Gombe: USAID’s training on budget analysis, eye-opener for us- CSOs
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been commended by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Gombe State over its training for the latter on budget analysis.
Our correspondent reports that the training was facilitated through USAID’s State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity, Gombe State.
The CSOs gave the commendation on Thursday at the end of a three-day capacity-building training held in Gombe State.
Read Also:
USAID trains journalists on conflict sensitive communication in Gombe
Dr Erisa Danladi, Executive Director, Motherhen Development Foundation said the training was imperative in view of the fact that a good knowledge on budget analysis would help CSOs to ask the needed questions to improve governance.
According to her, the training has empowered them more on how to analyze the state government’s budgets and how to follow up the budget on sector-to-sector basis.
She stated that CSOs’ participation in budgeting process was key in view of the role of budgeting, its planning and implementation to fast-track development.
“For us in Motherhen, the training is really impressive and I will ensure I step down the training to our team at the grassroots so that the budget in future will be more citizens participatory.”
Rebecca Hassan, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, CEDAR SEED Foundation (CSF), Gombe State commended USAID for the training which she described as “relevant tool” for CSOs.
Hassan said with the knowledge acquired, CSF which is an NGO that primarily promotes rights of the disabled people in Nigeria had been better empowered in the state to contribute to good governance.
She said with the training, “we can now examine the priority of government, make suggestions, criticisms and commendations where necessary; that’s the essence of governance.”
She advised the state government to work towards ensuring inclusive budgeting to capture the aspirations of the people including people living with disabilities.
On her part, Mrs Anita Dogo, the Gombe State vice leader, Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) who commended USAID said she had been empowered with the needed knowledge on how to handle issues of budgeting and how to “approach the government with the right data with regard to budget.”
Our correspondent also reports that a total of 32 CSOs and eight Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) from the state government were trained in the three-day exercise.
Highlight of the training include an analysis of the budget of Gombe State since 2020 till date by participants, while recommendations and suggestions were made to be forwarded to the state government.
