Kaduna State

A summary of SPARC's work in Kaduna will be posted here and updated on a regular basis. The summary will include our work with Kaduna State Government (KSG), recent events and progress with governance initiatives.

The Kaduna State Government Change Programme

SPARC, in tandem with Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN), Partnerships for Transforming Health Systems 2 (PATHS2) and the State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI), are aligning to support the delivery of the Eleven - Point Agenda (EPA) where possible. Together, these comprise DFID's set of State Level Programmes (SLPs). Political engagement is improving, between DFID and government, and also between the individual programmes and government. A Development Corporation Framework (DCF) has been signed between the State Government, World Bank, United Nations and DFID.

The EPA is being fleshed-out into a Kaduna State Development Plan (KSDP) which will be aligned with a multi-year budget i.e. 2011-2012. The DCF commits all development partners to align support behind the KSDP.

Work on the Change Programme began in 2009, when the Kaduna State Govenment embarked on a self assessment process to clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of its public service, and of its policy and strategy processes, with a similar self assessment done in public financial management.

Based on the results of the self assessments, the reform areas were prioritized, long - term goals and objectives defined, and intermediate goals set. These, together with detailed implementation plans, form the basis of the Change Programme. These have all been validated and the implementation of the first phase of governance reform is in progress - supported by SPARCs first two-year work plan. The Change Programme will form part of KSDP.

The Kaduna State Government is working with SPARC to develop and implement a Governance Reform Programme in three areas:

Public Financial Management (PFM);
Public Service Management (PSM); and
Policy & Strategy (Incorporating Monitoring and Evaluation (P&S/M&E)

Considerable challenges will be faced in budget realism. SPARC will increase efforts at realistic revenue forecasting in collaboration with the political class, and back this up with work on cash flow forecasts, a capital projects database, and debt sustainability analysis.

Kaduna State Govenment, with support from its development partners, is committed to implementing the Change Programme reforms, which are helping the government to go better about its business of delivering the EPA for the development of the state.

Since its inception, the Change Programme has:

Improved accounting;
Made mandates of ministries clearer;
Strengthened partnerships; and,
Improved strategies.

Click here to find out more about the achievements in the State through the Change Programme.

Coordination in Kaduna

As well as providing technical support to KSG, SPARC is actively involved in coordination activities with other SLPs, development partners and their programmes in the State. Coordination between the SLPs remains relatively strong in Kaduna. Regular coordination meetings continue to be held, supplemented by additional meetings between the programmes where required. Nodes of collaboration have been identified, planned for and implementation has begun. Two of the key areas are:

Medium Term Planning and Budget (Medium Term Expenditure Framework, Kaduna State Development Plan, and Medium Term Sector Strategies in Health, Education and Agriculture);
Corporate planning to support in improving mandates, functions and the overall structure of government for delivery of KSDP, initially concentrating on three sectors (Health, Education, Agriculture) and two central agencies (Ministry of Economic Planning and Office of the Head of Service).

SPARC has recently produced Public Financial Management Fact Sheets.