By Mustapha Sesay
The United Nations children agency, UNICEF, is advocating for children`s participation in government discussion to draw up the 2016 budget.
UNICEF says it will be supporting 28 boys and girls from across the country to meet with the Minister of Finance and Economic Development and members of parliament in Freetown.
Geoff Wiffin, UNICEF country representative said in a press release that “despite making up nearly half of the population of Sierra Leone, children until now have had very little chance to participate in the budget process.”
He added: “we think it’s vital that children’s voices are heard and taken into account because there are three million children who will be deeply impacted by whatever decisions are taken.”
The statement indicated that the children would have the chance to raise requests and concerns for the different sectoral committees to discuss and that the MPs would be asked to be involved in key decisions with regards to the investment in education, health, child protection and other services for children and their families.
“Child-friendly budgeting” is a separate budget, it referred to the same government budget, but it desires for the consideration of children in terms of allocating the budget to programme, Abdu Maryam, UNICEF monitoring and evaluation specialist, explained to journalists at UNICEF head office in Freetown.
She said this move was an attempt to examine the resources government allocates, whether it reflects the need of children in the country. She noted that before the budget debate in parliament, the engagement between the MPs and the children was to ensure that the focus of the budget would center on selected key sectors that were of importance to the survival and well-being of children.
“Children are voiceless, they depend on adult well-being and they make up nearly 50 percent of the country`s population,” Maryam said.
(C) Politico Online 09/11/15
