Child Friendly Budgeting in Local Authorities Baseline Study Report

Background   
NANGO with the support of Save the Children initiated this baseline study to gauge how child friendly are the budgets in the following local authorities, Municipality of Gwanda, City of Kadoma, City of Mutare, Mvurwi Town and Marondera Municipality. The overall objective of the study was to establish the child friendly budget initiatives and the progress in their implementation in the five local authorities. The baseline study investigated the trends, transparency and expenditure in child related programmes and projects in these five local authorities.

Purpose/objective (including evaluation questions)   
The specific objectives of the Baseline Study was to:
1. Establish budget trends with respect to the local authority’s budget allocation to  education, health and social services for children in the last four years
2. Establish budget trends with respect to budget expenditure on education, health and social services for children in the last four years
3. Establish the budget line items earmarked for children in the local budget
4. Establish clarity on planning and reporting for children in local government budget documents
5. Establish accessibility of budget documents to children and local residents
6. Establish level of participation of children in the local budgeting processes

Methodology    
The study gathered the data using literature review, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The study gathered data from Child Led Groups, Junior Councillors, Residents Associations and key personnel from the local authorities. Key informant interviews were also conducted with relevant Save the Children staff.The gathered data was analysed using MS Excel and manually.K

Key findings   
a) The budget framework that guides the budgeting in the local authorities from the parent ministry is blind to the issues of children rights. The same framework does not provide sufficient sign posts on how children’s rights and issues can be incorporated in local authority budgets to make them child friendly.
b) The local authority economic and social policies are silent on the needs of children as a specific stakeholder. However the existing economic and social policies address the issues that affect children such as poverty, discrimination and malnutrition among other social ills that affect children.
c) The local authorities studied are aware of the need for transparency, accountability and citizens/stakeholder participation in their activities and budgeting. However the study concludes that the practices on the ground do not meet the expectations. Participation is consultative and not empowered. The children and their representatives are not meaningfully engaged in the budgeting process, budget tracking and monitoring.
The study also concludes that the transparency is not practised and there are no accountability mechanisms between the children, their representatives and the local authorities.
d)  In terms of progressive increase in the budget categories that address the   children’s rights, the study concludes that budgets have not in general terms been progressively increasing during the studied period. The general pattern that the study observed is that the budgets increase and fluctuate from year to year.
e) The use of traditional budgeting approach, the study could determine the allocative efficiency of the budget. On the efficiency of the budget expenditure the study concludes that there is inefficiency. A dual pattern of expenditure inefficiency has emerged, one being of under spending and the other of over-spending.

Recommendations
a) Engagement and capacity strengthening of the Ministry of Local Government, National Housing and Public Works and Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe so that they are able to provide guidance to the local authorities on how to come up with child friendly budgets that are performance based. UCAZ could follow on the footsteps of ZILGA which has developed a gender policy to guide local authorities by doing the same for child friendly budgeting.
b) Capacity building of the local authority in the areas of developing and implementing child friendly economic and social policies, children participation in budgeting process, budget tracking, monitoring and reporting in transparent ways and setting up accountability mechanisms between children, their representatives and the council.
Capacity building of CLG and JC so that they become viable entities which can articulate issues for children and influence policy and budgets. In some of the local authorities this would also mean supporting them to establish the JC.