Securities
John R. Sharpe
Ex-efficio
Anne Banwell, Senior Program Officer, Voluntary Sector Programs, Division, Canadian Partnership Branch, Canadian International Development Agency
Ex-efficio
Michael Eastman, CMA, Executive Director,
CCAF-FCVI
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A VIGOROUS AND EVOLVING PROGRAM
The International Fellowship Program has succeeded over an extended period of time because of its ability to adjust to changing requirements. Change is once again in the works as the program responds to evolving Government of Canada priorities and the needs of developing countries.
Under the leadership of Marc Meloche, CCAF’s new Director of Strategic Planning and International Affairs and Caroline Jorgensen, Manager, International Fellowship Programs, CCAF intends to focus the Program on a few countries (that the Governmant of Canada deems high priority) in order to develop a critical mass of capacity within these countries’ SAI, to further facilitate change and improvements within those institutions as well as increasing their pace. Along with the implementation of measures to improve program administration and achieve operational efficiencies, the CCAF will also focus on developing initiatives to ensure ongoing support for graduate Fellows to help maintain the momentum achieved while in Canada.
The Program’s success is also leading to opportunities for expansion. For example, the Auditors General of Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have expressed interest in hosting Fellows. There may also be opportunities to apply the IFP model to other areas, such as internal auditing.
CONCLUSION
Graduate Fellows, Reahla, Claireann, Carlos, Sebastián and Imran are now back home, having survived an extended time away from their families and friends and having endured a Canadian winter. “While the IFP is modest in size and funding, the impacts are significant when the Fellows return to their home organizations,” Auditor General Sheila Fraser noted at the May 19 graduation ceremony, “The implementation of the strategy papers will mean significant improvements in the operations of their Supreme Audit Institutions. I hope very much to see this program continue for many years to come, because it is making a difference in the international community.”
As we replay the many great moments involving the Class of 2004-2005, the CCAF is hard at work with the newly arrived participants of the 2005-2006 class of Fellows and we are anticipating another great year. More on this later.
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