coca

Journalistic news Dr. Abdullah Abdullah Al-sanafi, president of COCA has left Sana'a this morning together with the accompanying delegation heading to Islamabad in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan , to participate in the conference of ASOSAI due to be held during the period 12-15 October,2009. The conference will discuss a number of technical, auditing and administrative issues which include ratification of the organization final accounts for the preceding three years and approval of an action plan and budgets for the three coming years on the basis that such conferences are held triennially. New members and the Executive Council member will also be elected to fill the vacant job portfolios, Dr. Al- Sanafi is expected to deliver a speech in the conference on behalf of the ARABOSAI in his capacity as the current President of the Executive Council. It is worth mentioning, that preparation and coordination has already been established with a number of brotherly and friendly Audit Institutions on a number of issues for the purpose of maintaining a unified vision and adoption of appropriate decisions . Dr. Al –Sanafi will also participate in the strategic planning meeting organized by the (IDI) in collaboration with the ARABOSAI due to be held in Tunisia.

In the framework of the technical Yemeni – French Project, a group of experts, from the French Court des Comptes during the period 21-23/3/2009, Mr. Marc Solery, Mr. George Rooz from the French Court des Comptes and Dr. Abdullatif Bin Zaydia from the Moroccan Court des Comptes. The mission is focused on three subjects:
1- Assets
2- Budget
3- Accountability
This visit is included the framework of the action No. 1, of the Protocol D'accord between COCA and the French Court des Comptes, which is related to the " Development of tools /administrative procedures" it aims to share experiences between the two organizations.

SAINT workshops in Yemen

In January 2009 SAINT workshop was held in Yemen. SAINT stands for Self-Assessment INTegrity and is an instrument developed for use in the public sector by the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA) in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and the Bureau Integrity of the City of Amsterdam. The NCA has adapted the SAINT-instrument for use by members of INTOSAI. This version has been given the name ‘IntoSAINT’. The Central Organization for Control & Auditing (COCA) of Yemen was among the first to volunteer hosting a pilot workshop. More pilots will follow in 2009 and early in 2010. During the workshop, a group of carefully selected participants assessed the vulnerability profile of the SAI with the assistance of two moderators from the NCA. Step by step the moderators guided the participants through the methodology to identify inherent vulnerabilities and vulnerability enhancing factors. The resulting vulnerability profile was confronted with the assessment of the maturity level of the Integrity Control System. On this basis the participants formulated recommendations to either reduce vulnerability or to strengthen the integrity controls. The workshop results and especially the recommendations were presented to management immediately after the completion of the workshop. The Central Organization for Control & Auditing (COCA) of Yemen hosted a SAINT workshop in January 2009. Ahmed Ashaybani, general director of technical cooperation of COCA, coordinated the event. Hans Benner and Frans Schouren from the NCA acted as moderator. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah Alsanafi, President of COCA, stressed the value of SAINT, not only for COCA itself, but potentially also for other organizations within the public sector of Yemen. Organizing workshops like IntoSAINT emphasizes the principle that SAIs have to lead by example, especially when it concerns the integrity of the public sector. IntoSAINT also promotes the exchange of ideas and experiences between SAIs about enhancing integrity. In summary the workshop was a success and the experiences will be used to improve the instrument and to develop ideas about training of moderators, thus creating opportunities for further implementation.