Transcript Nigerian Experiences in Linking Economic and Social Rights

Nigerian Experiences in
Linking Economic and Social
Rights (ESR) with Gender
Budget Analysis
Bola Fajemirokun Ph.D. & Edewede Kadiri
The International Conference on Economic
and Social Rights and Budget Decisions
Queens University, Belfast, Ireland
14-15 November 2009
Presentation Outline
1. Context
2. Conceptual foundation of Gender Budget Transparency and
Accountability Project (GBTAP)
3. The policy environment for gender analysis in Nigeria
4. Project actions & the impacts achieved
5. The potentials for linking ESRs with gender budget analysis
(GBA)
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I. Context
• Growing interest in social accountability tools since the return
of democratic governance to Nigeria on 29 May 1999.
• Government budgets signpost its development priorities.
• Tracking expenditure or revenue collection on a multi-year
basis can help to ascertain the extent to which social
inclusion, poverty reduction and the realization of economic
and social rights (ESRs) are being prioritized.
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a. Codifying ESRs
Global level
• International Covenant on
Economic Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW)
National level
• Separate legislation is
required in order to achieve
the recognition and
enforcement of ESRs.
• Examples are the African
Charter Act and the Child’s
Right Act.
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c. Budget monitoring and ESRs
• Budget monitoring and analysis provides a platform for
bringing pressure to bear on governments to meet their ESR
obligations.
• Gender budget analysis (GBA) tracks the implementation of
government commitments on women’s rights in particular
and gender equality in general.
• GBTAP was implemented in Lagos State from 1 April 2006-30
September 2008 with the support of the EU and DFID.
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II. Conceptual Foundation of GBTAP
• GBTAP builds on the results of DIN’s Poverty to Economic
Justice Project (PEJP) of 2004.
• PEJP’s main objective: To determine to what extent national
policy and legal frameworks have advanced the economic
empowerment of women given ESR commitments under
CEDAW and the BFA.
• Respondents agreed on the feminization of poverty and
limited economic opportunities for women in Nigeria.
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• PEJP’s respondents emphasized the
need to improve access to social
services such as education,
housing, health and childcare.
• This raised further questions.
– How are government’s spending
priorities decided?
– To what extent are women involved in
economic decision-making and their
needs, interests and concerns
integrated into the implementation of
government plans, programmes and
projects?
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III. Policy Environment for Gender Analysis in Nigeria
Milestones for gender perspectives in development planning
Pre-1975
• Nigeria’s national income and accounting systems did not reflect the
productive contributions of women in the economy.
• National or sub-national policies and strategic actions to protect
women’s rights beyond the basic anti-discrimination guarantee were
non-existent.
1975-1985
• United Nations Decade for Women crystallized broad-based support
for gender perspectives in development planning.
• Emergence of CEDAW.
1995
• Emergence of Beijing Platform for Action (BFA).
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Policy environment (contd)
2000
• First National Policy on Women (NPW) in 2000.
• Commitment to ‘bringing into the mainstream, gender
perspective in all policies and programmes based on a
systematic gender analysis at all levels of government.’
From 2003
• National poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) known as
the National Economic Empowerment and Development
Strategy (NEEDS).
• Also, SEEDS and LEEDS, the State and municipal equivalents.
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Policy Environment (contd)
2007
• National Gender Policy (NGP)
• Draws on the key global and regional treaties and agreements, e.g.
CEDAW, the BFA, the MDGs, the AU Protocol on the Rights of
Women in Africa and NEEDS.
• Elaborates more than NPW on the targets, strategies and actions
for achieving the empowerment of all citizens, women, girls, men
and boys.
• Crucial interest driving the NGP ‘is the integration of gender
sensitive approaches into mainstream policy decision-making
within all sectors and at all levels, that is, mainstreaming of gender
into policy formulation, implementation, analysis and monitoring.’
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GBA in the BFA
“Full and effective implementation of the Platform for Action,
including the relevant commitments made at previous United
Nations summits and conferences, will require a political
commitment to make available human and financial resources
for the empowerment of women. This will require the
integration of a gender perspective in budgetary decisions on
policies and programmes, as well as the adequate financing of
specific programmes for securing
equality among women and men.”
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Multi-layered policy support
Global Commitments
(e.g. BFA)
Regional commitments
(e.g. AU Protocol on Women’s Rights)
National commitments
(e.g. NGP, NEEDS)
State commitments
(e.g. SEEDS)
LGA commitments
(e.g. LEEDS)
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IV. Implementing GBTAP
1. Building Political Support
Formalizing NGO-Government
collaboration
(MoU)
2. Advocacy
3. Capacity Building
Networking
Mobilizing support for institutional and
administrative reforms
Implementation
Public education
Actions
Training,
Information dissemination
Policy research
4. Generating Evidence
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a. Building Political Support
• MoU formalized with the key budget institution in Lagos State,
the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget (MEPB) in June
2006.
Aims:
– To define the contributions of DIN and MEPB respectively.
– To gain the support and interest of the Budget Departments of
the 57 municipalities within Lagos State and other State
institutions , e.g. the Office of the Auditor-General and the
Lagos State Board of Inland Revenue.
– To serve as an entry point for participation in economic policy
making processes, e.g. State Economic Summits.
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b. Advocacy
• Sensitization visits to the 57 municipalities and to legislators at the
Lagos State House of Assembly.
– helped to identify the key actors who could ensure that elected
representatives and budget officers participated in GBTAP’s research
and capacity building activities.
• Establishment of Lagos Gender Budget Network (LGBN) in October
2006
– Mobilizing support for institutional and administrative reforms at all
levels of government.
– Founding members are NGOs in Lagos State working on women’s
rights issues.
– In March 2008,LGBN became an affiliate of the National Gender
Budget Network.
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c. Capacity Building
GBTAP pictures
• Published a Training Manual.
• Training of 1,123 beneficiaries.
• Launched a website in May 2007,
www.lagosgenderbudget.net.
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d. Generating evidence
• Analyzed budget transparency at the State level using the
Open Budget Scorecard.
• The Scorecard identifies seven key budget documents that
are integral to analyzing the transparency performance of
a government budget.
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
pre-budget statement;
executive's budget proposal;
enacted budget;
in-year reports;
mid-year reports;
year-end reports; and
audit report.
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Lagos State Budget Transparency Performance 2006-2008
Score %
Executive’s Budget Proposal
Estimates for the budget year and beyond
52.9
Estimates for the years prior to the budget year
53.0
Comprehensiveness
49.1
The budget narrative and performance monitoring
25.0
Additional key information for budget analysis and monitoring
42.4
Average Score
44.5
The Budget Process
Executive’s formulation of the budget
62.5
Legislative approval of the budget
48.3
Executive’s implementation of the budget
22.0
Year-end report and the Supreme Audit Institution
23.3
Average Score
39.0
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V.
Major Constraints
• Absence of internet links for key budget documents
• Limited distribution of documents related to the executive's
budget proposal
• Restricted distribution of the enacted budget and other
budget documents
• Lack of enabling legal frameworks
• Dearth of sex-disaggregated data
• Limited public participation in budget processes
• Uncooperative attitudes and covert opposition
• Community apathy
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VI.
•
Key Success Indicators
A total of 1,123 beneficiaries (government officials, women and
human rights advocates, community leaders and the media)
registered and took part in the capacity building events. This was
made up of 1,046 women and 77 men.
• A total of 48 State and municipal planning and budget officers (30
men and 18 women) were trained on gender responsive budgeting
techniques.
• Launch of dedicated gender budget website,
www.lagosgenderbudget.net with a focus on Lagos State budgets.
• Establishment of the first State-level gender budget NGO network.
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VII. Potential for Linking ESRs to GBA
• ‘Gender responsive budgeting is not something that can be
done and finished within a year or two. It is a process that
government officials need to learn over time and for which
they need support.’
Commonwealth Secretariat’s Report on Gender Responsive Budgets in the Commonwealth 2005-2007.
• Women in Nigeria are more disadvantaged and generally bear
a greater share of the burden of income poverty. ESRs are
crucial to improving their status and condition.
• But ESRs have limited enforceability in Nigeria. It has been
argued that this is sound because ‘economic and social rights
are different’ because ‘they do not impose any limitations on
governmental powers.’
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Potential for Linking ESRs to GBA contd.
• Key facts
– Nigeria has ratified CEDAW and ICESCR.
– Also, legislation exists such as the Child’s Rights Act,
which recognize some ESRs.
• GBA can help to track compliance with ESR obligations
but collaborations between government bodies and civil
society groups need to be actively encouraged.
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VIII. The Way Forward
• Introducing new legislation to domesticate key provisions of
CEDAW, ICESCR and the Protocol to the African Charter on
Women’s Rights, is crucial to bypass constitutional limitations.
• Civil society groups should engage in collaborations with
government MDAs on gender budget analysis work.
• More studies on the gender impacts of the privatization of
public enterprises and the provision of social benefits such as
health insurance, housing credit and contributory pensions.
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Way
Forward
(contd.)
The Way Forward (contd)
• The right to publicly-held information should be recognized
and protected through the passage of the Right to
Information Bill at the national and State levels.
• Fiscal transparency at the State and municipal levels needs to
be promoted through the introduction of State equivalents of
the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
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Thank you for listening