E-Learning on financing social protection and key social sectors that matter for children

By bringing together the worlds of public finance and of child-sensitive budgeting, this training programme aimed to equip civil servants, social development and public finance practitioners, civil society representatives and UNICEF staff from the Eastern Caribbean area with the practical skills to analyse current allocations, to review spending, to assess potential reforms and develop tailored country financing plans towards directly improving results for children and the wider economy. OBJECTIVES The training objectives of the course were to: • Identify the main ways in which governments collect revenue and describe key considerations and trade-offs. • Describe the key features and stages of the Public Financial Management cycle and where key sectoral financing can be located within this. • Interpret national budget documents and data, particularly in relation to child sensitive expenditure. • Assess the scale of gaps in a given national context, and calculate the cost of filling them. • Identify public finance management bottlenecks and find mitigating measures to optimize spending for social sectors and social protection. • Identify key options for creating fiscal space for child-sensitive budgeting, keeping in mind the broader context of public finance. • Appraise the value for money and equity of child-sensitive schemes and systems. • Design medium term costed plans for financing of child-sensitive budgeting. • Make the case for enhanced spending outcomes for children in their national context. • Establish a PF4C Community of Practice in the region with a view to continue advancing the child-responsive budgeting agenda beyond the life of the training course CONTENT The first phase of the course was delivered entirely online over a period of five months and it covered the following topics: • Topic 1 : Why focus on public finance for child-responsive budgeting • Topic 2 : Introduction to Public Financial Management • Topic 3 : Fiscal space for financing services for children • Topic 4 : Understanding national budgets • Topic 5 : Reforming public financial management The second phase of the course was delivered face-to-face through a five-day workshop in St. Lucia and it covered the remaining topics: • Topic 6 : Assessing and costing social sector delivery gaps • Topic 7 : Public Expenditure Analysis and Value for Money • Topic 8 : Equity in financing services for children • Topic 9 : Developing medium to longer term financing strategies ACHIEVEMENT The course was offered from May to October 2022 and it was divided into two distinct phases, combining online and face-to-face learning, for an estimated total of 90 learning hours. The assessment for this course, based on a total of 100 points, consisted of: • Phase 1 : Online course (40 points) Each Topic is worth a total of 8 points broken down as follows: o Readings and videos (2 points) o Contributing to the Discussion Forum (2 points) o Assignment (4 points) • Phase 2 : Face-to-face workshop (30 points) • Overarching activities : o Final Assignment (15 points) o E-coaching (15 points) NUMBER OF HOURS: E-Learning on financing social protection and key social sectors that matter for children consisted of 90 learning hours.