UNFPA, Bauchi partner to upscale data management in population, gender based violence, others

By Rauf Oyewole

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in partnership with the Bauchi State Government have moved to upscale the data management in population, gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health. 

The UNFPA Gender and Reproductive Health Analyst and Bauchi State Programme Officer, Deborah Tabara, on Tuesday said one of the organisation’s key mandates is building institutional capacity to analyze and use disaggregated data for monitoring goals and indicators.

According to her, significant progress has been made towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including addressing unmet needs for family planning, preventing maternal deaths, and eliminating gender-based violence and other harmful practices, achievements made possible through improved data and analytical tools.

“However, these progresses are not uniform, as marginalized communities and vulnerable populations are still being left behind,” she noted.

Tabara explained that to bridge the data gap, UNFPA is partnering with the Ministry to strengthen the capacity of directors of planning, research and statistics (DPRS) to collect, collate, and analyze context-specific data. This, she said, would guide baseline situation analyses, planning, program design, monitoring, and reporting, leading to informed decision-making for Bauchi State’s development.

“I want to reiterate UNFPA’s commitment to work with Bauchi State to harness the power of inclusive data for informed decision-making in policy development, planning, and budgeting that promote inclusivity and equality,” she added.

Also, the commissioner, Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination, Amina Mohammed Katagum, explained that the training aims to build the capacity of the officers to effectively plan and implement development programmes for the state.

Katagum charged the participants to pay close attention to the facilitators, expressing regret that only five ladies were selected for the training.

The commissioner who cited the need to observe the 35% affirmative action for women, emphasized the importance of planning in development.

Hajiya Katagum while describing planning as a fundamental aspect of life, revealed that there is a high demand for planning officers in the state, and the participants would be reshuffled from time to time to different ministries.

She urged them to take the training seriously and become good ambassadors of economic planning ministry.