Government Supports Initiatives for Strengthening Public Finances Management and Supervision
The Minister for Legislative Reform and Parliamentary Affairs, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães and representatives of the Social Audit Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister participated on May 7 in the seminar "Civil Society in Public Finance Supervision", which took place in the Portuguese Cultural Center at the Portuguese Embassy in Dili. The Seminar was organized by Camões - Institute for Cooperation and Language, I.P. and FONGTIL, the Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations of Timor-Leste.
The gathering was also taken as the occasion for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between FONGTIL and Camões I.P. to enable future Social Accountability Platform" (PAS) activities.
The Seminar on "Civil Society in Public Finance Supervision” was held under a project co-financed by the European Union and managed and co-financed by Camões with the goal of enhancing national actors participation in the decision-making process and supervision of public finances by strengthening the checks and balances system of both state and non-state actors.
With about one hundred participants, the meeting targeted focal points of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), FONGTIL, RENAS, The Asia Foundation, as well as representatives of the Social Audit Unit of the Prime Minister's Office and was implemented under Component 2 of the PFMO - Partnership for the Improvement of Service Delivery through Strengthening Public Finance Management and Supervision.
Participants discussed the role of civil society in public finance oversight, in order to reach out to more civil society organizations working in social auditing, and reviewed PFMO’s work under the framework of collaboration between Social Audit Unit, FONGTIL, RENAS and 18 participating NGOs. The Seminar proceedings also focused on the use and future evolution of the "Social Accountability Platform" (PAS) and analysed the framework under which PAS activities developed and about the future activity of Social Audit in Timor-Leste.
The event was also attended by the Deputy National Authorizing Officer of the European Development Fund (FED), Ivo Valente, the European Union Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Alexandre Leitão, the Vice-President of Camões IP, Gonçalo Teles Gomes, the Ambassador of Portugal in Díli, José Pedro Machado Vieira, and the Executive Director of FONGTIL, Daniel Santos.
