Gender responsive education sector planning: CSOs, youths to advocate inclusiveness in Adamawa
~ As FAWE organizes training for 60 participants
Civil Society Organizations, (CSOs) including People Living With Disability (PLWD) as well as Youth groups and some line Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have vowed to ensure an all inclusive and gender-responsive planning and budgeting for the education sector in Adamawa State.
They made the resolve at the end of six days intensive workshop organized for 60 participants by the Forum For African Women Educationalist (FAWE) Nigeria with support from PLAN international EU-INTPA Project titled “Strengthening Civil Society to enhance Education for all in Northern Nigeria.
The workshop which was organized in two batches of 30 participants each from September 12 – 14, 2023 and September 18 – 20 2023, respectively groomed the participants on the nuances and rudiments of Economic Literacy and Budget Accountability for Governance (ELBAG).
Shedding light on the rationale of organizing the workshop for the 60 participants, Ibrahim Bello, the education officer of FAWE said, the training was organized in order to ensure a participatory budgeting process in which all interest and concerns are considered and prioritized.
“This workshop is focused on training CSOs and the youths on economic literacy and accountability for governance and the training package was carefully developed to ensure that by the end of the training, participants have the knowledge of government budgeting and budgeting processes as regards to education.
“The training is also intended to equip the participants with good understanding of gender-responsive budgeting and also advocacy and influencing.
“We expect that participants will use the knowledge to engage duty bearers towards influencing budgeting allocation to the education sector for the betterment of the education sector.
“We also expect them to launch advocacy for gender-responsive budgeting process to ensure an inclusive education sector planning and implementation in Adamawa State.
“With this training, more citizens are getting aware of the budgeting processes and accountability mechanisms that are put in place for the citizens to hold decision makers and duty bearers accountable.
“So we expect them to play their oversight functions better and ask the right questions and demand service delivery in more cooperative and collaborative manner by way of working closely with government and be able to raise concerns when the need comes up,” he said.
During an interview with our reporter on the sidelines of the event, a participant from People With Disability And Vunerable Support Initiative, Lydia Sini thanked the organizers for such an educative engagement, noting that the workshop couldn’t have come at a better time.
She noted that the deliberate inclusion of PLWD in the workshop is indicative of the resolve of the organizers to ensure that an all inclusive budgeting process which carried along multifaceted interests is rooted in Adamawa State.
“The workshop is really gratifying as it has created awareness on budgeting processes and accountability in governance. As CSOs we need to know the budgeting processes, we need to know the strategy, the analysis of budget so that we will be able to know the area to cover and bridge the gap when it comes to education because this workshop is on education and how to transform the Tsangaya education.
“It is really an eye opener, because as PLWD we really understand that we have a role to play in the entrenchment of an all-inclusive and gender-responsive educational system in the state especially as it relates to Almajiri school system.
“The fact that PLWDs are part of this meeting is an indicator that we are not left behind and we are going out there to be ambassadors of this workshop by creating awareness on the need for citizens engagement. People with disability need to be encouraged to participate in communal issues so that we can voice out our needs. Without that, government budgets will be made and implemented without considering our needs,” she said.
Similarly, a participant, Comfort Aliyu from the Civil Society Organizations expressed delight over the workshop adding that she has learnt all the processes and requirements of a participatory budgeting process.
Similarly, Maryam Ahmed Dadi a staff of Adamawa State agency for mass education noted that her work will be massively impacted as she has learnt new things from the training.
“I have learnt a lot of things like mainstreaming gender in budget process, differences between budgets, budget conception, planning and implementation which come in six stages and other very vital knowledge that will improve our work. This is a good development for education in the state,” she said.
