Addis Ababa, December 7th-8th , 2010 Anastasie A. Koudoh, Plan West Africa

1. Budgeting for children’s rights – Not without them! –Experiences of youth groups in budget advocacy Addis Ababa, December 7th-8th , 2010 Anastasie A. Koudoh, Plan West Africa

2. Outline of the presentation • I- Plan’s work in budget advocacy • Budget in Plan WA projects • Plan WA response and approach • II- Children and Youth as citizens in budget advocacy. • Plan and achievements • findings of our intervention • Engagement with media and duty bearers • Recommendations • Next steps • Conclusion

3. Introduction • Commitment of governments around the world by signing international instruments to protect children • The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Paris Declaration for Aid Effectiveness • Budget is the most important economic instrument of the government so there is need to monitor it.

4. Introduction • Budgeting remain with the economist and those who manage countries • No involvement of communities, youth/children, poor and marginalized. • A series of socio cultural and political factors underpin the ability of children, youth, the poor and marginalized to understand, engage and advocate.

5. Budget advocacy in our projects • Government’s budget directly or indirectly affects the lives of its citizens so children as citizens have their word to say in the Human rights: citizens, civil society organizations to participate in decision making. • Human Rights based approaches to programming (in Plan’s case: Child Centered Community Development) • governance of it resources.

6. Plan West Africa response and approach • Budget analysis and advocacy with the rights holders as strategies to • Collect evidence on budget allocation, effectiveness and expenditure • Inform public debates by providing evidence. • Improve the delivery of public services by using evidence of poor service provision gathered through budget analysis

7. Plan West Africa response and approach • Engage with national policy frameworks and budget for change and long-term impact • Promote more transparent, participatory, and accountable budget processes by demonstrating how civil society can use budget information and public participation to strengthen and increase support for policies

8. Plan West Africa response and approach • Empower youth and adults to participate in the budget process. • Hold government accountable • Plan is investing a lot in the implementation of the rights of the children and have a word to say on the good governance of nations resources. • Give voice to voiceless-youth and children- to get their voice heard.

9. Children and youth participation ‘Ever since I was exposed to the concept of budgeting, I can now explain all the steps and components involved in budgeting to both adults and children. The practical research we conducted has also enriched my experiences and has provided me opportunity to write articles and contribute to some policy discussions. I am proud to call myself a budget expert...’ Adnan • Identification of youth groups (age 16-30)through general assessment of their capacity and ability • ToT for youth and adults in budget advocacy by Plan in collaboration with ISODEC • Training of other youth groups

10. What next … • Need suport of all NGOs and Institutions for the youth advisory board West Africa and their work of budget advoacy in the whole Africa

11. Thank you for your attention