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Participants at the workshop
By Akanji Alowoludo, Bauchi
An action plan to guide the Forum of CSOs in Bauchi State in taking early lead in the State 2024 proposed Budget has been developed.
The developed action plan came up shortly after the quarterly review of the activities of the CSOs’ PFM Forum held on Thursday at the State2State main office Conference Hall, Bauchi.
The plan was developed towards entrenching citizens based Budget process in line with Community Charter of Demand (CCD) in the propose 2024 Budget process of Bauchi State.
It was done by a coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) with special interest in Public Financial Management (PFM) known as CSOs’ PFM Forum, with technical support from USAID funded State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity Bauchi Field Office.
While welcoming participants shortly before the commencement of the review meeting, USAID State2State Team Lead in Bauchi, Rabi Ekele thanked the CSOs and some key state actors for their commitment to the good cause.
She said that the meeting was to provide an avenue to assess performance of the CSOs in budget tracking through identifying gaps in their activities, with a view to proffering solutions for optimal future engagement with the State actors.
Rabi Ekele further enjoined the participants to be opened in their discussions in order to have a sound action plan document that could guide the CSOs and the state actors in articulating a budget process that incorporates citizens needs in the State.
A Director in the State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Mallam Lawan Bako, commended USAID State2State for the support in conducting the quarterly review meeting that brings together State actors and the CSOs.
He said that such interface between the parties has strengthened the state government’s budget process through effective participation of the citizens.
Also, presenting the CSOs’ report for the period under review, Chairman of Bauchi State Network of CSOs Coalition (BASNEC) Jinjiri John commended the State Government for the political will demonstrated in carrying citizens along in the State budget process stressing that a lot more needs to be done towards improved budget releases.
USAID State2State Citizens Engagement and Capacity Building Specialist, Mr. Habila Salem, while highlighting what the review meeting will seek to achieve said that the objective of the meeting was to track and harvest the outcomes of CSOs interventions including number of advocacy initiatives undertaken within the period under review.
Habila Salem also said that the meeting will seek to review progress to the State budget implementation in terms of citizens needs and priorities.
According to the CECB Specialist, it will also focus on planning for the next quarter intervention and explore avenue for a more robust citizens engagement and participation in the upcoming 2024 budget consultations.
Outcome of the quarterly review meeting was the development of an action plan by the CSOs’ Forum to be more pronounced in the Bauchi State 2024 budget preparation and implementation processes.
