CSJ advocates for gender responsive budgeting in Sokoto State

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) wants civil society partners in Sokoto to ensure that the state’s budget becomes gender responsive to engender inclusion in public expenditures.

The Lead Director of CSJ, Eze Onyekpere, made the call in Sokoto at the capacity building workshop for civil society organisations under public procurement component of the Nigeria State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (State2State) to strengthen governance structures in six states in Nigeria to improve their ability to plan and budget, raise revenues, increase civil society participation, and oversee service delivery in the health; education; and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sectors.

He said that procurement can be used to promote equality in the public sphere since governments are the best-placed actors, due to their huge purchasing power, to promote equality through procurement.

On her part, Ejiro Okotie, the State2State GESI Specialist, said that gender responsive procurement is the sustainable selection of services, goods and civil works that considers their impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment

She said that public procurement procedures must incorporate accessibility requirements so that public funds do not create or perpetuate the inequality arising from inaccessible services and facilities.

Participants at the training agreed that gender responsive budgeting should be integrated in all phases of the budget cycle including preparation; approval; execution; and auditing and assessment.

A socially inclusive budget process requires the involvement of various participants including civil society organisations at each stage.

However, while most governments have expressed a commitment to gender equality goals there are often inconsistencies between policy statements and the ways in which public finances are raised and spent.

Most governments have also expressed a commitment to greater transparency and accountability. However, participation and consultation in the formulation of budgets, as well as articulation of finance reforms, is still often limited so that the different priorities of socially excluded groups of society are not fully reflected in the way finances are actually allocated and used.