Community Based Poverty Monitoring System in Nigeria: A Community Participatory Approach. A CBMS Proposal. Submitted to

Transcription

1 Community Based Poverty Monitoring System in Nigeria: A Community Participatory Approach A CBMS Proposal Submitted to PEP Research Network Department of Economics Université Laval 1

2 OUTLINE OF THE PROPOSAL Introduction/Background Rationale Objectives of CBMS Nigeria Methodology Policy Relevance and Dissemination Strategy Intended Use of CBMS Data Expected Capacity Building Expected Output 2

3 Introduction/Background High incidence of poverty in Nigeria has necessitated a number of anti-poverty policies by successive governments in Nigeria (including SAP, Deregulation policies, NEEDS, NAPEP, Vision 2020 etc.) Very few attempts to monitor the impact of antipoverty programs Occasional general household survey which still lives information gaps for critical policy decisions 3

4 They provide data required to analyze welfare at the national level and only at specific points in time. They are often either conducted on irregular time basis or the time span between one survey and another is very long to allow any meaning detailed analysis of dynamics of welfare at micro-level of communities Such data shortfalls make it difficult to design effective poverty targeting policies at the community levels. 4

5 Rationale There is need for community-level surveys that provide information on the dynamics of poverty and the impact of policies on welfare at microlevel. Policy makers need to know, for instance, how removal of subsidies in agricultural inputs, cooking gas or petrol impacts on the welfare of rural populations. They may want to know how gains in economic growth and public expenditure are distributed and how these impact on the populations at the grass-roots. 5

6 CBMS-Nigeria proposes to generate and implement Community-Based Monitoring System that: measures monitors, evaluates and tracks welfare changes at local communities in Nigeria using a case study. 6

7 Objectives of CBMS - Nigeria CBMS-Nigeria aims to: provide the local communities with a simplified and easy to collect poverty indicators selected based on the local conditions so as to monitor community well-being; produce community poverty monitoring reports based on the results of the Monitoring system; improve the capacity of data collection and processing at the local level through community participation in the process of data collection; provide the local government planning officers with current and comprehensive dataset and summary statistics for poverty assessment based on the welfare indicators and provide accurate and timely data on which poverty alleviation strategies and schemes will be effectively based 7

8 Structure of the Local Government in Nigeria Nigeria has a population of 142 million as at 2006 and is organized in a three-tier federal structure: - Federal - State (36) & - Local governments (774) - The average LGA has a population of about 190,000; and with - typical Nigerian household size of 6, this gives about households per LGA 8

9 LGAs make policies and carry out primary functions that have direct impact on the lives of the citizens. These include: Economic development of the LGA The provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education The development of agriculture and natural resources The provision and maintenance of health services. These impact directly on communities and households, hence the importance of LGAs in this study. 9

10 Local Government Area Judicial Arm Executive Arm Legislative Arm Customary Courts Chairman Supervisory CouncillorCoun cillors Local GGCouncil Local Public Service Head of Service Heads of Departments Civil Servants Citizens 10

11 Fiscal Relation Revenues collectible at national level from the major tax bases are pooled and shared: vertically among the three tiers of government federal states and LGAs, horizontally among the 36 states and 774 LGAs on rule-based method. 11

12 There are also tax bases assigned to each tier of government which constitutes its own internally generated revenue (IGR). States support the LGAs within their domain with additional fund from states IGR LGA development fund therefore = Fed alloc. + State Support + IGR LGA fiscal policies are monitored and regulated by state 12

13 Governance at Community Level Under the local government structure are the communities that make up the local government. The importance of communities as critical centres of development cannot be overemphasized. They provide very important vehicles for government development programmes. Local governments consult the town/village unions that make up the local governments in critical economic and social development policies but particularly on security matters. 13

14 Town unions often mobilize revenue from different sources including donation, revenue yielding projects such as waterboreholes to execute their development programmes. It is these town unions that often build schools, health centres and artery roads in their communities and hand-over to local and state governments for staffing and management. 14

15 Dimensions of Poverty A good community poverty tracking and monitoring mechanism will require identifiable dimensions of poverty to be explored. There is need to identify indicators on which poverty can be measured and assessed especially at the community level 15

16 Neoclassical definition of poverty based solely on income has been shown to provide a very narrow perspective. A multi-dimensional perspective on poverty has been widely recognized in current literature; It includes dimensions of deprivation such as access to health care and basic facilities, educational services, employment opportunities, etc. (Reyes and Valencia, 2003). 16

17 The following indicators are often identified to capture poverty dimensions: Health, nutrition, housing, water and sanitation, basic education, income, employment, peace and order. These and others that are directly linked to the community of interest will be explored in this study. 17

18 Methodology The CBMS-Nigeria will involve the use of participatory research methodology. The survey will be based on communities starting with Edem Community, then households and individuals. In order to obtain community perceptions and gaps that exist between the expectations of the community and the activities of the government, a community scorecard assessment will be conducted. 18

19 Study Site Edem is one of the largest communities in Nsukka. Its estimated population is about as at 2006 which translates to about 5000 households. The choice of this community is based on its high level of deprivation and poverty status characteristic of most Nigerian rural villages. It has also a fairly stable population in terms of minimal migration and is also a homogenous community. It is a subsistent agrarian community that lacks access to essential social amenities. 19

20 This will provide comprehensive information on the dynamics of poverty in the area that will feed into policy in the local government and Enugu state at large. Monitoring poverty statistics in this area will provide valuable insights for the government and policy makers more than it would have been in a relatively affluent community in the urban centres. 20

21 Scope of Coverage It is expected that the project implementation will cover a period of approximately 26 months divided into two phases. Phase 1 will consist of three parts. Phase 2 will have three components 21

22 PHASE 1 Phase 1 of the survey will entail preliminary research issues which will lead to the development of the community based poverty tracking system (CBPTS). Specifically, the activities include: Training of Research assistants and pilot testing of the CBMS design so as to determine its feasibility in the local setting (testing the data collection instruments for validation using about 30 households outside the selected community. Survey of 5000 households Cost-route survey of 4000 households to monitor response of household-poverty indicators to changes in policy 22

23 Phase 2 The second phase will involve: establishment of data base Dissemination of findings of CBMS Replication/expansion of CBMS in more sites in the country 23

24 Data collection Tools and Analysis A draft community score card as well as draft household questionnaire will be prepared by the CBMS-Nigeria team. These tools will undergo refining as well as modifications after consultation with the communities, other authorities as well as experienced PEP-CBMS researchers. 24

25 In addition to the household questionnaires, community questionnaires will be administered on the village or community chiefs to elicit data on the village or local community. The chiefs or head of the community will be the main respondent. This will be corroborated with the community and household scorecard response from members of the community. 25

26 Identification of indicators Consistent with multi-dimensional approach to poverty analysis, we intend to obtain information on multidimensional poverty indicators. The list of relevant indicators for the study area include: Demographic composition of households Educational attainments Expenditure of households Energy consumption Housing conditions etc. 26

27 Data analysis In order to ensure that the skill for data analysis is passed on to the community and to ensure that the exercise is sustainable, selected members of the community will be taught the skill for data analysis and they will actively participate in analyzing the data generated from the survey. They will also be taught to use simple statistical packages for such analysis. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and STATA Programme will be used in data analysis. Thus data processing will be the task of both our academic team members who will guide and direct the activities and the trained local community members who will continue even at the expiration of the project. 27

28 Policy Relevance and Information Dissemination strategy To ensure that the results of the study feed back into policy, this study will involve a close collaboration between the community, Nsukka LGA authorities and the researchers. To achieve this, there are representatives of each of the parties in the study team. The findings of the study will inform policy on poverty levels at different points in time for various communities. 28

29 Intended Uses of the CBMS Data The data generated from the CBMS exercise will be used to inform policy both at the local government and community level. Local government will use it to monitor the impact of poverty eradication programs in the area. The community may want to use it to monitor the impact of social welfare programs including health and education. Following from above, the data may also be used for monitoring relative deprivation by sub-communities, and thus, for resources distribution. The CBMS data will be used to further build capacity in monitoring of programs as the local community will be engaged and informed of crucial aspects of program monitoring based on available data. It will serve as reference point for replication of CBMS in other parts of the country The data will also be available to professionals who may want to study the dynamic and distributional efficiency of government programs 29

30 Expected Capacity Building The methodology of this study will boost the capacity of participating communities in analysing their poverty status and proffering practical alleviation measures at different points in time. Hence, the participating households will be stakeholders in the definition of their destinies. Also, training modules on data collection, processing, analysis and use of CBMS data will be prepared by the academic team members and used to train the enumerators who will be mainly drawn from the participating local community, local government staff and graduate students of University of Nigeria Nsukka. This will facilitate appreciation and use of CBMS information by the local community even after the expiration of the project. It will also enable the researchers especially those in training to have a hands-on grip of the tools and software for poverty analysis. 30

31 Expected output a. paper which reviews the existing poverty monitoring system in Nigeria b. Design of the proposed CBMS for pilot-test c. A report on the consultation meetings conducted with regards to the proposed design of indicators and methodology d. Development of data collection and processing tools e. Final design of CBMS methodology f. Training modules (e.g., training of enumerators, training on data processing, training on poverty mapping, training on the use of CBMS data, etc.) g. Establishment of a CBMS database h. Poverty profiles for the selected project area using the data gathered from the survey i. A research paper on the use of CBMS as a tool for strengthening poverty alleviation efforts in Nigeria j. Final design of CBMS for implementation/replication to other sites in Nigeria k. A documentation of the proceedings of the different dissemination activities l. Final project report containing a technical report on the details of all project activities and a detailed project financial report 31

32 APPRECIATION THANK YOU! 32