There are concerns over a decline in budget aimed to address critical issues affecting child rights, activists have said.

Evariste Murwanashyaka, the Programs Manager of the Umbrella of Human Rights Organisations in Rwanda (CLADHO) said that, by analysing the 2022/23 budget, they realised that budget allocated to maternal and child health has reduced by 64 percent-from Rwf127.6 billion to Rwf45 billion.

"This is an important sector and we are wondering why the budget allocated to it has been reduced,” he said.

Their analysis also shows that the budget allocated to child rights protection and promotion has been reduced by 87 percent.

"It reduced from Rwf2.3 billion to Rwf302 million. This, among others, should have been increased. The government should consider this issue during budget revision in December this year,” he said.

He said that there are still critical issues affecting children’s rights that should get enough budget.

These, he said, include child defilement, street children, among others that should be highly considered in budget planning.

Child voice in budget process

According to Murwanashyaka, the voice of children should have space during budget planning by using their forums from village to national level.

"We have tried to create a platform where we empower children committees at the village level, where we gather their views for consideration in the national budget. However we are doing this only in 13 districts meaning children’s voices in 17 districts are not heard during the budget process,” he noted.

He said that after children share their ideas, they should be taken to the table of budget consultation and then after, assess if their ideas were considered.

"We do it two times before the budget is approved but it should be scaled up. They need to be on the roundtable where they can provide views face to face,” he said.

Innocent Ntakirutimana, the Child Protection and Participation Programme Coordinator at local child rights organisation -Children’s Voice Today (CVT) - said that there is a need for building children’s capacity to be able to participate in what is planned for them.

"The children’s role in planning and budget process and other decisions is still low despite some established initiatives,” he said.

He explained that citizens and special groups of people such as women, youth, people with disabilities and others have a platform where they share views during the budget process.

"These categories are even represented in the district council which facilitates them to raise their voice in the planning and budget process. However, children’s forums are not consulted,” he noted.

He said that the government should increase the budget in addressing school dropouts and street children.

"Although there is a Nine and Twelve year basic education where students are said to be studying free of charge, there are other costs such as school feeding and others which trigger school dropouts because their families are too poor. With this, street children and child labour also increase,” he said.

In the health sector, he said, the budget should also increase facilitation for critical issues affecting child health.

"For instance, girls’ rooms at schools should be well equipped to boost sexual reproductive health,” he said.

Thacien Biziyaremye, a parent, reiterated that the government did a lot in terms of child protection and well-being by allocating the budget intended to handle issues that affect children’s rights.

However, he said, the budget is not enough as some children have been dropping out of school and got engaged in hazardous activities working for money.

"Other children are on the streets and early pregnancies have been on the rise. This requires enough budget to be addressed,” he said.

He recommends an increase for a specific budget for empowering and building the capacities of children’s families, especially vulnerable families.

"Also, teen mothers need to be provided with financial and socio-psycho support to be able to raise their children,” he noted.

Teenage pregnancies went up to 23,000 in 2021 from 19,000 in the previous year, and family conflicts. 

Government seeks to spend Rwf4,658.4 billion in the fiscal year - 2022/23.

The New Times contacted the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to explain why the budget to address some critical issues affecting child life and rights decreased, but didn’t respond to the journalist.