Civil Society Organizations in Ebonyi State, under the aegis of CSOs Network have unveiled plans to track Community Charter of Demand (CCD) projects captured in the State budget, and executed in some Local Government Areas of the State. They also resolved to intensify advocacy for improved budgetary allocation and releases for line MDAs in the State. The projects to be tracked in the LGAs according to the group include; Basic Education, Primary Health; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
The tracking exercise and push for more budgetary allocation and releases were part of the action plans developed at a two-day third quarterly CSOs Forum meeting and 2024 Mid-Year budget review workshop, organized by USAID Nigeria- State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2state) Activity at Osborn La palm Royal Resort, Abakaliki.
In her remarks on behalf of the State Team Lead of USAID state2State Activity, Dr. Sam Onyia, the Citizens Engagement Specialists, Munachiso Odulana, thanked the CSOs for always holding government accountable to the people through sustained advocacies, sensitizations and tracking of projects to ensure quality delivery in line with the State or Local Government budgetary provisions.
The Citizens Engagement Specialist explained that State2state activity was committed to supporting quarterly CSO Forum meeting in Ebonyi State to discuss and exchange ideas on current governance issues in the state as they relate to citizen engagement, citizens participation and service delivery, especially in key sectors of basic education, primary Healthcare and WASH.
She noted that the 2024 third quarter’s edition of the CSOs Forum meeting was to provide a platform to follow up on the CSos’ progress in implementing their advocacy plans and to review 2024 CCD projects, which were included in the State and Local Government budget.
Discussing key findings in the State’s third quarterly budget performance report, the CSOs observed impressive budget performance in Education and WASH sector, while the performance report for the health sector was below average. They called for comprehensive and timely submission of data from the various MDAs, so that the budget performance report can truly reflect all that were achieved within the period.
The forum resolved to carry out more advocacy visits to heads of MDAs and to track ongoing and completed projects in priority sectors to identify their locations, quality and other basic requirements. The forum meeting also discussed plans for collation and submission of CCDs by CSOs for the 2025 budget process, and CSOs participation in Ebonyi State and Local Government Areas 2025 budget process.
Some of the participants, including Goodness Mgbaja of CIRDOC Nigeria, Oliver Ajah Chima of DIG Foundation, Christiana Onu of LIADAS, Israel Mbam of Youth Impact Makers and representatives of key sector MDAs, thanked USAID State2state Activity for always sponsoring the quarterly meeting, and pledged to ensure effective implementation of the next steps and action plans developed at the meeting.
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