Cooperation in the Pacific Region
After four years of work, in October 2025 the Swedish National Audit Office completed its collaboration with supreme audit institutions among Pacific small island countries in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
The collaboration has led participating authorities, to varying degrees, to strengthen their independence and introduce standardised modes of recruiting and developing skills. It has also led authorities to better specify their human resources efforts through clearer roles and processes. All supreme audit institutions have improved their HR activities in accordance with international standards for supreme audit institutions.
With whom have we collaborated and what have we achieved?
We have supported island states that the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) has identified as being in most need of development, that is, the island states in the Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia regions. Our support also covered the PASAI Secretariat staff through the development of handbooks and teaching tools. Assistance was mainly delivered in the form of digital meetings and training sessions.
Our support focused on four areas:
- HR strategy and planning development.
- Staff training for part-time HR work to achieve well-functioning authorities, in accordance with international standards. These staff members will also give support to other supreme audit institutions in the region.
- The development of a human resources handbook for practical and strategic use, adapted to the needs of the region.
- Support to the Secretariat staff through networking with other regions.
Our long-term cooperation objective has been for the region to improve its capabilities in key HR areas. This has included increasing competence in recruitment, professional development and training, work-life balance and the ability to independently manage central HR processes. It has also covered the link to the authorities’ core activities: performing professional audits of public funds and informing parliament and citizens of the audit results.
Outcomes
The cooperation between supreme audit institutions in the Pacific region has led to numerous improvements, described below.
- Achievements under the cooperation have contributed to enhanced knowledge, understanding and competence in strategic and practical HR activities. The achievements have also strengthened supreme audit institutions’ potential to, for example, independently handle recruitment and skills development.
- Some supreme audit institutions in the region have established dedicated part-time HR functions. Several of the participants are already being engaged in the region as HR trainers.
- An HR handbook for teaching and professional development was updated and new chapters were added. This project was undertaken together with PASAI.
- The Secretariat – which coordinates training, professional development and guidelines – has improved its HR competency and has launched its own regional HR training programmes.
- Interest in and knowledge of HR as being strategically important for achieving set goals has increased among authorities that did not take part in the training programmes.
Circumstances and challenges
Supreme audit institutions in the Pacific region face different challenges, as exemplified below.
- Limited knowledge in the field of HR and limited opportunities to fund HR functions and time to work on and develop these matters.
- Most supreme audit institutions in the region have limited independence. For example, organisational and recruitment matters may require the approval of public administration committees.