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Fellow Name: Aminata Boye

Country: Senegal

Fellow’s home audit office: Cour des comptes du Sénégal (Senegal Court of Audit)

Title: Magistrate, Advisor

Email: amboye@courdescomptes.sn

Audit Plan Topic: Management of protected marine areas

Canadian Host Office: Office of the Auditor General of Quebec

Grad Quote: “My Fellowship was an enriching human, professional, and cultural experience.”

Gallery (2024):

Two experience images (2024):

Decoration Color: Amber

Profile Headshot:

My Fellowship:

My Canadian placement:

Office of the Auditor General of Quebec (VGQ)

My Canadian audit team:

I took part in a performance audit on protected areas and biodiversity conservation, led by Audit Director Sylvie Lessard.

My most valuable learning:

The importance of good knowledge of the subject and effective collaboration in conducting the audit.

How my Canadian colleagues and mentors helped me:

The Canadian experience contributed greatly to the improvement of my preliminary study report (in particular determining the objectives and criteria and developing the audit logic matrix) and my audit plan.

What I enjoyed most:

I appreciated:

• the professionalism and commitment of the team members to the success of the audit;
• the organization of the work and the accountability of all team members; and
• the availability of tools to facilitate the work.  

My audit plan:

I developed my audit plan with the guidance of my mentor at the VGQ, Maude Beaulieu, Project Manager.

The connection to my country’s development priorities:

The establishment of a network of protected marine areas (PMAs) contributes to the conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity and helps to mitigate the effects of climate change. It combats, in particular, the over-exploitation of natural resources, the loss of ecosystems, pollution, and invasive species.

On top of these environmental issues, the management of PMAs also relates to sustainable socio-economic development, through the sustainable management of the natural resources of the marine and coastal zone, where several activities, involving several socio-professional categories, make a significant contribution to GDP.

As well, the community-based approach adopted by Senegal places considerable emphasis on the participation of local communities in the creation and management of PMAs, with a view to improving their livelihoods.

In addition to conserving biodiversity, effective management and development of PMAs will help vulnerable groups to adapt more effectively and generate profits for communities.

How CAAF and my host office helped:

The mentoring, the courses, the challenge sessions, and the experience at my host office helped me to gain a better understanding of performance auditing and to apply the knowledge I had acquired to improve my audit plan and audit logic matrix.

The skills and knowledge I improved by developing this plan:

• Assessing risks
• Defining audit objectives, criteria, and questions
• Determining audit procedures  

My future impact:

The new knowledge I’m most excited to share with my colleagues:

I would like to share the knowledge I've gained about collaborating with auditees and setting objectives and criteria. The success of an audit depends heavily on effective collaboration and planning.

The difference I hope to make:

Each performance audit should contribute to the assessment of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals by considering the SDGs and gender, at least in the risk assessment and at best in the determination of the audit objectives, criteria and/or questions.

My professional goals:

To apply the knowledge acquired in my audit work and share my Canadian experience with my colleagues.

My Experience Part 1:

The most Canadian thing I did was…

Watching a baseball game in Ottawa.

My favourite cultural experience in Canada was…

Visiting the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau and Wendake in Quebec.

My Experience Part 2:

My Fellowship experience in one sentence:

It was an enriching human, professional, and cultural experience.

My Fellowship in a single word:

Formative.

Now that I have completed the Fellowship…

I will continue to apply the knowledge I have acquired in performance auditing and leadership. 

Gender: Female

Aminata holds a Master's degree and a post-graduate diploma in public law from the Université Cheikh Anta DIOP of Dakar and graduated from the Centre de formation judiciaire of Senegal (Judicial training centre), magistrate section, in 2014. From 2014 to 2020, she was Deputy Public Prosecutor at the Dakar Tribunal de Grande Instance Hors Classe, before being assigned to the Senegalese Constitutional Council. In February 2023, she joined the Cour des comptes of Senegal as a magistrate, and is currently an advisor to the Chambre des Affaires administratives. As part of the Court's 2024 audit program, she has been conducting her first performance audit since February 2024.

My goals for the Fellowship

Through my Fellowship, I hope to acquire and develop skills that will enable me to better master the methodology and tools of performance auditing. In particular, I'd like to develop better skills in selecting audit topics and planning, executing and leading a performance audit assignment.

The impact I hope to make as a graduate Fellow

I intend to make the most of my Canadian experience by consolidating the skills I've acquired in performance audit assignments in Senegal. On my return, I also intend to share my experience and knowledge with my colleagues, to make a significant contribution to achieving our performance audit objectives and carrying out successful performance audits.