SAI Young Leaders from Kenya and the Maldives Recognized for Excellence in Transformation and Innovation

Authors: Jessica Du, Editor and Vice President, International Journal of Government Auditing and Jade Quarrell, Assistant Director General, INTOSAI Development Initiative.

The INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI)’s SAI Young Leaders Awards celebrate and recognize innovation, collaboration and transformation brought by young leaders through their change strategy projects from the SAI Young Leaders Initiative. The SAI Young Leaders Initiative aims to support young leaders from SAIs to implement a change strategy to bring real and positive shifts in the SAI. 

At XXV INCOSAI in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Ms. Archana Shirsat, Deputy Director General at IDI, and two of the judges of the SAI Young Leaders Awards, Dr. Silke Steiner of the INTOSAI General Secretariat and Mr. Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen, Chairman of the Office of the Auditor General of Norway (Riksrevisjonen), presented the awards to two exceptional SAI Young Leaders.

This year, the awards were presented to Mohamed Ibrahim Jaleel from SAI Maldives and David Kamanza from SAI Kenya. Their SAI Young Leaders projects not only drove innovation and strategic change in their audit offices, but they both serve as inspiration and driving forces for their SAIs in bringing positive, motivational energy, influencing change in their SAIs.

IDI continued to recognise and celebrate excellence. While each of the SAI Young Leaders graduates from the 2022-2023 cohort contributed substantially to their SAI, two change strategies won the Transformative and Innovative SYL Awards. David Kamanza from SAI Kenya’s successful implementation of a change strategy on ‘Mentoring a Data Champion’ won him the Transformative SYL Award. The Innovative SYL Award went to Mohamed Ibrahim Jaleel from SAI Maldives for thinking out of the box for ‘Enhancing Environmental Auditing of SAI Maldives’. 

These projects exemplify the dedication, creativity, and impact of SYLs in driving positive change within their institutions.

Mohamed Ibrahim Jaleel’s project focused on building up his SAIs capacity to conduct environmental audits. He did this by launching a year-long development initiative that would turn his team of four into ‘polished environmental auditors’. Jaleel demonstrated ‘out of the box thinking’ in identifying a broad range of competencies required and seeking fit-for-purpose solutions to develop competencies within resource constraints. This initiative consisted of staff participation in a structured training course covering data analytics, geographic information systems and first aid. Training also included PADI diving certification to ensure the auditors were comfortable navigating the underwater environment.  

David Kamanza’s project focused on strengthening SAI Kenya’s capacity to conduct data-driven audits in response to the rapid digitalisation of government systems and services. He achieved this by introducing a “Mentor a Data Champion” initiative aimed at developing a pool of auditors with practical data analytics skills across financial, compliance, and performance audits. The initiative was designed to reduce overreliance on a small data science department, strengthen alignment between data analysis and audit objectives, and increase the effective use of data analysis and data analytics tools. Through targeted identification, training, and mentoring of high-potential auditors, the programme builds sustainable in-house capability, enables audit teams to independently obtain and analyse data, expands audit coverage, and supports the production of higher-quality, timely, and more insightful audit reports. 

The recipients of the SAI Young Leaders Award played a pivotal role in driving positive change within their institutions, identifying and addressing challenges unique to their SAI’s operational context. Their innovative strategies tackled pressing issues with creative and effective solutions, emphasizing sustainability, quality, inclusiveness, and lasting impact. The projects led by these Young Leaders serve as a source of inspiration, bringing positive, motivational energy to influence change in their SAIs.