Preamble
On the 10th December, 2021, the Coalition of Associations for leadership, Peace, Empowerment & Development (CALPED) in collaboration with Chikun Local Government Accountability Mechanism, Young Men Christian Association and Zamani Foundation organized a one day town-meeting under the Mobilizing Citizens for OGP project held in Chikun local government area of Kaduna state. The theme of the meeting is – Dialogue between State Actors and Community Stakeholders on OGP for Improved Service Delivery in Kaduna state.
The objectives of the dialogue was to increase Community Stakeholders awareness on OGP Kaduna State Action Plan (2021-2023); encourage citizens participation in the OGP through identified entry points and feedback mechanism; and to promote inclusive governance and partnership between Government MDAs and Community Stakeholders for improved Service delivery at the grassroots.
In attendance were the Kaduna Public Procurement Authority (KADPPA); Community & Social Development Agency (CSDA); Ministry of Justice; Community Development Officer (CDO) Chikun LGA, Co-chair Technical Working Group on Social Inclusion; School Based Management Committee (SBMC); members of Coalition of Association for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment & Development (CALPED); members of Chikun Local Government Accountability Mechanism; Zamani Foundation; Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA); traditional, religious, women and youth leaders.
Highlights of Discussions
The Kaduna state government in 2017 committed to the Open Government Partnership (OGP); a global reform initiative geared towards promoting transparency, accountability and government responsiveness to citizens’ engagement. Employing the co-creation principle, it provides a permanent dialogue platform for both state and non-state actors to co-create decisions on advancing reforms in line with areas of commitment.
The State is currently implementing its second action plan (2021-2023) with five commitment areas on Open Budget, Open Contracting, Citizens’ Engagement, Social Inclusion and Service Delivery in Health and Education. The State Steering Committee (SSC) and Technical Working Groups (TWGs) are made up of an equal number of government and civil society representatives.
The Kaduna Public Procurement Authority (KADPPA) is the government Co-chair on Open Contracting. KADPPA is responsible for driving the Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS); thereby making procurement information available and accessible to civil society and community stakeholders.
In the past public procurement was done manually but it is now done electronically (e-procurement) and this can be easily regulated. The Authority advertises for projects, competent contractors indicate interest, bidding is done and the most suitable bidder gets the contract.
There are tools available for citizens to get more information like the citizen feedback app which is called the Eyes and Ears and the OCDS portal. These tools make available projects for the state and their locations thus citizens will be able to know what project is in their communities and the time frame for that project. The tools also make available space for feedback or comments regarding the projects.
The Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA) is a part of the World Bank project that is being implemented across the 36 states, with Kaduna State commencing in June 2021. Over 750,000,000 dollars have been given to Nigeria, the beneficiary of such funds are the communities.
The CSDA provides interventions in the areas of education, sanitation and hygiene, health and nutrition; and partners with various ministries to achieve their goals. The CDSA is already at the local government level and advocacy to community heads who are responsible for stepping down the information to her members. The Agency sensitizes communities on their roles in the State and encourages them to write a letter of interest to them through the local government or their desk officers which is the CDA.
The Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA) in its commitment to ensure communities are core targeted beneficiary of World bank project under the agency wrote to Bureau of Statistics asking for data of communities in Kaduna State to enable the agency to effectively and inclusively involve vulnerable groups across the existing communities in the State but yet to receive response from them.
Afterwards, the Agency sits with the community. The communities are responsible for 10% of the total cost of the project to be executed either by cash or kind. The communities are also responsible for selecting a trusted contractor to execute the project. This also enables ownership of the project by the residents of the community.
The School Based Management Committee (SBMC) takes responsibility for managing minor repairs in the schools.
The members include religious leaders, traditional leaders, old students of the school, women leaders,youth leaders among others.
These stakeholders collaborate with teachers and community members regarding the needs of the school. The committee has a work-plan which is sent to SUBEB, which captures the most prioritized needs in the school as identified by the stakeholders.
The first dismissal of teachers was as a result of a high number of unqualified teachers, secondly there are cases where employed teachers do not report to their place of assignment rather they relocate to urban areas thereby leaving the rural areas with few teachers.
The Community Development Charter (CDC) is an integral part of participatory budgeting that allows community members to identify and prioritize their needs using an inclusive, participatory and democratic approach.
The community stakeholders involved in the process include leaders, women, youths, persons with disabilities and minorities. The CDC Champions have been trained to support and mobilize the community stakeholders and facilitate the process.
The Champions have been able to monitor and track projects, those that have been done and also some projects that were not done or done poorly. An instance was made where a project contractor was molding blocks and the community wrote and demanded for the bill of quantity for that project. The major challenge of the CDC is that youths do not engage, they do not ask questions about projects done within their communities.
The Ministry of Justice has opened its doors to residents of the state, in situations where residents have issues like land dispute, landlord-tenant disagreement, family/inheritance/divorce among others and can not afford to get a lawyer they can go to the Citizens’ Right Department and they will be supported. The office is situated at the State secretariat, also jingles are being played on Correct FM towards creating awareness among citizens.
Social protection is a policy or programme of the government designed to ensure citizens do not suffer social and economic shocks with focus on the poor and vulnerable households. They focus on the poor and vulnerable. The social assistance, pension scheme and labor market intervention are some of the programs under social protection.
The Social protection bill is currently in the process of being sent to the State House of Assembly; afterwhich, when it is passed a social protection agency will be established to coordinate social protection interventions in the State.
Also, a social protection trust fund will be launched, and the State Social Register will be enhanced to capture the poor and vulnerable and to avoid selfish interest of others. Thus, all beneficiaries of social protection interventions must come under the social register.
Some of the activities of the OGP commitment on social inclusion are enrollment of more beneficiaries into social registers; tracking of social protection policy implementation and interventions; tracking of targeting process; and quarterly budget tracking of social protection interventions.
Resolutions
Community stakeholders are to step-down information gotten at the town-hall meeting to increase awareness on OGP and government interventions.
The community stakeholders to support other members of their communities to engage the government through identified entry points for engagements.
The seven CDC Champions from different Wards that attended the engagement agreed to build an effective partnership with Social Protection Champions to ensure the poor and vulnerable households in Chikun Local Government are inclusively captured in the State Social Register (SSR).
CALPED and CDC champions to facilitate a courtesy visit to the newly elected Executive Chairman of Chikun LGA to officially introduce the CDC Champions, update him on the Local Government Accountability Mechanism and to congratulate him on his victory at the polls.
The School Based Management Committee (SBMC) committed to partner with the CDC Champions and Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM) to ensure school related issues are well captured in the Budget by both Local and State Government.
The CDC Champions agreed to write to the Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA) for intervention programs in their various communities.
CALPED agreed to facilitate a courtesy visit to the State Operations Coordinating Unit (SOCU) with stakeholders in Chikun LGA to ensure more poor and vulnerable households are captured into the State Social Register.
Stakeholders agreed to track and monitor Social Protection interventions in the local government.
Signed
Stephen Waya
Convener,
Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment & Development (CALPED)
Donald Tabat
CDC Champion/Chikun Local Government Accountability Mechanism
Alheri Waje
For: Local Government Accountability Mechanism
