The Pro-Poor Advocacy Group (Pro-PAG)
The Pro-Poor Advocacy Group (Pro-PAG) is a Civil Society Organisation founded in 2003 and registered with NGO Affairs. Our unique mandate is to engage The Gambian Government on pro-poor policies, projects and programmes using the national budget as a key advocacy tool. Pro-PAG aims to improve living standards for the poor, the marginalised and the excluded, with a special focus on women and children. We hope to achieve this through the participatory budget process, public education, sensitisations and public expenditure tracking. Participatory budget process – this involves ordinary citizens being part of the dialogue that decides how some of the public budget is spent. Participatory budgeting empowers citizens and creates a space for people to discuss and prioritise projects that are funded by public money. Public expenditure tracking is a system that involves openly presenting how public funds are being spent and encourages transparency and government financial accountability. The participatory budget process and public expenditure tracking is important in The Gambia because it seeks to engage public participation in, and the monitoring of government spending. This should result in increased transparency and encourage public spending where it is most needed and wanted by ordinary people. CONTACT US Garba Jahumpa Road, Bakau Newtown, Serrekunda, The Gambia Executive Director: Omar Jobe Tel: (220) 449 4338 Fax: (220) 449 4219 Email: [email protected] Website: www.pro-pag.gm |
We communicate with our members, partners, National Assembly Members and community groups through quarterly workshops and community consultations and visits. We are now organised and have an executive board which consists of an executive director and 7 board members who were elected at our General Assembly in October 2011 to serve a two year term. We are affiliated with of The Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (TANGO), The Education for All Networks (EFANET), the Child Protection Alliance (CPA) and the United Nations Development Programme. Our donors have been the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), ActionAID, UNICEF and the European Union (EU). Pro-PAG operates in regions across The Gambia: Banjul; Kanifing Municipality; Western Region; Lower River Region; Central River Region; Upper River Region; and the North Bank Region. Our purpose is to work constructively and cooperatively with local communities and the government, to critically analyse policy and highlight policy gaps, if need be. We do so in a manner that benefits both government actors and the communities they aim to serve. Pro-PAG aims to allow The Gambian people to engage with decision makers over how national funds are spent, through: (1) Lobbying and advocacy • Budget Advocacy: our participatory budget formation workshops directly involve approximately one hundred participants selected to form a cross-section of groups within the region. Identified priorities are then shared with Government ministries in the form of output reports. • We have carried out budget monitoring services for organisations such as UNICEF, UNDP and the National Planning Commission. (2) Capacity Building and Community Mobilisation We conduct: • Capacity building workshops for members and partners. • Field training and interventions in schools and hospitals nationwide with National Assembly Members. • Hands-on training: for example facilitating trips for National Assembly Members to provincial schools, health centres or agricultural sites. • Pro-PAG ran a series of capacity building trainings in the Upper Nuimi District, North Bank Region on Economic Literacy and Budget Accounting for Governance. The feedback from participants was very positive. The Chairman of Kerewan Area Council, Alhaji Ceesay said that: “The training has plugged the information gap, which is an essential step towards improving democratic accountability.” Pro-PAG associates have benefited from training from organisations such as the Child Protection Agency, Education for All Network, Action AID, the Government of The Gambia and the African Network Campaign on Education for All. (3) Poverty Research and Monitoring • Community Scorecards. • Budget tracking and reporting. • Publication of brochures, leaflets and articles. |
|
|