April 2019: The Supreme Audit Office of Poland has audited the country’s preparedness to implement the SDGs. The report concludes that effective actions at the national level have been initiated to ensure the integration of SDGs into national development policies, while noting the need for further work on SDG partnership, awareness raising and indicators.

The document titled, ‘Performance Audit Report on Preparedness for Implementation of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals in Poland,’ was prepared by the Public Administration Department of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), which is Poland’s supreme audit institution (SAI). The audit covers the years 2015-2018, and it was prepared in advance of Poland’s 2018 Voluntary National Review (VNR).

The report notes that implementation of the 2030 Agenda was coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Development until January 2018, and continued by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology.

The audit finds that “appropriate measures” have been taken in the government to prepare for implementing the 2030 Agenda. Among these measures, it cites a mapping of activities contributing to the implementation of the SDGs, the identification of “accelerators” or areas of action to strengthen implementation, and the government’s participation in the 2018 VNR process. It adds that goals included in Poland’s Strategy for Responsible Development – which outlines the country’s priorities for social and economic development – are consistent with the SDGs.

On partnerships and stakeholder engagement, the report indicates that in June 2017, the government started to build a partnership on SDG implementation. The partnership was joined by about 70 different institutions, organizations and enterprises interested in working together to implement the Goals. The government planned to create a digital platform on SDG initiatives in the second and third quarter of 2018.

On monitoring and review, the report states that the National Statistical Office was involved in the process of monitoring the 2030 Agenda, and work was in process to select SDG indicators.

Among its recommendations for the government, the audit calls to:

• Continue and intensify partnerships for the 2030 Agenda’s implementation so as to include the widest possible range of stakeholders;
• Intensify awareness-raising and dissemination of the Agenda and its SDGs in different “environments and social groups;”
• Continue work on aligning national indicators with the SDG global indicators; and
• Conduct regular reviews of SDG progress at national and local levels.

According to NIK, Poland’s audit was carried out in line with a strategic plan set out by the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), an umbrella organization for the external government audit community. INTOSAI’s Strategic Plan 2017-2022 seeks to contribute to the follow-up and review of the SDGs within the context of each nation’s specific sustainable development efforts and the SAIs’ individual mandates. Poland’s audit was also done in accordance with the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI 5130), which consider the role of SAIs on sustainable development, the report says.

According to Poland’s 2018 VNR report, the government established a task force to select national priorities, ensure a participatory VNR, and ensure information exchange and monitoring of progress on implementation. The task force was established under the government’s Coordination Committee for Development Policy, which is the central platform for monitoring implementation of the Strategy for Responsible Development.

SAIs are independent governmental entities with an external audit role established by a constitution or supreme law-making body. Through their oversight function, they can hold governments accountable for their efforts to implement the SDGs. According to this paper from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), over 70 SAIs have conducted audits of preparedness for the implementation of the SDGs. [Publication: Performance Audit Report on Preparedness for Implementation of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals in Poland] [All SDG Knowledge Hub coverage of SDG audits]

This story reviews one of the audit reports and activities produced by individual SAIs on the SDGs, as identified by INTOSAI as of April 2019. For more information about SAIs, click here.