Celebrating the 2010-2011 Fellows’ Achievement
The 2010-2011 International Fellows have completed their placements with Canadian legislative audit offices. Over the past ten months, each of the six Fellows learned about performance auditing through on-the-job training with an audit team, participated in a series of professional development courses, and developed a Strategy Paper under the guidance of Canadian mentors. They have now returned home to begin implementing their Fellowship learning in their own supreme audit institutions (SAIs).
CCAF and its partners in the International Program celebrated the Fellows' achievement with a graduation ceremony and dinner in Ottawa on May 25, 2011.
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| The six graduating Fellows with Auditor General Sheila Fraser and Pauline Kane Fortune, a 2005-2006 graduate Fellow from Cameroon (centre) |
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| Ron Thompson |
CCAF and the Fellows were pleased to welcome many of their Canadian friends, colleagues and mentors for this celebration, including Sheila Fraser, the Auditor General of Canada; Alain Lalonde, the Auditor General of the City of Ottawa; and representatives of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Fellows' host Canadian audit offices, and the Fellows' high commissions. They were also joined by a special guest, graduate Fellow Pauline Kane Fortune from Cameroon. CCAF Chair Ronald C. Thompson acted as emcee for the evening.
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| John Wiersema |
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| Mike McStravick |
John Wiersema, Deputy Auditor General of Canada (and now Interim Auditor General), spoke on behalf of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Canada about hosting Fellows. He then presented the graduation certificates to the four Fellows who completed their placements at this office:
- Randolph Young (Belize)
- Roberta Dodoo-Ntim (Ghana)
- Alberta Owoo (Ghana)
- Daniel Mukuria (Kenya)
The OAG of British Columbia hosted two Fellows, both from the Barbados Audit Office, continuing the technical support and mentoring partnership between these two offices. Mike McStravick, a Performance Audit Director with the OAG of British Columbia, spoke about working with the Fellows as a mentor and presented the certificates to the two Barbados Fellows:
- Nigel Gibson
- Crasandra Harewood
In their presentations, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Wiersema and Mr. McStravick commended the Fellows for their hard work, their contributions to their Canadian host offices and their dedication to strengthening their SAIs.
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The Fellows then spoke about their Strategy Paper topics and described the different aspects of their Fellowship experience: arriving in Canada and participating in orientation sessions, joining their audit teams, taking professional development courses, and visiting other Canadian audit offices and institutions. They also shared a look at some of their fun experiences and Canadian firsts, like seeing snow and ice-skating on the Rideau Canal.
The Fellows closed their presentation by thanking CIDA and all those in Canada who welcomed them, mentored them, and taught them about Canadian legislative auditing and oversight practices. They also thanked their Auditors General for allowing them to participate in the Fellowship and for committing to the implementation of their Strategy Papers.
CCAF and the Fellows were delighted to have a special guest on hand to inspire and encourage the graduates as they prepared to return to their offices: Pauline Kane Fortune, a graduate Fellow from Cameroon, spoke to the Fellows about her experiences returning home to implement her Fellowship learning.
Pauline remembered that when she graduated from the Fellowship in 2006 she felt happy, because she had learned so much and was returning home, but also nervous, because she did not know how the management of her office would receive her suggestions. She told the graduating Fellows that it is normal to have these conflicting emotions and to feel some anxiety about returning to their offices. She encouraged them to stay positive.
Since completing her Fellowship, Pauline has been extremely successful in leading improvements in her office. She shared with the Fellows what she called "just two small examples of what this Program and the training brought to my office": how she implemented her Strategy Paper on risk assessment, which greatly improved how the office selects audits, and how she led training sessions on leadership skills, which improved the way audit team members worked together.
With the skills and knowledge acquired through the Fellowship—plus the words of advice from Pauline—the Fellows said they felt ready to return home and put their learning into practice. CCAF looks forward to continuing to work with the graduates and their SAIs.
This was the 31st class of Fellows; since 1980, 215 Fellows from 53 countries have graduated. The Fellowship component of the CCAF International Program will continue this August when CCAF, the OAG of Canada, the Vérificateur général du Québec, and the OAG of Alberta welcome the next class of Fellows.
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