Md Sazedul Islam :
Due to an initiative of an international NGO, the life of Mukti (not real name) has been changed. Mukti now dreams of being becoming a doctor, but not long ago she faced a very different future. She was born in Daulatdia brothel in Rajbari. In a few years, without an education and with little prospect of employment, she would likely have been forced into prostitution like her mother. With the help of others, the NGO opened a school where she is now getting an education. Mukti has been attending the school for 5 years and can now read and write. She dreams of becoming a doctor. Mukti is on her way to fulfilling her dreams and now has the chance to live a very
different life from that of her mother.
About 39.7 per cent of the country’s total populations are under 18 years of age. If they are brought up properly, they will turn into resources for the country.
Hence, a proper policy and effective planning are needed for making a budget with proper allocation and its proper implementation.
The provision for child budget will help spur their development. Such budgeting can be a best option for improving the condition of children across the country.
Chowdhury Mohammad Tayub, senior programme manager of Save the Children, said that the child budget is not a separate budget. Through child budget, we would be able to know about how much money has been allocated for children in the budget and the amount of its expenditure. This budget is a yardstick of measuring how much money has been spent for the welfare of the children.
The child budget contains picture of allocation taking into consideration children’s rights and needs and implementation. If the children are not brought up properly, they will turn burden to the nation. Child rights activists said the government should disaggregate budget allocations specially for programmes that benefit children from the overall allocations made. Budgeting for children is an analytical tool and reporting mechanism. This is important for two key reasons; from a prospective outlook, monitoring the inter- and intra-sectoral allocations of the budget over time is necessary to assess their impact and allocative efficiency. Equally, budgeting for children also enables us to map gaps retrospectively, and identify where there is no legal or programmatic commitment, meaning no financial commitment either.
According to Save the Children, “We proposed two practical approaches that could be used to advance budgeting for children, namely how to feature children more centrally in the budget making process, and a guideline for analyzing budgetary allocations for children. It also provides analysis of the allocations to, and the allocations by, two key child-focused ministries, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.”
As most public expenditure resources come from the public purse, citizens – especially the children should benefit from the government services. The Bangladesh government currently requires its line ministries to report on how their budget allocations impact on women’s advancement and poverty reduction through a narrative description, accompanied by figures, under the ‘Poverty and Gender Reporting’ in the Medium Term Budget Framework.
Due to an initiative of an international NGO, the life of Mukti (not real name) has been changed. Mukti now dreams of being becoming a doctor, but not long ago she faced a very different future. She was born in Daulatdia brothel in Rajbari. In a few years, without an education and with little prospect of employment, she would likely have been forced into prostitution like her mother. With the help of others, the NGO opened a school where she is now getting an education. Mukti has been attending the school for 5 years and can now read and write. She dreams of becoming a doctor. Mukti is on her way to fulfilling her dreams and now has the chance to live a very
different life from that of her mother.
About 39.7 per cent of the country’s total populations are under 18 years of age. If they are brought up properly, they will turn into resources for the country.
Hence, a proper policy and effective planning are needed for making a budget with proper allocation and its proper implementation.
The provision for child budget will help spur their development. Such budgeting can be a best option for improving the condition of children across the country.
Chowdhury Mohammad Tayub, senior programme manager of Save the Children, said that the child budget is not a separate budget. Through child budget, we would be able to know about how much money has been allocated for children in the budget and the amount of its expenditure. This budget is a yardstick of measuring how much money has been spent for the welfare of the children.
The child budget contains picture of allocation taking into consideration children’s rights and needs and implementation. If the children are not brought up properly, they will turn burden to the nation. Child rights activists said the government should disaggregate budget allocations specially for programmes that benefit children from the overall allocations made. Budgeting for children is an analytical tool and reporting mechanism. This is important for two key reasons; from a prospective outlook, monitoring the inter- and intra-sectoral allocations of the budget over time is necessary to assess their impact and allocative efficiency. Equally, budgeting for children also enables us to map gaps retrospectively, and identify where there is no legal or programmatic commitment, meaning no financial commitment either.
According to Save the Children, “We proposed two practical approaches that could be used to advance budgeting for children, namely how to feature children more centrally in the budget making process, and a guideline for analyzing budgetary allocations for children. It also provides analysis of the allocations to, and the allocations by, two key child-focused ministries, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.”
As most public expenditure resources come from the public purse, citizens – especially the children should benefit from the government services. The Bangladesh government currently requires its line ministries to report on how their budget allocations impact on women’s advancement and poverty reduction through a narrative description, accompanied by figures, under the ‘Poverty and Gender Reporting’ in the Medium Term Budget Framework.
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