Elementos para la participación ciudadana en la fiscalización pública: una aproximación desde la experiencia de la Contraloría General de Paraguay (2006-2014)

Abstract

In the frame of an international debate which states that citizen participation in external oversight contributes to improving control performed by supreme audit institutions, to strengthen government accountability and to fight corruption, this case study analyzes the experience of the Comptrollers´ General of Paraguay (CGR, for its acronym in Spanish) in implementing citizen engagement mechanisms during the period 2006-2014.

The mechanisms implemented by the CGR are illustrative of a comprehensive policy that enables wide participation in the various instances of the oversight cycle and that promotes the generation of two-way communication channels between the CGR and the citizenry, beyond a purely informative dimension.

The adoption of this agenda for the promotion of participation in 2008 is a product of the interrelation of factors of institutional context, both national and international, as well as of the motivations of the actors who were initially involved in the design of the mechanisms. The form adopted by this policy, even when it recognizes regional influences, presents a distinctive approach, resulting from the local mark given by the civil society actors who participated, as well as those who led the agenda within the CGR.

Although challenges were posed for its effective and sustained deployment until 2014, the implementation of participatory mechanisms generated benefits and positive impacts within the CGR, in its relationship with citizens and civil society organizations, as well as favorable repercussions of the experience at the regional level. The responses given by the Comptrollers´ General to address challenges related to the existence of legal loopholes, insufficient resources, bureaucratic resistances and renewal of political support within the CGR reveal that organizational factors, international context factors and individual leadership were key to ensure the continuity of this agenda.

In summary, this thesis presents a public policy analysis that describes all the elements that make up the policy of promoting citizen participation in fiscal control developed by the CGR of Paraguay, and analyzes the factors that led the CGR to undertake this agenda and that facilitated the overcoming of challenges faced in its implementation. Thus, building up from the Paraguayan case, this study seeks to generate an empirical contribution to the international discussion on citizen engagement in public oversight, and at the same time to draw lessons extensive to other auditing entities in relation to the incentives and challenges they face in promoting citizen participation.