2018 budget: YIAGA Africa lauds increased funding for women, urge monitoring

The Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA Africa) has lauded the increase in budgetary allocations specifically targeting women and girls in the 2018 appropriation bill, urging for improved monitoring and evaluation of such allocations.

This was the outcome of the 2018 Budget Gender Review conducted by YIAGA Africa’s Centre for Législative Engagement (CLE) which was presented to stakeholders at a validation meeting held in Abuja on Tuesday.

The review of the 2018 appropriation bill showed, for the first time in a decade, more sectors like health, education, solid minerals, environment, and communication technology were having funding for programmes specifically targeting women and girls including the implementation of policies that targeted gender disparities.

“For instance, there is funding to implement the gender policies of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Women Affairs has budgets for the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015,” said Stella Odiase, who presented the review at the validation meeting.

The 2018 budget gender review which was aimed at addressing the limitations faced by the female gender when it comes to accessing public goods and services; it revealed opportunities in all sectors targeted at improving the situation of women and girls in the course of the implementation of generic programmes, at little or no additional costs, especially at the levels of research and development, monitoring and evaluation, and stakeholder consultations etc.