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The Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE)’s Gender Budget Project

The Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE)’s Gender Budget Project. By Winnie Byanyima , (Uganda). The Gender Budget Project.

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The Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE)’s Gender Budget Project

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  1. The Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE)’s Gender Budget Project By Winnie Byanyima , (Uganda)

  2. The Gender Budget Project • Advocates for gender-balanced budgets that address the needs of poor women and men, girls and boys equitably and give full attention to people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups. •  Has covered four sectors, education, health agriculture and finance.Some work on taxation. At local government and national levels.

  3. GB cont. • A partnership between researchers, parliamentarians, local government councilors, journalists, civil society activists and government planners from five ministries. •  Activities planned around government budget cycle, include research, dissemination, public dialogues and lobbying of parliament, councils, ministry officials and donors.

  4. Theoretical Basis of Gender Budgeting • Gender is a social category, like class and race, ethnicity. • Gender Analysis; A tool to analyse and plan for all people, women and men. • Gender Equality; in capabilities, in economic opportunities and access to productive assets,in security and in influencing decisions.

  5. Theoretical Basis (continued) • Artificial separation of public (market & government) and private (mostly household & community) work hides care economy, cheats women of the rewards for their labour, results in resource misallocation.

  6. Methodology For each sector: • Identify the gender roles, relations and gaps, using data available. Some MDG Indicators are used. •  To what extent does the sector policy reflect the different situation of poor women and men, girls and boys in society? PWD, orphans?

  7. Methodology Cont. • To what extent does a sector budget reflect the stated policy priorities, address the gender gaps? For all sectors and each sector •  Compare expenditures on administration with what users receive. Propose re-allocations within and between sectors.

  8. Rhonda Sharp’s Framework • Gender-Specific expenditures: allocations for activities, which target a specific gender. E.g building pit latrines for schoolgirls, special micro-credit for women, police/women’s desks. • Expenditures to achieve equity in the public service.All allocations for activities intended to promote equal representation of men and women employed in the public service and on equitable pay and conditions of service • And all other mainstream expenditure: Includes all other expenditures not included in the two categories above. This is about 99% of the total budget.

  9. Outputs • Annual publication; “The Gender Budget”, analyses several sectors of the national budget (agriculture, health education & finance) & some aspects of taxation. • “Sharing the National Cake” a popular publication of the Gender Budget 1998/9 • An issue brief on each sector circulated to parliamentarians annually. 

  10. Outputs Cont. • Annual publication; “The District Gender Budget” analyses three sectors “Budgeting for Women and Men”, a simple handbook explaining the technique of gender budgeting, for use at district level. An issue brief on each sector circulated to councilors annually • Public dialogues to launch the reports annually, meetings with parliamentary committees, roundtables with donors and official, TV panels etc. EA Conference on gender budgeting

  11. Out comes • Some of the findings have been taken up and articulated in parliament and district councils. Sector objectives are beginning to be framed in gender terms. •   more & better collaboration between CSOs and civil servants. More media coverage of gender issues in the budget and economy.

  12. Outcomes Cont. • More gender budgeting initiatives have started. Networking in the region and beyond, improves capacities • In one district, business women have been invited and trained to compete for local government contracts, more education grants were voted for orphans and children with disabilities 

  13. Some findings • 60% of the recurrent health budget was spent on one referral hospital in the capital, stated policy priority was PHC! Total health budget remains at 8%, defence at 25% and administration sector take up 21% •  Women’s illiteracy rate is 60%, men’s 40%. Policy includes adult education but no resources were allocated to it.

  14. Findings Cont. • All district agriculture budget was spent at the headquarters. Nothing reached poor farmers. Agriculture got 3% of district budget and 5% nationally yet is main stay of economy. • Women were poorly represented in decision making positions of ministries / departments. Absent on district tender boards. No programmes existed to close the gender gap. Yet government was committed to affirmative action and had targets

  15. Some Challenges. • Gender researchers reluctant to analyse budgets and macro-economic policy . Activists keen but too time –constrained to learn. Politicians come and go! Bureaucratic resistance. A challenge of institutionalisation. • Not enough sex-disaggregated data and indicators

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