Article on NAP Costing and Budgeting (1) edits · Coalition to cost the NAP and start the budgeting...

NAPCostingandBudgetingworkshop in Jordan:Bringing theNAPone stepclosertoeffectiveimplementationByMavicCabrera-BallezaandAgnieszkaFalDutraSantosThere are now 63 National Action Plans (NAP) on the UN Security Council Resolution(UNSCR) 1325onWomen, Peace and Security.Out of these, there are only 12NAPs thathave earmarked budget for implementation. The lack of dedicated budget is one of thereasons forweakness in implementation. There are a number of reasonswhymostNAPsdon’thavededicatedbudget:Governmentsdonotconsideritapriority.SometimestheydonothavethetechnicalcapacitytoproperlycosttheNAP.InafewsituationswherethereisbudgetfortheNAP,thecostofcivilsociety’sparticipationinimplementationisnotincluded.To respond to this situation, the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)developedatrainingmoduleonNAPCostingandBudgeting.PilotedinGeorgiainNovember2015,themodulehasbeenfurtherdevelopedandcustomisedtotheNAPprocessinJordan.IncoordinationwiththeJordanianNationalCommissionforWomen(JNCW)andUNWomenJordanGNWPfacilitatedaNAPcostingandbudgetingworkshopinJordan.TheNAPprocessinJordanJordan began the process of drafting a NAP when the JNCW established the NationalCoalition for the ImplementationofUNSCR1325 (Coalition). TheCoalition is composedofrepresentativesof civil society, governmentagencies and the security sector. In2012, theJNCWsubmitted its firstdraftofa JordanianNAP;however,dueto the fact that thedraftwasdevelopedwithlimitedlocalengagement,andwasnotcoupledwithawareness-raisingefforts,ithasremainedunderreviewbytheGovernmentofJordanforthreeyears.In September 2015, theGovernmentofJordancommittedto accelerating the adoption ofthe NAP. Welcoming thiscommitment, the JNCW incollaboration with UN Womeninitiated a participatory processto develop and implement aJordanian National Action Plan(JONAP).ThroughoutJanuaryandFebruary2016,theJNCWandUNWomen held a series of localconsultations with stakeholdersacrossJordantoidentifypriorities

andrecommendationsforJONAP.Buildingontherecommendationsraisedattheconsultations,inAprilandMay2016,theCoalition,withtechnicalsupportfromthe Institute for Inclusive Security, drafted the logical framework, including activities,outcomesandoutputs.

Figure1:JordanianNAPstakeholdersdiscussingcostofactivities

In this context, UN Women Jordan invited GNWP to provide technical support to theCoalitiontocosttheNAPandstartthebudgetingprocess.AwareofthelackofearmarkedfundingforNAPsasoneofthefactorsthathindereffectiveimplementation,JNCWandUNWomenwantedtoensurethattheJONAPisproperlycostedandthereforeimplementable.The costing and budgeting workshop was a critical step towards the completion of theJONAP.OverviewoftheworkshopThecostingandbudgetingworkshopinJordanintegratedthemodule,pilotedbyGNWPandCordaidinGeorgia,adaptingittotheJordanianreality.Toensurethatallsessionsarewell-adjustedtotheJordaniancontext,GNWPenlistedhelpoftwolocalexperts–agovernmentfinancingexpert,Dr.NaifAl-Ibrahem,andGender-ResponsiveBudgeting (GRB)expert,Ms.Arwa Al-Najdawi. The GNWP consulted with the experts prior to the workshop, whilepreparing itsmaterials.The localexpertsalsodeliveredsessionsduringtheworkshop,andservedas resourcepersons, supporting the facilitationand responding to theparticipants’questions.The participatory workshop included sessions on the funding landscpae for women andpeace and security; resource mobilisation and resource mapping; gender-responsivebudgeting;andapresentationonthegovernment’sbudgetingprocess,strucureandsystem.Another important feature of the NAP Costing and Budgeting workshop is the hands-onexercise using a costing template especially developed byGNWP. The costing template isalignedwith the JONAP logframeand reflectall theactivities,outputs, andactivities fromtheexistingdraftJONAPlogframe.ItalsointegratesthecostsforconductingmonitoringandevaluationoftheJONAP.

The costing exercise helped the participants refine theactivities,toensuretheyaremorespecificandrealistic,andthereforeactionable.TheCoalitionwillcontinuetorefinetheactivities.GNWPalsorecommendedtoJNCWand UN Women Jordan that a special Costing andBudgeting team be formed to finalise the costing anddevelopaJONAPbudget.Another important outcome of the NAP Costing andBudgetingworkshopinJordanwastheformationoftheNAP Costing and Budgeting team composed ofrepresentatives of the JNCW; civil society; the GeneralBudget Department in the Ministry of Finance; a GRBexpert; security sector; and UNWomen.Although theteam has not yet convened since the workshop inAugust, its responsibility to finalise the budget andseeingitthroughuntilitisapprovedhasbeendefinedbytheCoalition.

Figure2:GNWP'sMavicCabrera-BallezaleadingthesessionontheinternationalWPSfinancingclimate

Thetwo-dayNAPCostingandBudgetingworkshopinJordanwaspartofafour-dayevent,organised by Jordan national women’s machinery. The event also included sessions onmonitoring and evaluation and coordination among actors involved in national actionplanning forWPS, facilitatedby the Institute for InclusiveSecurity (IIS).RepresentativesofSerbia’sMinistryofDefenseandUNWomenSerbiaalsoattended theworkshop.Serbia iscurrentlydevelopingthesecondphaseofitsNAP.ChallengesandlessonslearnedEach costing and budgeting workshop provides GNWPwith an opportunity to refine andimproveitscostingandbudgetingworkshopmodule,bytestingitsadaptabilitytodifferentcontexts.By learning fromeachof theseexperiences,GNWPensures that themodule isarelevanttoolforstakeholdersdevelopingNationalActionPlansaroundtheworld.SomeofthechallengesandlessonslearnedfromtheworkshopinJordaninclude:

1. OnechallengewastheshortworkshopdayinJordan.Eachworkshopdaystartedat9amandfinishedat2pm,andtheparticipantswereveryreluctanttostaylaterthanthat.Asaresult,GNWPdivided itsmodule (initiallydesignedforoneday) intotwoseparatedays. The two-dayworkshop turnedout towork verywell,with the firstdaydevotedtobuildingtheCoalition’stechnicalcapacity,andthesecondfocusedonthepracticalcostingexercise.Thehomework,givenbyGNWPtoparticipantsonDay1alsoprovedhelpful,sinceitallowedtheparticipantstopreparethemselvesforthecostingexercise.

2. AnotherchallengewasthelargegroupGNWPhadtoconductcostingwith.JONAP’sbroad-basedapproachisitsdefinitestrength,andtheCoalitionisareflectionofthisparticipatory process. There are over forty members on the Coalition, and eachworkshop daywas attended by at least thirty participants.While commendable interms of ensuring an inclusive process, working with such a big team on a veryspecific taskwasa challenge.Dividing theparticipants into smallergroups for thecosting exercised helped mitigate it. However, it was also challenging thatmostparticipants were not decision-makers and did not have financial/budgetingexpertise. In the future, even if the costing is done with a larger group,representatives from the Ministry of Finance/Budgeting Department and higherlevelofficialsshouldalsobeinvitedforthecostingandbudgetingworkshop.

3. Since the GNWP costing and budgeting workshop followed a day-long session on

developingaMonitoring andEvaluation plan for aNAP, theCoalitionwas able tocost not only theoutcomesof the JONAP, but also itsMonitoring and Evaluationplan.Whilethismayrequiremoreworktobedonepriortocosting,ingeneral,itisagoodmodelthatcouldbeappliedinfuturecostingandbudgetingworkshops.

RecommendationsandnextstepsRecommendationsfornextstepsonJONAPcosting

1) Smallergrouptofurtherworkonthelogframeandrefinetheactivities–Itwouldbemostpracticaltoassignthefinalisationofthedraftlogframetoasmallergroup.Theprimarytasksofthissmallergroupwouldbetoaddmoredetailstothelogframe

and refine the activities. This smaller group may be composed of the following:representativesfromJNCW,CSOs,securitysectorandUNWomen.

2) CostingandBudgetingteam-Toensurecoherencebetweentheactivitiesandtheircostsandtolimittheback-and-forth,andnumberofreviews,GNWPsuggestthatthesamegroupthatrefinesactivitiescouldalsobeincludedintheCostingandBudgetingteam.Theonlyadditions to theteam,whowould joinat thecostingprocess (afterthe activities have been finalised), would be the representitives the Ministry ofFinanceandaCostingandBudgeting/GRBexpert.

3) Costingvalidation -GNWPsuggestedthattheentireJONAPCoalitionbeconvenedafterthelogframeiscompletedandcostingisdone,topresentthefulldraftoftheJONAP,solicitcommentsandmakefinalrevisions.

GNWPnextsteps

1) The most important next step for GNWP is the documentation of the lessonslearnedfromtheJONAPcostingandbudgetingworkshop.Thelessonslearntwillbecapturedintwoways:

a. First,by includingthereportfromtheNAPCostingandBudgetingworkshopinJordanintheNAPCostingandBudgetingmanual;

b. Second,inatrainingvideopreparedbyGNWP.GNWPhiredavideographerto document the workshop in Jordan. The documentation will besuplementedby interviewswithexperts,andadetailedtrainingontheuseof the costing template. The videowill serve as an additional resource forNAPcostingandbudgeting.

2) GNWPiscommittedtoseeingtheJordancostingprocesstoitsend,andwillcontinue

to virtually support the process, by providing its expert advice and guidance.

3) GNWPhopestoconductthenextNAPCostingandBudgetingworkshop inthefirstquarter of 2017. Several countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo,Nepal, Sierra LeoneandSudanexpressed interest toundergo theNAPCostingandBudgetingworkshop.