Partners corner Experiences, tools and programmes that are relevant to budget tracking work: Budget Transparency for Child Nutrition Presented at a Workshop on Enhancing capacity of civil society, parliamentarians and the media for budget analysis and advocacy for women s and children s health 27-30 August 2013 Ole Sereni Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya Mr. Bob Libert, Child Rights Governance Global Initiative, Save the Children
Presentation Outline Background (Save the Children s Child Rights Governance Initiative) Why transparency in nutrition programmes Overview of the Budget Transparency for Nutrition Study Strategic issues moving forward Discussion
Background (Save the Children s Child Rights Governance Initiative) Child Rights Governance (CRG) is one of the Global Initiatives of Save the Children International Save the Children s work on Child Rights Governance is inspired by the vision of a world where accountable, responsive, inclusive and transparent GOVERNANCE assures the rights of every child and where every child can have a voice in governance CRG is essentially good governance for children
Background (Save the Children s Child Rights Governance Initiative) Investment in Children has been identified as the breakthrough (area in which we want to demonstrate positive changes for children using our theory of change) for the Child Rights Governance Global Initiative The breakthrough vision is that All children, especially the poorest, benefit from greater public investment and better use of society s resources in realizing their rights.
Strategy pillars of the breakthrough: Investment in Children 2) Influencing allocations and spending (Through out the budget cycle) 1) Influencing revenues (Tax, aid, debt etc) 3) Influencing processes in 1 & 2 (participation, transparency and accountability)
What is budget transparency for child rights? Budget transparency refers to the openness of legal, institutional, administrative, planning and budgeting processes to citizens and stakeholders on both income and expenditure issues. It entails availability and access to relevant, timely and userfriendly information on past, current, and projected fiscal activities and on major fiscal risks on the realization of child rights. Transparency also means that the public, including children, has freedom and access to spaces to engage in policy-making and budget processes (Transparency without participation is insufficient).
What is budget transparency for child rights?
Why budget transparency in nutrition programmes Without access to timely, relevant and user friendly information it is difficult for children, civil society and other stakeholders to effectively participate in budget processes (throughout the cycle), nor can they hold governments accountable for their actions. There is a positive correlation between transparency in spending and better outcomes for children. There is a positive correlation between transparency and enhanced citizens participation in development programmes Open, inclusive and accountable governance is key to sustainable realization of children s rights. Budget transparency and accountability enhance efficiency and effectiveness in public spending. Without transparency it is difficult for oversight bodies such as Parliamentarians to perform their roles. Without transparency there is risk of increased leakages and corruption.
Overview of the Budget Transparency for Nutrition Study In 2012, Save the Children (CRGI) conducted a regional study on Budget Transparency and Child Nutrition in partnership with Accountability and Transparency for Human Rights The aim of the study was to find out what the situation looked like when applying a child lens to budget transparency & participation.
Overview of the Budget Transparency for Nutrition Study The research was conducted in Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A research methodology to facilitate replication in other countries and to research other areas of human/child rights was produced. The research was narrowed down to child malnutrition. Research looked at national and sub-national levels Research will inform advocacy, capacity building and further research targeting governments, regional and international organizations.
Overview of the Budget Transparency for Nutrition Study Accountability &Transparency for Human Rights Foundation Lead on research & methodology International Budget Partnership Technical and financial support + advocacy Save the Children Technical & financial support + advocacy Civil society partners in 5 African countries Country research & advocacy
RESEARCH PROCESS 8. Methodology guide being developed to facilitate scale up of research 9. Now advocacy for change at national, regional and global levels 7. Research report developed 1. AT4HR developed methodology with SC, IBP and local research partners Research on access to info and public participation in government decision-making on child nutrition with funding from IBP, SCD, SCN and SCS 6. Initial crosscutting & country specific findings were verified with researchers & SC 5. Each research questionnaire was externally peer reviewed 2. Identified 5 child nutrition inventions per country to base research on 3. Research in 5 countries at national & subnational level by civil society partners with support from SC COs 4. Research answered 34 questions on access to info & 11 on public participation in decision-making
BTN Findings Kenya showed the highest level of transparency relating to child nutrition followed by South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Zambia. South Africa had the highest national score in relation to participation and public feed-back followed by Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Budget transparency in relation to child nutrition is inadequate across the 5 countries. The countries had higher levels of transparency in respect of information about policy & planning for child nutrition.
BTN Findings The countries fared worse when it came to information about actual expenditures and implementation of interventions. Budget transparency was higher at the national level than at sub-national levels when looking across all the countries. The lowest scoring section overall was the one concerned with public participation in governments child nutrition decisions.
Strategic questions for the way forward Governments should make budget systems more open, transparent and participatory including making key budget documents and information available on past, current, and projected fiscal activities and on major fiscal risks to the public for free and on a timely basis. Governments should strengthen and where possible reform their public finance management systems in order to include aspects that enhance effectiveness in public HEALTH spending such as costing, impact assessments, parliamentary oversight, PETs etc.
Strategic questions for the way forward Availability of and access to National Health Accounts Consider PETS: The most critical transparency gaps are, without doubt, in the areas of actual expenditures on child nutrition, actual service delivery data and comparisons between planned and actual spending and performance.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE. Methodology guide http://at4hr.org/btcr_guide.html Research report http://at4hr.org/btcn_study.html
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE Bob Muchabaiwa Save the Children s CRGI Email: blm@redbarnet.dk Ulrika Soneson Cilliers Save the Children s CRGI Email: usc@redbarnet.dk