Program News

Written on 21 August 2012.

2011-2012 CCAF Fellows Graduate

Congratulations to the 2011-2012 Fellows, who have completed their ten-month placements in Canada.

Through the Fellowship component of the CCAF international program, they each joined an audit team at a Canadian legislative audit office to learn about performance audit and gain on-the-job experience. The Fellows also worked with mentors at these offices to develop plans for performance audits that they will carry out in their countries. The graduates have now returned home to their offices—the supreme audit institutions (SAIs) of their countries—to put their new performance audit knowledge into practice.

The graduating Fellows with the Auditor General of Canada, Michael Ferguson. Left to right: Charles Flowers, Carlisle Marshall, Hong Han, Elizabeth Augustino, Tuyet Nguyen, Mr. Ferguson, Joyce Ndung'u, Célestin Akamtsene and Ibrahim Baba-Moussa.

CCAF celebrated the Fellows' graduation on May 24, 2012 in Ottawa. We were delighted to have several program partners join us for the ceremony, including:

• Michael Ferguson, the Auditor General of Canada, and many of the Fellows' mentors and colleagues and program support staff from the Offices of the Auditors General (OAGs) of Canada, Quebec and Alberta, the three offices that hosted Fellows this year;
• From the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which is the program's funding partner, Marie Nyiramana, Director of the Governance Directorate, Steve Jaltema, A/Program Manager in the Public Institutions and Elections Section, Ibrahim Sakho, International Development Project Advisor, and other representatives of the Agency (CIDA);
• Guests from the high commissions and embassies of the Fellows' countries;
• CCAF Chair Charles-Antoine St-Jean, (Partner, National Public Sector Leader, Ernst & Young), and Board member Jocelyne Therrien (Senior Principal, Parliamentary and International Relations, OAG of Canada); and
• A delegation from the Office of the Auditor General of Thailand, in Ottawa on a study tour, led by Deputy Auditor General Prapee Ankinandana and including CCAF graduate Fellows Sirin Phankasem (2005-06) and Jaruwan Ruangswadipong (2000-01).

Paul Lohnes, President and Chief Executive Officer of CCAF, was the emcee for the evening. The Canadian audit offices presented the graduation certificates to the Fellows.

Michael Ferguson

Roger Langlois

Hoa Quach

Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Michael Ferguson spoke about hosting four Fellows at his office in Ottawa this year. He also described his previous involvement with the CCAF international program when, as Auditor General of New Brunswick, he acted as a mentor to performance auditors at the Tanzania National Audit Office. Mr. Ferguson then presented the certificates to:

• Elizabeth Augustino of Tanzania;
• Charles Flowers of Belize;
• Carlisle Marshall of Saint Lucia; and
• Joyce Ndung'u of Kenya.

Vérificateur général du Québec (VGQ)
The VGQ hosted two Fellows. Roger Langlois, Director of Advisory Services, Value-for-Money Audit, described working with them and presented the certificates to the Fellows:

• Ibrahim Baba-Moussa of Benin; and
• Célestin Ankamtsene of Cameroon.

Office of the Auditor General of Alberta
Speaking on behalf of the OAG of Alberta, Audit Principal Hoa Quach spoke about hosting two Fellows from the Vietnam SAI, part of the ongoing partnership between these two offices. He presented the certificates to:

• Hong Han; and
• Tuyet Nguyen, both of Vietnam.

Thai graduate Fellows inspire the 2011-2012 class

Sirin Phankasem and Jaruwan Ruangswadipong, the graduate Fellows attending with the delegation from Thailand, then spoke about their experiences since returning home from their Fellowships.

Graduate Fellows Sirin Phankasem and Jaruwan Ruangswadipong

Both women have excelled at their SAI: Ms. Phankasem is now an inspector general and Ms. Ruangswadipong is Director of the SAI's Human Resources Development Institute. They consider the Fellowship an important step in their careers, as the experience in Canada allowed them to develop both audit skills and the confidence needed to succeed as leaders.

Ms. Phankasem and Ms. Ruangswadipong encouraged the graduating class to make the most of the opportunities they will now have to contribute to their SAIs. The graduating Fellows found this message—and the example set by Ms. Phankasem and Ms. Ruangswadipong—inspiring.

François Boisclair, left, is presented with the Friend of the Fellows award.

Friend of the Fellows: François Boisclair

The Friend of the Fellows award is presented by the graduating Fellows to an individual who has gone above and beyond, over a period of years, to support Fellows during their time in Canada.

François Boisclair received the award for his many years of overseeing Fellowship placements at the VGQ, where he gave tirelessly of his time to support the Fellows' professional development and help them feel at home in Canada.

Célestin Ankamtsene and Ibrahim Baba-Moussa, the graduating Fellows who completed their placements in Québec, described Mr. Boisclair's remarkable professional and personal commitment to the Fellows. Mr. Ankamtsene said, "François is extraordinarily knowledgeable, extraordinarily personable, extraordinarily dedicated. In short, he is extraordinary."

In accepting the award, Mr. Boisclair said, "I treated them as friends, since I am convinced that the benefit of any professional development is greater in an environment where one feels accepted and appreciated. These friendships also give me much satisfaction and enrich my vision of the world."

He concluded his remarks by congratulating the graduating Fellows and saying to them: "It is now up to you to contribute to the development of your respective institutions. Look to the future with confidence; your personal qualities and the knowledge and experience you have acquired over the past year will enable you to meet the substantial challenges you will face on your return home, and to contribute to the well-being of your fellow citizens."

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Read more about the Fellows, their audit team placements and their performance audit plans. Download the Fellows' Biography Booklet. Fellows’ biographies are bilingual, but their audit plan summaries are published only in their primary language. Read the CCAF Update, "CCAF Fellows Plan Performance Audits in Support of CIDA Priorities in their Countries"

CCAF thanks Mr. Boisclair and all the program partners who made this Fellowship year another success, including CIDA and the audit offices that hosted the Fellows. Thanks also to the Offices of the Auditors General of British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia, as well as to the team of CCAF Associates. Their continued participation in program activities for the 2011-2012 Fellows' countries and Barbados and Ghana helped these SAIs continue to build their performance audit capacity this year.