CSJ Provides Technical Support To Action Planning Meeting Of SWOFON In Niger

On Tuesday 22nd March 2022 in Minna, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) provided technical support to the Action Planning Meeting of the Niger State Chapter of the Smallholder Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria (SWOFON).

In the meeting, the most pressing challenges facing the SWOFON members were highlighted, and CSJ provided technical solutions to the challenges highlighted. Some of the highlighted challenges include: Poor allocation and utilization of agriculture budget; Poor gender sensitivity, disaggregation and specificity of agriculture budgets; Untimely release of funds for critical agricultural inputs and equipments; Limited information and participation in the budget process for rural women farmers; Weak oversight of agriculture support services and budget.

CSJ provided recommendations and technical support on practical steps that could be taken to overcome the challenges faced by SWOFON members.

The technical support stems from CSJs effort in establishing a baseline through research on the credibility of federal and state level budgets in terms of amounts of expenditure budgeted and actual releases and utilization.

The technical support stems from CSJs studies on the link between appropriation and plans and policies in agriculture. This is in recognition of the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to a plethora of international standards that demand improvements in gender relations. Nigeria has formulated national policies on agriculture and gender in agriculture.

Also, the Small-Scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) has designed a Charter of Demands, hence there is need for the women farmers to know how much of the contents of the Charter are provided for in national and state budgets. The project is in line with CSJs intervention in determining the level of involvement of citizens including SWOFON in the budgeting process, from the determination of priorities to other budget stages.

This also includes issues around transparency and accountability. The project is also in line with CSJs intervention in costing the contents of the SWOFON Charter of Demands to determine whether the resources required are within the affordability reach of the State and the likely time frame required to implement the Charter.