The Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, in partnership with the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, and the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), have set up a technical working group to track and ensure accountability in the implementation of budget allocation targeting women’s economic empowerment.
The working group, comprising monitoring and evaluation officers from 10 federal agencies in Nigeria, would among others, track budget implementation on women economic empowerment.
The inauguration was done on Tuesday in Abuja.
The group led by the director of monitoring and evaluation at the budget ministry, Dr Zakari Lawal, is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, under the Partnership for Advancing Women’s Economic Development (PAWED).
In his welcome address, the Director-General of NIPSS, Brigadier CJ Udaya, represented by Dr Nasirdeen Usman, said working group was to support the accountability process of the piloting of the application of the monitoring and evaluation framework on WEE programs in Nigeria.
He said the nation stands to solve its economic challenges when women’s economic empowerment is given the required attention.
“With 44.82% of the labour force in Nigeria, empowering this segment of our population is not the only key to achieving economic independence, but it is also critical in sustaining the nation’s overall economic development,” he said.
Dr Lawal, while stressing the need to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of women’s economic in the country, said the federal government is determined to set in mechanisms to promote transparency in the allocation and implementation of policies in the country.
The group will train the techniques and skills to track budget allocation and implementation on Wednesday and Thursday at the Bolton White Hotel in Abuja.
