PRESENTATION OF NIGERIA GENDER BUDGET NETWORK 

30TH  SEPTEMBER 2004, AT ROCK VIEW HOTELS, ABUJA

In the course of planning for and mobilizing attendance for this week’s event, one of the questions that have been asked us time and again is, “why a gender budget network? What has gender got to do with budgeting and why a separate platform for it?

In both local and international contexts, there exist special challenges facing human development and well – being. These challenges have different effects on both men and women, based on the roles, which have been suggested and upheld in societies through custom, traditions, social norms and values. Gender aware policy making requires structures which not only improve the status of women but also enables them to take a more active part in the policy making process as a whole. (For instance if government spending on social sectors has been squeezed, the result is disastrous consequences for the poor especially for women who are in the majority of the poor). This in turn calls for structures which can influence policy making and governance by specifically and consistently drawing attention to the differing consequences of policy on both men and women. It is not something, which can afford to be lost within a broader framework but rather a concept, which requires a special focus and specialized tools as well as resources for analysis and consistent advocacy, bearing in mind the fact that gender aware budgeting is actually reflective of sound macro economic practice.

What we have been doing here all week is to build on work that has already been done in the past by all of the groups here represented and even some who are not here represented. The formation of the gender budget network is not a sudden event. For almost everyone here, there has been work on going at both the organizational and individual levels that covers the budgeting process in Nigeria either in the area of research or training or both.

Taking this into consideration, this workshop (jointly organized by UNIFEM and THE CENTRE FOR DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT, CDD) was fashioned with the aim of achieving the following objectives. That at the end of the training, the participants should be able to:

• understand the concept of gender budgeting and the tools for conducting a gender budget analysis;
• have an idea of how to link macroeconomic policies to policy making, especially relating to the budget;
• understand the budgeting process in Nigeria and entry points for advocacy; 
• understand how to use strategies for effective gender budgeting advocacy through coalition building; and
• become part of Gender Budget Network.

The trainings have covered the budgetary process generally, gender aware budgeting, advocacy skills and coalition building.

THE NAME OF THE NETWORK:

We agreed that the name of the network be called the Nigeria Gender Budget Network

STRUCTURE: 

What we have agreed upon is on an initial structure. We call it an initial structure because we expect that the network will enlarge. Even though at this initial stage we have voted for an interim steering committee based on organizational capacities, we intend, with time to elect a steering committee that will be tailored to reflect Nigeria’s geopolitical structure. For now, we have elected 

1. A secretariat: the Abuja office of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)

2. An interim steering committee: Global rights Partners for Justice, LEDAP, Gender And Development Action (GADA), the Gender and Development Initiative, Women Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation (Representing the Civil Society Coalition for Poverty Eradication, CISCOPE). 

We’ve also had 3 members of the network (WARD C, LEDAP AND GADA) who have volunteered to prepare a draft constitution, to be ratified by the larger membership.

MODEL: 

CIVIL SOCIETY + PARLIAMENT+ SOME FOCUS ON WORK AT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL. At this training we’ve had more representation from civil society organizations, two representatives from the academia and some participation from the media as well as the central bank of Nigeria. I must also point out that we have participation here from the social development secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Ministry as well as the Ministry of Women Affairs. We also have here representatives from the donor community (OXFAM, HBF, and others). There are some others who have been unable to make it here today but who have expressed an interest in the network either because they are involved in budgetary work either at organizational level or in personal capacity. We will circulate the programme report and equally try to reach out to as many groups as we can through a link serve, which will be created after this programme.

METHODOLOGY:

Research, Advocacy, enlightenment, training and sensitization. We will have key committees built around these areas.

PROGRAMMATIC STRATEGY: 

We have agreed to focus on education as the first thematic area and our initial entry point. Education was voted by the members against health due to the fact that some gender aware analysis has already been carried out in this area and so it provides a good start off point. It might interest us to know that during the voting session on this, education came a very close second to health. In fact, the education sector carried the day by only one vote above the number of votes for health. We agreed that the health sector would be our next thematic area depending on availability of resources. Within this framework, impact will be measured against the attainment of the millennium development goals and specifically around the following objectives, inter alia:

• examine budgets to see whether sufficient money has been allocated to implement gender sensitive projects effectively.
• analyze government policies and programmes to discern whether they address gender gaps
• carry out advocacy at the level of the state and national assemblies based on research findings 

Honorable minister, distinguished special invitees and members of the high table, distinguished ladies and gentlemen here present, I present to you the NIGERIA GENDER BUDGET NETWORK.