Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698139135162.pdf (South Africa)
+27 10 494 3524 Sharing is Caring: Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from Africa 2023 SHARING IS CARING: GENDER RESPONSIVE PLANNING AND BUDGETING EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS FROM AFRICA i Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from Africa ii COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing Copyright: © 2023 Commission for Gender Equality.

All rights reserved.


No part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied, or transmitted in any form, nor part thereof be distributed for profit making purposes, without prior written permission of the Commission for Gender Equality.

Publisher: Commission for Gender Equality.
Copy Editor: Expert English Editors CC Design, Layout & Printing: Shereno Printers cc Title of Publication: GRPB in Africa Report 2023 Date of Publication: 2023 ISBN: 978-0-621-51068-3 1 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents ............................................................................................................................................................... 2 Key concepts ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations and acronyms .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Foreword and acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... 7 1.
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 9 2.
Research study ...................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Research problem ...............................................................................................................................................................................................10 2.2 Research objectives ............................................................................................................................................................................................10 3.
Gender Responsive Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring, Evaluation and Auditing Framework (GRPBMEAF): Methodology of this study ................................................................ 11 4.

Limitations of this study ......................................................................................................................................... 12 5.

What is gender-responsive planning and budgeting (GRPB)?
........................................................................ 13 5.1 What does gender-responsive budgeting do?

........................................................................................................................................13 5.2 IMF Integrated Framework for GRPB processes .......................................................................................................................................14 6.
Brief overview of GRPB in Africa .......................................................................................................................... 15 7.
Regional block overviews and findings in the various respective countries of each region ...................... 18 7.1 West Africa region ...............................................................................................................................................................................................18 7.1.1 Benin ................................................................................................................................................ 19 7.1.2 Cameroon ....................................................................................................................................... 19 7.1.3 Ghana ............................................................................................................................................. 20 7.1.4 The Gambia .................................................................................................................................... 22 7.1.5 Ivory Coast ...................................................................................................................................... 23 7.1.6 Mali .................................................................................................................................................. 24 7.1.7 Nigeria ............................................................................................................................................. 24 7.1.8 Senegal ........................................................................................................................................... 25 7.1.9 Togo ................................................................................................................................................. 27 7.2 Southern Africa region ......................................................................................................................................................................................30 7.2.1 Angola ............................................................................................................................................. 30 7.2.2 Botswana......................................................................................................................................... 30 7.2.3 Comoros .......................................................................................................................................... 31 7.2.4 DRC .................................................................................................................................................. 31 2 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 7.2.5 Eswatini ............................................................................................................................................ 31 7.2.6 Lesotho ............................................................................................................................................ 32 7.2.7 Madagascar ................................................................................................................................... 32 7.2.8 Mozambique .................................................................................................................................. 32 7.2.9 Malawi ............................................................................................................................................. 33 7.2.10 Namibia ........................................................................................................................................... 34 7.2.11 Seychelles ........................................................................................................................................ 34 7.2.12 Tanzania .......................................................................................................................................... 35 7.2.13 Zambia ............................................................................................................................................ 35 7.2.14 Zimbabwe ....................................................................................................................................... 36 7.3.
East Africa region ................................................................................................................................................................................................37 7.3.1 Ethiopia ............................................................................................................................................ 37 7.3.2 Kenya ............................................................................................................................................... 39 7.3.3 Rwanda ........................................................................................................................................... 40 7.3.4 South Sudan .................................................................................................................................... 43 7.3.5 Uganda ........................................................................................................................................... 43 7.4.
North Africa region .............................................................................................................................................................................................45 7.4.1 Algeria ............................................................................................................................................. 46 7.4.2 Egypt ................................................................................................................................................ 47 7.4.3 Morocco .......................................................................................................................................... 50 7.4.4 Tunisia .............................................................................................................................................. 52 8.
Conclusions of GRPB in Africa ............................................................................................................................. 53 9.

Lessons for South Africa from GRPB efforts on the African Continent .............................................................. 54 10.
Recommendations ................................................................................................................................................ 55 3 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring KEY CONCEPTS NB: The key concepts used in the report are defined and referenced accordingly in the discussion.
Gender analysis – a gender analysis or gender equality analysis refers to a systematic process which involves assessing the impact of or likelihood that each decision, policy, law, plan, programme, situation, process, or activity will impact differently on women and men because of their diverse socio-economic or physical circumstances, with the effect of prejudicing one gender.

Gender awareness – gender awareness refers to awareness of inequality arising from the power relations between women and men.
Gender balance refers to an equitable distribution of life’s opportunities and resources between women and men.

Gender bias – refers to any act that advantages or perpetuates an existing advantage of one sex over the other.

Gender budget – also known as a gender-responsive budget and refers to a budget or expenditure arrangement structured to ensure that women and men benefit equitably from financial resources.

Gender disaggregated data – means information subdivided in terms of women and men.
Gender mainstreaming – refers to the integration of gender equality considerations in all policy, law, plans, programmes, administrative and financial activities, organisational procedures, processes, and decision making, in order to effect profound organisational and societal transformation towards the realisation of de jure and de facto equality between women and men.
Gender management system – a gender management system is a network of structures, mechanisms, and processes within an organisational framework to facilitate gender mainstreaming in pursuit of equality between women and men (adapted from the Commonwealth Gender Management System Handbook).
Gendered impact – gendered impact is an evaluation, analysis or assessment of a law, policy or programme that makes it possible to identify, in a preventative way, the likelihood of a given decision having negative consequences for the state of equality between women and men.

Gender-responsive budgeting – refers to the allocation of financial resources that ensure women and men benefit equally from all resources but also reduces existing patterns of women’s systemic inequality.
National gender machinery – refers to a network of coordinated structures within and outside government that operate cooperatively in facilitating political, social, economic, and other forms of transformation to dismantle systemic gender inequality and promote equality between women and men.

Per capita means the average per person.

This is calculated by dividing the total cost by the number of actual beneficiaries.
Practical gender needs – refers to women’s daily needs resulting from their subordinate position in society.

Addressing practical gender needs does not challenge or transform structural gender inequality but helps women cope better with their present position Procurement equity – also known as affirmative action in procurement and refers to the process and outcomes relating to the equalisation of procurement opportunities and incorporates affirmative procurement.
Pro-women programmes – refers to services and programmes for everyone but which are most likely to respond to the needs of women, for example domestic violence services.

4 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing Sex – refers to the biological difference between women and men.

Sex disaggregated – also known as gender disaggregated.

It means broken down according to women and men.


Strategic gender needs – refers to women’s long-term needs relating to fundamental social transformation to end their subordination in society.

Unfair discrimination – refers to the direct or indirect unfair denial of opportunities to or imposition of an undue burden on a person or group based on their gender, race, disability or some other difference or combination of differences.
5 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AEC AIDS AU BPA African Economic Community Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome African Union Beijing Platform for Action CEDAW Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women CGE Commission for Gender Equality DWYPD Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities DIRCO Department of International Relations and Cooperation DoJCD Department of Justice and Constititional Development ECOWAS Economic Community of West Africa GADS Gender and Agriculture Development Strategy GBV GDP GRB GRBF GRPB Gender-based violence Gross domestic product Gender-responsive budgeting Gender-responsive budgeting framework Gender-responsive planning and budgeting GRPBMEAF Gender Responsive Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring, Evaluation and Auditing Framework HCI HIV ILO IMF Human Capital Index Human Immunodeficiency Virus International Labour Organisation International Monetary Fund MOF Ministry of Finance MoFEP Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning NAIP RECs SADC UNDP National Agriculture Investment Plan Regional Economic Communities Southern African Development Community United Nations Development Programme UNECA United Nations Economic Commission for Africa UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women WIAD Women in Agricultural Development 6 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS UN Women1 defines gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) as “a public policy tool that analyses central and local administrative budgets to assess gender funding gaps, identify actions to close them and ensure that national and local commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment are adequately funded”.
This is echoed by the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD)2 in its assertion that “a gender-responsive budget is an important mechanism for ensuring greater consistency between economic goals and social commitments”.

In line with its legislative mandate as a Chapter 9 institution, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) has been monitoring the implementation of GRB in South Africa.
The CGE’s role is to “monitor, investigate, research, educate, lobby, advise, and report on issues concerning gender equality”.

According to Section 187(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the CGE “must promote respect for gender equality and the protection, development and attainment of gender equality”.
In light of the lessons learnt in South Africa from the previous CGE reports on the monitoring of GRB, this study broadened the scope and drew lessons from other African countries to assist South Africa with its gender- responsive planning and budgeting (GRPB) implementation.

The findings from the two previous studies indicate that GRPB implementation is moving slowly in South Africa, with implementation still far off in relation to the projected timelines.
It was established that the slow implementation in South Africa is due to a lack of political will, buy-in from key stakeholders, and insufficient awareness and knowledge about the GRPB Framework.

This report outlines several attempts across the African continent to implement GRB with different approaches and mixed outcomes.
The role played by civil society organisations (CSOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and women’s movements has been crucial for pushing GRPB to the national level and placing it on the budget reform agenda.

The advocacy from these organisations has ensured that the highest offices in the respective countries implement GRB.

Tanzania and Zimbabwe seem to have made considerable headways, while there is still resistance in some countries, such as Botswana.
Support from various organisations in capacity building, education, training, and other supporting mechanisms played a key role in countries doing well with GRB implementation.

Countries supporting each other have also been an effective strategy, as is the case between Tanzania and Mozambique, and Morocco and Senegal.

Moreover, the role of research and accurate sex-disaggregated data is a cornerstone of GRB.
Sex-disaggregated data forms the basis for GRB decisions as the statistics guide the allocation of resources accordingly.

Countries with strong gendered research find they can identify the budget gaps and channel resources accordingly through the budgeting process.

In this regard, South Africa may benchmark with countries like Rwanda and Uganda that have rolled out GRB successfully.
One of the lessons learned from the other African countries is that South Africa needs to work hard on legislation that would guide the GRB implementation and monitor and evaluate the implementation processes.

Without proper legislation, accountability suffers greatly due to the failure to implement GRB.

1 UN Women.

2023.

Gender-responsive planning and budgeting.


https://eca.unwomen.org/en/where-we-are/turkey/national-planning- and-budgeting#:~:text=Gender%2Dresponsive%20budgeting%20(GRB),women’s%20empowerment%20are%20adequately%20funded 2 Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.

2023.

Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities on Gender-Responsive Budgeting Workshop.
https://www.gov.za/speeches/gender-responsive-budgeting-workshop-seeks-restructure-way-government-looks- financing 7 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring Lastly, the CGE acknowledges and appreciates the hard work of the research team: • Mr Edward Thabani Mdlongwa (Team Leader) • Ms Lieketseng Mohlakoana-Motopi • Ms Mpelo Malebye • Mr Prince Gontse Motaung 8 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 1.
INTRODUCTION The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) research team has reviewed the implementation of GRPB in South Africa over the past two financial years (2020/2021 and 2021/2022).

The CGE explored key departments, provinces, and metros responsible for the implementation of GRPB in South Africa.

The findings from both studies point to the GRPB implementation moving slowly in South Africa, with implementation still far off as per the projected timelines.
The challenges impeding South Africa’s implementation of GRPB can be summed up as the lack of political will, lack of buy-in from key stakeholders, and insufficient awareness and knowledge about the GRPB Framework.

Several countries on the African continent have experienced mixed results with regard to the implementation of GRPB in their respective countries.

Some African countries have been successful in their implementation of GRPB.

However, others have not been as successful.


Examples of African countries that have successfully implemented GRPB, which have been well documented, include Uganda and Rwanda.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Uganda and Rwanda have achieved notable success in integrating gender-oriented goals into budget policies, programmes, and processes.3 The experiences and lessons that have helped Uganda and Rwanda to be successful in their GRPB efforts, as well as those that have not been successful, can be shared with South Africa to hasten, standardise, and improve the quality of GRPB implementation in South Africa.
This report aims to provide a holistic overview of efforts in implementing GRPB on the African continent, particularly the challenges, experiences, and successes.

It is hoped that the findings of this report can be used in South Africa and beyond as a guide to drawing lessons and experiences from various countries on the African continent for the effective implementation of GRPB.
The report is divided into the following nine sections: • Research objectives of this study • Methodology of this study • Limitations of this study • What is GRPB?
• Brief Overview of GRPB in Africa • Regional block overviews and findings from the various respective countries of each region: - West Africa - Southern Africa - East Africa - North Africa • Conclusions about GRPB in Africa • Key lessons and experiences for South Africa from GRPB efforts on the African Continent • Recommendations 3 The International Monetary Fund (IMF).

2016.

IMF working paper: Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts.
Available at https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp16152.pdf 9 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 2.

RESEARCH STUDY 2.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM The problem this study addresses is the slow implementation of GRPB in South Africa as evidenced in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 CGE studies in this regard.

This is a problem because GRPB is a mechanism for eliminating the prevalent gender inequality in South Africa.
Thus, its slow implementation means the maintenance of the unjust status quo and the delay of gender transformation.

Gender transformation is crucial for compliance with the Constitution and the various international human rights obligations outlined by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Gender transformation is also crucial because it ensures the restoration of human dignity, particularly for women in South Africa.
CGE’s interest in GRPB emanates from the CGE mandate as a Chapter 9 institution and the Commission for Gender Equality Act No.

39 of 1996 to “monitor, investigate, research, educate, lobby, advise, and report on issues concerning gender equality”.

Furthermore, the CGE’s constitutional mandate is “to promote respect for, protection, development, and attainment of gender equality in the Republic of South Africa”.

2.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES This study’s objectives were to: 1.
Establish good GRPB implementation practices across the continent.

2.

Draw lessons and experiences of good practice in the implementation of GRPB across the continent, which could be used to assist South Africa with its GRPB implementation.

3.

Provide a broader continental picture of the progress of Africa regarding GRPB.

10 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 3.
GENDER RESPONSIVE PLANNING, BUDGETING, MONITORING, EVALUATION AND AUDITING FRAMEWORK (GRPBMEAF): METHODOLOGY OF THIS STUDY This study is qualitative, and the team employed content analysis as the technique to collect and analyse the data that informed this research to learn the work of other countries in the African continent regarding their implementation of gender-responsive planning and budgeting, which could be a blueprint to assist South Africa in its processes of implementing the GRPBMEA Framework.
Content analysis is a technique used for the subjective interpretation of the information gathered through a systematic classification process using thematic categorisation and patterns.4 Among other benefits, the technique also assists in depicting the in-depth understanding of the content of the subject matter, as well as enabling the detection of inconsistencies from the available literature.
The team consulted secondary data, including government websites, government reports, published and unpublished reports, IMF reports, and other relevant reports.

The analysis was centred on how the respective countries across the various regions were approaching the implementation of GRPB to learn from the good practices that could assist South Africa and match its context.

The CGE research team explored Africa as a region and the respective countries that fall under it.
The team analysed data from all 54 countries in Africa.

However, in the report, only 32 appear, as there was no information which could be found on the other 20 countries and these countries where thus left out of the report.

It was devised that the best way to analyse the information would be to divide Africa into four regions and the respective countries within the regions to be analysed.

These regions are demarcated as West Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa, and North Africa.
Some of the countries fall under Central Africa.

However, the CGE research team found that the literature focused on shows that some of those central countries fall in either one of the regional blocks of West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, or North Africa.

Lastly, and importantly, South Africa was left out as a country for analysis in this report as the study aims to present lessons learned from other African countries for enhancing South Africa’s GRPB efforts.

4 Leedy, P. and Ormrod, J.

2001.


Practical Research: Planning and Design.

7th Edition, Merrill Prentice Hall and SAGE Publications, Upper Saddle River, NJ and Thousand Oaks, CA.

11 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 4.

LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY The following were recorded as limitations of this study: • Due to the nature of this study, the researchers experienced challenges with accessing information online.
Some countries had little to no data on GRB initiatives as per the research objectives.

This, in some cases, also included that for some of the countries analysed in this report, only one or two sources of information may have been available to the CGE research team from which to write up the findings.

• Some of the information was written in languages that were beyond the skills of the researchers to translate into English.
• Issues were experienced related to lack of resources and bureaucracy related to the international protocol that would have required the facilitation of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and foreign embassies.

Therefore, CGE researchers were hindered from conducting interviews in African countries and resorted to a desktop study.

As a result, the study findings may not be as comprehensive as the CGE research team would have envisioned if interviews were conducted.
• This study’s presentation of data per country or region may not be similar.

This is due to the literature and some of the policies and indicators for each country being different, and in some cases there was insufficient data.

12 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 5.

WHAT IS GENDER-RESPONSIVE PLANNING AND BUDGETING (GRPB)?
According to Oxfam, “a gender-responsive planning budget (GRPB) is a budget that works for everyone (women and men, girls and boys) by ensuring gender-equitable distribution of resources and by contributing to equal opportunities for all”.5 The South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s Gender- Responsive Budgeting Guidelines add that GRB is the allocation of financial resources in a manner that ensures that women and men benefit equally from allocated resources to bridge gender inequality perpetuated by embedded systemic factors.6 5.1 WHAT DOES GENDER-RESPONSIVE BUDGETING DO?
• It analyses and re-orders budgetary priorities from a gender perspective.

• It identifies the implications of budgets for women and girls compared to men and boys.

• It builds accountability for national policy commitments to women.7 There are crucial steps to ensure the budget is gender responsive and in line with international standards.

These steps are: • To collect gender-disaggregated data.

• To conduct training to improve the skills of policymakers regarding GRB.
• Sensitisation of planning and budget officers in the Ministry of Finance and the budget departments of line ministries.

• Training and capacity building of finance personnel in all spheres of government to ensure uniformity.

• Advocacy with regard to the central objective of influencing decision makers.

• Analysis of the gendered impact of existing revenues and expenditures.

• Increase in the number of gender-sensitive women and men in budget decision making.
Institutionalising GRPB should be mandatory and not just an add-on.

There is a need for standard budget guidelines to include the gender lens, ensuring that GRB becomes part of the normal budget routine, including the annual budget, government circulars, and administrative reporting forms.

The IMF Integrated Framework in Figure 1 assists in understanding or explaining the GRPB process and serves as a guiding tool, especially in the absence of the relevant policy and legislative framework.

5 Oxfam, p. 1.
5 Oxfam, p. 1.

2018.

A Guide to Gender-Responsive Budgeting.

Available online at https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/ handle/10546/620429/gt-guide-gender-responsive-budgeting-280218-en.pdf;jsessionid=42D805665D3A60F3F900A9EEFDA8BFE5?sequence=13 6 Gender Mainstreaming: Gender Responsive Budgeting Guidelines Vol.

6: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
https:// www.justice.gov.za/docs/other-docs/2006gmreports/Gender%20Mainstreaming_Vol%2006_Budgeting%20Guidelines.pdf 7 Ekott, U.

2016.

Challenges to Achieving Gender Responsive Budgeting in Nigeria.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/challenges-achieving- gender-responsive-budgeting-uko/ 13 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 5.2 IMF INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR GRPB PROCESSES Parliamentary Control Budget Phase Planning and Fiscal Strategy Gender Stragegy, Fiscal & Expenditure Framework Tools/ Instruments Budget Circular Exernal Audit Review and Exernal Control Supporting Frameworks Institutional Statistical Methodological Technical Budget Preparation Ex-ante Gender Impact Assessment & Spending Reviews Gender Budget Statement Ex-post Gender Impact Assessment Budget Execution Gende expenditure tagging Budget Execution Reports Performance monitoring Gender Budget Statement Figure 1: IMF Integrated Framework Source: IMF Public Finance Management (PFM) Blog8 8 IMF Public Finance Management (PFM) Blog.2021.
Advancing Gender Responsive Budgeting in South Africa Available online at https:// blog-pfm.imf.org/en/pfmblog/2021/10/advancing-gender-responsive-budgeting-in-south-africa#:~:text=In%202017%2C%20the%20IMF%20 developed%20a%20framework%20for,adaptation%20and%20reinforcement%20of%20existing%20institutions%20and%20tools.

14 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 6.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF GRPB IN AFRICA The concept of GRPB on the African continent certainly is not new.
However, many African countries lack the necessary resources to prioritise crucial social policy challenges in their budgets, including vital gender transformation programmes.

Many countries on the continent are low-income to middle-income countries.

Nonetheless, many have made political commitments towards gender mainstreaming and gender equality, whereby GRB serves as one of the many means.
Africa had 54 countries until 2016, when the number increased to 55 after Morocco re-joined the African Union (AU) after being absent for 33 years.

In addition, two countries are independent sovereign states and are thus disputed: Western Sahara and Somaliland.9 These 55 countries are roughly divided into four regions: West Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa, and North Africa.
All these regions and the countries within them have differing accounts of whether GRPB efforts have succeeded in their countries.

According to the IMF, sub-Saharan African countries were among the earliest countries in the world to adopt GRPB to advance gender equality and women’s development.10 The IMF points out that following Australia’s lead, South Africa was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to initiate GRPB efforts that initially surpassed both Uganda and Tanzania.
Thereafter, other countries in the region followed.11 The 2016 IMF review reveals that in 2016, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa achieved some successes with gender budgeting, chiefly through changes in fiscal policies or budget-making procedures.12 However, it is difficult to link gender budgeting directly to these changes, given the complex fiscal decision-making environment in these and other countries.13 The IMF review also found that in the African countries where gender budgeting seems to be most effective, there was political will, and the Ministries of Finance took the lead.
For example, Rwanda and Uganda have both mandated that other ministries or levels of government responsible for social welfare or women’s development address gender gaps and women’s needs in their budgets.14 Crucial also were politicians who, through Parliamentarians, also played a key role in these countries, according to the IMF review.15 The IMF review also points out that some of the successful countries in Africa with regard to GRPB all had a clear vision and goal that gender budgeting would contribute not only to the well-being of women and girls but to the welfare of society as a whole.16 For example, in Uganda, as early as the 1990s, GRPB formed part of the national agenda through NGOs.17 Despite being a low-income agricultural economy, Uganda has become a leading country on the continent regarding GRPB.
In collaboration with the UN, various local-level budget initiatives have transformed the lives of women and children through resource allocation.18 9 Flags World.How many countries are in Africa?

(2022) Available online at https://flagsworld.org/countries-africa.html 10 IMF Working Paper Strategy, Policy, and Review and Research Departments Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts.

(2016) Available online at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp16152.pdf 11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.
12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Acosta, M., Ampaire, E. L., Kigonya, R., Kyomugisha, S., & Jassogne, L. T. “Towards gender responsive policy formulation and budgeting in the agricultural sector: Opportunities and challenges in Uganda.” (2016).

18 Stotsky, M. J. G., Kolovich, M. L., & Kebhaj, S, Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of gender budgeting efforts.

International Monetary Fund.

(2016).


15 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring Rwanda has made significant strides in terms of gender equality initiatives despite it being one of the low- income, predominantly agricultural, developing countries on the continent.
As far back as 2002, the country insisted on the importance of appropriate and just resource allocation towards addressing the plight of women and children and implemented the allocations through the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion and the Ministry of Finance.19 One of the implementation strategies was that the Finance Ministry, alongside UN Women, avoided using consultants across departments between 2008 and 2010.

Instead, the implementation was through building local support and skills.
Rwanda took time to conceptualise, implement, and monitor the GRB initiatives through the gender monitoring office alongside the UN.

Rwanda also uses gender-oriented performance indicators.20 A study by Oxfam America assessed the implementation of GRPB and its potential benefits for small-scale farmers in Ghana.21 This study found that while the government had made some progress regarding GRPB, there was still a long way to go in terms of consistent and effective application and implementation.
Some countries have not been as forthcoming or as successful in their endeavours.

For example, Nigeria continues to struggle with GRPB as the use of programmes that are not gender responsive remains a challenge.22 The systemic lack of political will stifles efforts to improve the gendered resource allocation process.

Other factors, such as culture, continue to hinder the development of gender-centred approaches to resource allocation.
Emmanuel Botlhale notes that the baTswana chiefs in Botswana are considered a threat to gender equality and could become gatekeepers of resources.23 The technical capacity of some countries, such as Benin, also challenges the plight of gendering resource allocation.
As of 2013, Benin received technical support from the German Technical Cooperation Agency, as well as the United Nations Development Program.24 The inability, and sometimes reluctance, of countries to capacitate themselves in the long term continues to be a challenge.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) developed a Protocol on Gender and Development.25 Article 15 of the Protocol highlights that SADC member states that are party to the Protocol “shall ensure gender sensitive and responsive budgeting at the micro and macro levels, including tracking, monitoring, and evaluation”.26 The African Union Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment27 asserts that in order to assist in the challenging implementation of the GRPB, countries should “build institutional capacity and strengthen compliance with Member States, regional economic communities [RECs], institutions, and organs of the AU and civil society, and integrate gender into strategic partnership platforms”.28 19 Siringi, E. M., “Macro, mezzo and micro-level analysis of gender responsive budgeting in Rwanda”.
Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics (May, 2013) pp.

71-83.

20 Ibid.

21 Akalbila, I., Ayifah, E., Hilt, L., Muntaka, H., and Rewald, R. “Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Ghana An analysis of GRB implementation and its existing and potential impacts on women small-scale farmers.” Oxfam Research Backgrounder series.

https://www.oxfamamerica.

org/explore/research-publications/gender-responsivebudgeting-ghana-analysis.

(2020).
(2020).

22 Momodu, A. S., Akinbami, C. A. O., & Adeyeye, M. M. ‘Adapting gender budgeting support framework in Nigeria: policy issues and options.’ Gender and Behaviour, (September, 2011): 3595-3611.

23 Botlhale, E., ‘Gender-responsive budgeting: The case for Botswana.’ Development Southern Africa, (2011): pp.

61-74.

24 Ibid.

25 SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.

(2008).

26 SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.

Article 15: 15.
Article 15: 15.

27 African Union Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

(2019).

28 African Union Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2019), p. 47 16 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing Many African countries aspire to implement the GRPB legislation, frameworks, and guidelines.

However, for many, implementation remains to be seen.
The challenges include unsustainable efforts by the government to implement, not institutionalising processes through legislation, and reluctance to comply by finance ministries.

Moreover, where the GRPB has been unsuccessful, poor goal setting, poor monitoring and evaluation systems, and under-resourcing are key features of failure.
Having briefly outlined the context of GRPB in Africa, the following section of the report discusses the findings with regard to efforts to implement GRPB in African countries.

The next section begins with regional overviews (West Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa, and North Africa) and an overview of the various respective countries that form part of those regions with regard to efforts in implementing GRPB.
17 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 7.

REGIONAL BLOCK OVERVIEWS AND FINDINGS IN THE VARIOUS RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES OF EACH REGION 7.1 WEST AFRICA REGION There are 16 countries in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Mauritania.
All the West African countries are developing countries, with some countries in the subregion considered the poorest in the world.

These include Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Niger.

The West African population is 411 million, with the population of Nigeria being the largest at 210 million.

Nigeria is the seventh most populated country in the world and Cabo Verde is the least populated with 556 000 people.29 West African countries are diverse in terms of religion, culture, and language.
These countries were colonised mainly by France and Great Britain during the colonial era.

Nine of the 16 West African countries are French- speaking, including Senegal, Mali, Togo, Guinea, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger.30 The literature indicates that even though some West African countries are considered the poorest in the world, their poverty level cannot be attributed to a lack of minerals, as most are rich in resources such as oil, gold, timber, and fish.
Nigeria has the highest GDP, and The Gambia has the lowest GDP.31 The Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) is one of the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa covering West Africa.

These regional communities are mandated to facilitate regional economic integration between members of the individual regions and through the wider African Economic Community (AEC).

The African Economic Community was established under the Abuja Treaty in 1991.
The Abuja Treaty was mapped by the Lagos Plan of Action for the Development of Africa in 1980.

The Abuja Treaty proposed the creation of RECs as the basis for wider African integration to promote regional integration and eventual continental integration.

The RECs increasingly coordinate AU Member State interests in broad areas such as peace and security, development, and governance.32 The ECOWAS33 is made up of 15 member countries that are in the Western African region.
These countries have both cultural and geopolitical ties and share common economic interests.

Some of the long-term aspirations for the region include using a single currency to promote free trade and a regional passport for ease of movement across the RECs.34 Women play a significant role in contributing to the West African food and commercial economy.
However, it is noted that even though women actively contribute to the regional economy, institutional obstacles hinder their optimal participation in commercial activities.

Some of the hindering factors include the weak connection to the central actors within the trade network, disadvantaging them from connecting across the various stages of the trade value chain.35 29 Ibid.
30 https://naijaquest.com/french-speaking-countries-in-west-africa/ 31 https://www.worldatlas.com/geography/west-african-countries.html 32 https://www.ecowas.int/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2016-Convergence-report_Clean-final-final.pdf 33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Walther, O. J. and Tremolieres, M. 2019.

West African Studies: Women and Trade Networks in West Africa.

OECD.
OECD.

https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/women-and-trade-networks-in-west-africa_7d67b61d-en#page7 18 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing Overall, findings from this analysis showed that the share of gender-specific capital projects in the 2022 budget is far from gender responsive.

This study found deeper gender gaps in capital projects across the pro-poor ministries investigated.
Markedly, the share of gender-specific projects of the examined ministries as a percentage of the budget in 2022 was 0.11%, while the percentage of the gender capital budget in the 2022 capital budget was 0.36%.

Plausibly, this low commitment to GRPB could undermine women’s active participation and overall development in all spheres of Nigerian society.

7.1.1 BENIN In the case of Benin, women are highly active within the country’s various socioeconomic development sectors.
However, women are generally underrepresented in political office.

The results from the recent legislative elections indicate that only 6% of the National Assembly members were women.

Subsequent municipal elections resulted in 4.3% of women councillors and four women mayors among the 77 elected representatives.

However, the Beninese Government has ratified all the regional and international conventions and established a legal, policy, and institutional framework for promoting gender equality.
Women’s status is slow moving except in the education sector (especially primary education) and maternal, child, and reproductive health sectors.

Political processes must be more inclusive to achieve good governance.36 The findings on Benin demonstrate that poverty is declining, as it was 38.5% in 2019 compared to 40.1% in 2015.
However, it is noted that women’s monthly income in Benin is much lower than that of men, as per the 2018 report.37 Monetary poverty affected almost as many households headed by men (40%) as households headed by women (39.7%) in 2015.
This may be due to the impact of microcredit programmes for low-income people and Village Savings and Credit Associations (AVEC), which facilitate access to credit for women.38 Female- headed households are affected more by non-monetary poverty, with 36.3% and 28% of those headed by men.
The report indicates that the level of poverty declined as the level of education of the head of the household rose.39 Benin is making initiatives to promote gender mainstreaming across all the spheres of governance with the support of development partners such as GIZ and the World bank.

It is however not explicitly articulated on whether the country implements gender responsive budgeting.
The key issue that is assisting the country to see the strides on promoting gender equality is the rhetoric implementation of gender mainstreaming.

7.1.2 CAMEROON The Republic of Cameroon is an independent country in Central-West Africa in a region also known as the ‘hinge’ of Africa.

Nigeria borders it to the northwest, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, the Republic of Conge to the southeast, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest.
Cameroon’s population of over 26 million speaks over 250 languages and is considered culturally diverse.40 36 African Development Bank Group.

2021.

Benin Country Gender Profile: Assessment of the Impacts of Covid-19 on Women and Girls.

African Development Bank 37 World Development Report.

2018.

Learning to Realize Education’s Promise: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 38 African Development Bank Group.

2021.
2021.

Benin Country Gender Profile: Assessment of the Impacts of Covid-19 on Women and Girls.

African Development Bank 39 Ibid.

40 https://www.thoughtco.com/brief-history-of-cameroon-43616 19 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring The economy of Cameroon is not dependent on foreign contributions.
It is economically sustained by mostly natural resources and export earnings from resources such as coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber, banana, timber, and petroleum, among others.

The amount of aid is estimated to be less than 1% of the country’s GDP, 5% to 10% of the State budget, and slightly less than 40% of its public investments.

The highest proportion of aid comes through bilateral cooperation.

This GRB plan is being considered to bridge the level of gender inequality in Cameroon.
In May 2019, a Care and Plan International Index ranked Cameroon as the 141st country out of 189 in terms of gender equality.

Also, according to the UN inter-agency project GenCap, gender discrimination is a significant obstacle to development in Cameroon, with 39% of the Cameroonian population living below the poverty line.

That percentage rises to 51.5% regarding women, demonstrating feminised poverty in the country.
In addition, 79.2% of women are under-employed, and only 3% own a house but without title deeds for the land, while 1.6% have real estate properties with land deeds registered in their names.

In addition, 71.6% of informal workers in the agricultural sector are women.
Meanwhile, 32.5% of women over 25 reached secondary school, while for men over 25, this percentage is 39.2%.41 The National Gender Policy multi-sector action plan should be mainstreamed across the programmes, actions, activities, and budgets of sector ministries.

This should help to prepare the GRB document that should be appended to the Finance Bill.
All specific actions and measures to promote gender equality and equity should be clearly stated in the ministerial documents to be examined during budgetary and performance conferences.

The programmes and actions designed and budgeted from a gender perspective should serve as “elements to lobby for the allocation of budget resources”.

The above-mentioned presidential decree provides and advocates for the promotion of GRB in the country as a strategy for arresting embedded feminised poverty.
7.1.3 GHANA Ghana is formerly known as the Gold Coast.

Ghana’s population is around 29.6 million.

It is a lower-middle- income country and has been considered one of Africa’s most stable countries since 1992,42 preceded by a series of coups.

The introduction of a constitutional presidential multiparty democracy was demonstrated to be the factor that led to democratic stability in that country.
Ghana is one of Africa’s ten fastest-growing economies, with three primary economic sectors: services (banking, information and communication technologies, tourism, and transportation), industry, and agriculture.

GRPB implementation in Ghana also began in 2008, when the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) and the Ministry of Women and Children rolled out a GRPB process within the Ministries of Food and Agriculture, Health, and Education.
Additionally, a steering group with members from various ministries was formed, and staff from these ministries were trained on GRPB implementation.43 41 Cameroon to Experiment with Gender-Responsive Budgeting Policies in its 2022 Finance Bill https://www.businessincameroon.com/economy/0209-11845-cameroon-to-experiment-with-gender-responsive-budgeting-policies-in-its- 2022-finance-bill#:~:text=(Business%20in%20Cameroon)%20%2D%20In,for%20the%202022%20State%20budget n 42 https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/ghana.htm 43 Rewald, R. 2021.
Making Gender-Responsive Budgeting Work for Women Small-Scale Farmers: Lessons From Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania: OXFAM America 20 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing The Ghana Trade and Livelihoods Coalition (GTLC), SEND Ghana, and Oxfam undertook a study to understand the implementation of GRPB in Ghana better, focusing more on the agricultural sector.
The techniques used to collect the information that informed that study included a literature review using secondary data, interviews, and focus group discussions.

The focus was on five areas: (1) the gender responsiveness of the budget process, (2) systems and structures for GRB implementation, (3) best practices in GRB advocacy, particularly regarding agriculture budgets, (4) women’s engagement in the budget process, and (5) the budget’s responsiveness to the needs of women smallholder farmers.
The aim is for these findings to contribute directly to GRPB advocacy by NGOs in Ghana and provide useful insights for relevant government officials in Ghana and other GRPB practitioners and advocates in other countries.44 The Ghanaian Government has made significant progress with regard to the implementation of GRB.

Even though visible strides have been made, it is evident that GRB still has a long way to go for it to be practised effectively and consistently.
At each step of the budget cycle, some processes are undertaken to ensure that the process is conducive to promoting the effective implementation of GRB.

Those processes are mostly executed in the preparation and planning phase.

One of the enabling characteristics is the inclusion of community members at that phase and in the budget approval phase.
Regarding women’s involvement in the budget process, government officials and assembly members at the district level put in the effort to consider the needs of various groups in their diversity and/or provide some opportunities for community members, including women farmers, to engage in the planning phase, as presented.45 Ghana has enabling domestic policies and laws that illustrate commitment to promoting gender equality.
These include the Constitution, which prohibits gender discrimination, and the National Gender Policy.

In the National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP) (2018–2021), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) acknowledged the important role of women in the agricultural sector, the gender gap that continues to exist in the agricultural sector, and the importance of gender mainstreaming.
Moreover, the ministry has a specific unit dedicated to women small-scale farmers, the Women in Agricultural Development (WIAD) directorate, and gender desk officers in district and regional offices.

Finally, in 2001 MoFA developed a Gender and Agriculture Development Strategy (GADS), updated in 2015 (GADS II).
However, there is little evidence that this commitment has translated into the prioritisation of smallholder women farmers or led to real changes in improving livelihoods and ensuring food security.
It is therefore noted that the existence of all these frameworks failed to translate into fruition, and women continue to be excluded from government planning, budgeting, data collection, and monitoring processes within the agricultural sector.46 Crucial decision-making processes with regard to the interests of women are done without their representation in the process.

Additionally, the systems and structures required to implement GRB successfully have not been fully realised.
Specifically, there is the absence of formalised policies and practices to institutionalise GRB, a lack of leadership and political will for GRB, limited capacity and expertise among government officials in GRB and gender more broadly, and limited accountability through monitoring and evaluation and other accountability mechanisms.47 44 Akalbila, Ibrahim; Ayifah, Emmanuel; Hilt, Lisa; Muntaka, Hafiz; Rewald, Rebecca, “Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Ghana: An analysis of GRB implementation and its existing and potential impacts on women small-scale farmers,” Oxfam Research Backgrounder series (2020): https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/gender-responsivebudgeting-ghana-analysis.
45 Ibid.

46 Akalbila, Ibrahim; Ayifah, Emmanuel; Hilt, Lisa; Muntaka, Hafiz; Rewald, Rebecca, “Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Ghana: An analysis of GRB implementation and its existing and potential impacts on women small-scale farmers,” Oxfam Research Backgrounder series (2020): https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/gender-responsivebudgeting-ghana-analysis 47 Ibid.
21 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring However, many barriers to meaningful participation and influence remain.

These include culture and gender norms, lack of trust in the process, lack of communication regarding opportunities to provide input, women’s limited availability owing to care and domestic work and market responsibilities, lack of confidence and capacity to engage, and constraints to engagement with assembly members.
The needs and challenges women farmers face differ depending on where they are in Ghana.

The differences underscore the need for a tailored approach to budgeting and an understanding that women, particularly women farmers, are not homogeneous.
NGO advocacy efforts can be improved by strengthening collaboration amongst NGOs and multi-stakeholder collaboration, inclusion of government officials and institutions, increasing capacity for GRB, and providing more and better ways of helping farmers share their concerns with policymakers.48 In order to overcome the above barriers, it is suggested that there is a need for more widespread use of community action plans to gather citizen input, alternative types of engagement opportunities, creation and/ or strengthening of women’s groups, improved communication about and accounting for women’s care and domestic work, and approaches that address systemic norms and practices that lead to gender inequality.
It is also recommended that the Ghanaian Government, led by a GRB task force, take key steps to increase leadership, political support, and accountability for the institutionalisation of GRB.
In addition, the Ghanaian Government should review the existing budget process at all levels to identify actions and accountability mechanisms needed to improve GRB implementation, increase government capacity on GRB, promote participatory budgeting approaches, and address broader and longer-term issues related to gender equality.
NGOs in Ghana could develop more concrete, specific tasks around GRB to build widespread capacity on gender and GRB and strengthen collaborations amongst NGOs and other stakeholders.

This could be used towards a gender-integrated political economy analysis to bolster advocacy efforts, amplify the voices and increase the agency of women farmers, and link budget advocacy with domestic revenue mobilisation.
To strengthen GRB implementation, the Ghanaian Government should adopt and/or institutionally use various GRB tools, including gender-disaggregated beneficiary and impact assessments, gender-disaggregated tax and public expenditure analyses, gender-aware budget statements, and gender audits.49 7.1.4 THE GAMBIA The Republic of The Gambia is a country in West Africa.

It is the smallest country within mainland Africa and is surrounded by Senegal.
The Gambia is situated on both sides of the lower reaches of the Gambia River, the nation’s namesake, which flows through the centre of The Gambia and empties into the Atlantic Ocean, thus the long shape of the country.

The Gambia has a population of 1 857 181 as of the April 2013 census.

Banjul is the Gambian capital and the country’s largest metropolitan area, while the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.50 48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.
49 Ibid.

50 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gambia 22 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing The Gambian Government enacted the National Policy for the Advancement of Gambian Women (NPAGW) in 1999.

The policy provides a legitimate point of reference for addressing gender inequalities at all levels of government and by all stakeholders.
The significant achievements of the policy includes increased awareness of gender as an economic development concern, increased enrolment and retention of girls in schools, improved health care service delivery, increased number of women participating in decision-making structures, and reduced gender stereotyping and discrimination.51 Notably, there is no pronouncement with regard to The Gambia’s implementation of GRB, as there was no data on the issue.
However, it is noted that the notion of GRB was enshrined in the Gender Policy.

The Gender Policy 2010-2020 was designed as a guiding tool or reference material to direct all levels of planning, resource allocation, and implementation of development projects with a gender perspective.
The priority areas for the policy are: • Gender and Education • Gender and Health • Gender and Sustainable Livelihoods Development • Gender and Governance • Gender and Human Rights • Poverty Reduction and Economic Empowerment.52 7.1.5 IVORY COAST Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d’Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa.

Its capital is Yamoussoukro in the centre of the country, and its largest city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan.
It borders Guinea to the northwest, Liberia to the west, Mali to the northwest, Burkina Faso to the northeast, Ghana to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean) to the south.

Its official language is French, and indigenous languages are also widely used.53 Ivory Coast has had high economic growth since the country experienced peace and political stability in 2011.
From 2012 to 2021, the economy grew by an average of 7.4% per year, making it the second-fastest rate of economic growth in Africa and the fourth-fastest rate in the world.

In 2020, Ivory Coast was the world’s largest exporter of cocoa beans and had income levels that are high for its region.

In the 21st century, the agricultural sector still drives the economy, with smallholder cash-crop production predominating.54 It is noted that Ivory Coast has a vibrant economy.
However, the status of GRB is not pronounced, and there is no clear gender-disaggregated data to indicate the positioning of women in the economy.

51 The Gambia National Gender Policy 2010-2020 52 Ibid.

53 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_Coast 54 Ibid.
23 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 7.1.6 MALI According to Stotsky et al.,55 the Mali gender-budgeting initiative strategic pillar of its National Gender Policy was adopted in November 2010.

Its objective has been to include in its budget preparation, planning, and management a gender dimension to allocating public resources.
Two ministries are responsible for implementing the initiative: the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry for the Advancement of Women, Children, and the Family.

The initiative was designed to span ten years.

In its first phase, the following ten sectors were targeted as having the potential to reduce gender inequality: justice, rural development, health, education, employment and vocational training, water and energy, decentralisation, state reform, budget reform, and communication.
Budget Call Circulars clearly instruct these sectors to engage in GRPB.

Specifically, the respective departments were tasked with analysing the National Gender Policy Action Plan and making plans to reduce gender gaps, generate gender-sensitive indicators, allocate resources to these actions, and produce a report to be consolidated in an Annex of the Finance Law.

The Moroccan Gender Reports inspired this.


From Moroccan Gender Reports, a report would be tabulated to form the basis for legislation by Parliament (in approving the annual Finance Bill) and oversight (in scrutinising past performance in the light of current budget proposals).
The Ministry for the Advancement of Women, Children, and the Family and the Ministry of Economy and Finance was tasked with monitoring the implementation of the initiatives through annual performance reports, gender reports, and a bulletin of statistics on men and women.

Since 2011, a budget annex on gender has been drafted and attached to the finance law.
The gender-oriented budget annex tracks performance on programmes, objectives, and indicators in ministries involved in implementing the National Gender Policy action plan.

NGOs participate in the initiative.

Unfortunately, not much has been recorded following the initiative.

7.1.7 NIGERIA Stotsky et al.


indicate that56 the Nigerian federal government, in partnership with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, introduced a gender budgeting initiative called Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria (G-WIN) in 2012.

The following ministries were prioritised for this initiative: Agriculture, Public Works, Health, Water Resources, And Communication and Technology.
During the inaugural meeting of the Gender Equality Community of Practice for Finance Ministers in 2014, the Nigerian Minister of Finance reported on the project’s early successes.

The following initiatives have been noted in various ministries.

The Ministry of Health pointed out the issue of treating women with fistulas, a debilitating post-birth condition that can lead to shame, divorce, and family rejection.
According to the United States Agency for International Development, Nigeria has the highest number of women who suffer from fistulas, with about half of all cases worldwide and anywhere from 50 000 to 100 000 new cases each year.

Under the G-WIN project, the Ministry of Health allocated resources to recruit and train additional doctors to perform the surgery necessary for correcting fistulas.
It is estimated that more than 3 000 women were treated, but an extensive backlog of cases remains.57 55 Stotsky J.G., Kolovich L., and Kebha S. 2016.

IMF Working Paper, Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts ,p33.

56 Stotsky J.G., Kolovich L., and Kebha S. 2016.

IMF Working Paper, Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts ,p35.
57 See USAID website: https://www.usaid.gov/results-data/success-stories/repairing-obstetric-fistula-nigeria 24 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing Nigerian female farmers account for 70% of all agricultural work but have less access to agricultural inputs.

This contributes to women’s agricultural output of 40% lower than the agricultural output of men.

The Ministry of Agriculture is trying to train more than 30 000 women on various and/or better farming methods.
One crucial roadblock for female farmers is access to finance, which hampered women’s ability to procure seeds and fertilisers.

Under the G-WIN initiative, two million female farmers received cell phones to improve access to and exchange information.

The cell phones enabled women to use an e-wallet system to facilitate mobile money purchases of agricultural inputs.

Additional highlights of the G-WIN programme can be found in reports of the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Water.
The Ministry of Public Works trained 1 500 women in road maintenance, previously considered a male-only occupation.

The Ministry of Water constructed 120 water kiosks to be managed by women.

Nigeria seemed to have poor disaggregated data on their gender budgeting initiatives, making it difficult to source information for their successes and failure of GRB initiatives.

Chijioke further reported58 that Nigeria has poor GRB records.
This fairly insinuates that Nigeria is equally at the early stages of the implementation of its GRB initiatives and still has a long way to go.

Challenges regarding GRB in Nigeria: • Budget processes are male-dominated.

• Budgets are generally gender blind – aside from votes for the Gender Ministry, Health and possibly Education, very few programmes and projects are targeted at women in other sectors.

Policymakers assume that women will benefit from mainstream programmes covered by the budget.
• Budget officers are mainly male who have no capacity to mainstream gender concerns.
Most gender focal points (where they exist) have no capacity to provide valuable input towards mainstreaming gender concerns in their respective agencies’ policy/budget frameworks.59 What comes out clear from the findings of GRPB in Nigeria is that increasing the share of capital projects to gender-specific projects in the nation’s budget, as well as the strong political commitment to GRB implementation, are important for addressing all forms of gender inequality in Nigeria.
7.1.8 SENEGAL Senegal is one of the countries that has implemented GRB, and some key lessons and experiences can be drawn from them.

Senegal is part of several key international instruments, regional and national policies, and legislative frameworks that promote gender equality and mainstreaming.

Some of these policies include the following: 60 58 Chijioke N. 2020.

The Guardian: Nigeria and poor gender-based budgeting records.
Available online at Nigeria and poor gender-based budgeting records — Business — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News 59 Ekott, U.

2016.

Challenges to Achieving Gender Responsive Budgeting in Nigeria.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/challenges-achieving-gender-responsive-budgeting-uko/ 60 United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 2009.

Evaluation Report UNIFEM’s work on Gender-Responsive Budgeting.

Gender Responsive Budget Programme: Senegal.


Available online at https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Media/ Publications/UNIFEM/Evaluation_GRB_Programme__Senegal_en.pdf 25 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring • Senegal’s 2001 Constitution recognises gender equality, and the country is a signatory to all the international human rights conventions, including CEDAW and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
• The National Strategy for Gender Equality and Equity (SNEEG), launched in 2008, establishes the national women’s machinery as the focal point for resource mobilisation for gender equality.

Whilst each sector is responsible for taking action to advance gender equality, oversight is maintained by the national women’s machinery.
• The national Programme of Coordination of Financial and Budgetary Reforms (PCRBF) is under development since 2003 and became the basis for decisions to move towards performance-based budgeting.

• Senegal’s second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) was approved in October 2006 and covered the period from 2006 to 2010.

Its drafting process was participatory, with inputs from a range of national stakeholders, including women’s organisations.
According to UNIFEM (now UN Women), the GRB programme in Senegal has achieved some limited results, with one of the key factors being the shift to performance-based budgeting as a key entry point through which GRB could be implemented in Senegal.61 The results have been slow and could be attributed to the GRB programme’s long-term aim to achieve large-scale reforms in national policy planning and budgeting mechanisms, according to UNIFEM.62 Despite there not been much evidence in the short term in terms of the key initiatives related to GRB implementation in Senegal, there have been some key milestones that have been achieved and include the following: 63 • The inclusion of gender in the Budget Call Circular for the 2008 and 2009 budgets.
• The inclusion of gender issues in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.

• The preparation of a budget submission by the Ministry of Agriculture in the MTEF format with gender- sensitive indicators.

• The drafting of a Gender Report by the Ministry of Agriculture.

• Some increase in the technical capacity to address GRB among staff in the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture.
In light of these findings by UNIFEM, some of the key recommendations pointed out could help accelerate and improve Senegal’s GRB implementation:64 • The programme needs to facilitate other actors in order to advance GRB objectives.

This requires relationships with key public finance management reform actors and other UN agencies.

• In addition, the programme will need to use multiple sources of data, analysis, and opinions to identify poor women’s priorities.
• The GRB programme assesses the institutional and political components of the theory of change and maintains its efforts in developing technical capacity for GRB in Senegal.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 Ibid.

64 Ibid.

26 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing • Senegal’s GRB programme needs to define a strategic approach to supporting actors responsible for leveraging accountability for gender equality.
This should be grounded in a human-rights-based approach, which recognises how women ensure that their views and priorities are taken into account and recognise that various actors (government, parliament, and civil society organisations) play various roles in advancing these priorities.

• Senegal’s GRB programme identifies partnerships and stakeholders, and leverages and learns from the experiences of countries that have implemented GRB successfully, like Morocco, Ecuador, and Mozambique.
7.1.9 TOGO Togo is located on Africa’s west coast bordered by Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso.

Togo’s population is approximately 8.5 million.

The poverty level is higher in the rural (58.8%) areas than in the urban (26.5%) areas.65 According to the World Bank, Togo’s poverty is largely due to an annual population growth rate of 2.5% that surpasses the development progress.

Other factors contributing to poverty include economic growth in the modern sectors and limited access to quality services.
Poverty in Togo is higher in female-headed households (45.7%) and slightly lower in male-headed households (45.2%).

This is a common pattern within the global community, even though the margin is smaller in the case of Togo.

Women are more vulnerable, having less access to economic opportunities, education, health, and other basic socio-economic facilities.66 Togo’s Human Capital Index (HCI) score remains low at 0.43.
This means that children born in Togo today will be half (43%) as productive when they grow up as they could be if they had access to good health, education, and nutrition.67 Togo, like South Africa, also began officiating the introduction of GRPB.

The process of introducing GRPB in Togo was initiated with the technical support of the IMF.
The initiative led to good results by including gender focal points in sectoral ministries and institutions.68 In 2020, gender budgeting was introduced to advance the political vision of achieving gender equality.

The notion of gender budgeting is considered the core policy instrument/ framework of government.
The process started with six pilot ministries: • Ministry of Public Works • Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education • Ministry of Health • Ministry of Women • Ministry of Agriculture • Ministry of Youth.

65 https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/togo/overview 66 Ibid.

67 https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/human-capital/brief/the-human-capital-project-frequently-asked-questions#HCI8 68 Murara, L. 2022.

Introducing Gender Budgeting in Togo.


IMF Public Finance Management Blog https://blog-pfm.imf.org/en/pfmblog/2022/07/introducing-gender-budgeting-in-togo#:~:text=The%20process%20of%20introducing%20 gender%20budgeting%20in%20Togo,gender%20focal%20points%20in%20sectoral%20ministries%20and%20institutions.
27 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring The pilot later extended to the following ministries: • Ministry of Justice • Ministry of Higher Education • Prime Minister’s Office • Court of Auditors.

Gender experts were commissioned to execute the process of piloting GRPB and were accountable to the Prime Minister and Ministries of Finance, Women and Planning on the approach they employed in the prospectus of Togo.
That led to the establishment of the Gender Budgeting Unit within the Ministry of Finance.

The unit is mandated to spearhead and roll out gender budgeting across the government as coordinated by the resident advisor to the Minister of Finance.

The process started with training and awareness raising for ministries and institutions, and it is noted that IMF mapped the methodological approach that defined technical, legal, and organisational aspects, as well as tools and processes.
The roles and responsibilities of various entities were demarcated using gender focal points across the Budget Directorates in the Ministries of Finance, Planning and Women.

The pilot ministries presented an analysis of gender-sensitive expenditure in the budget based on the gender- marking methodology of the Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The results demonstrated that gender sensitivity was not yet elevated, with 4.8% of expenditure having principal or significant gender equality objectives and 18% had only ‘some’ gender equality indicators or ‘some with limited impact on equality’.

Figure 2 presents the pictorial representation of gender indicators.
20.0% 18.0% 16.0% 14.0% 12.0% 10.0% 8.0% 6.0% 4.0% 2.0% 0.0% 18.4% 2.2% 2.6% Gender equality is the principal objective Gender equality is a significant objective There is a link but gender equality is not a significant objective Figure 2: Togo’s gender-sensitive expenditure in the pilot ministries (percentage of total expenditure)69 69 Murara, L. 2022.

Introducing Gender Budgeting in Togo.


IMF Public Finance Management Blog https://blog-pfm.imf.org/en/pfmblog/2022/07/introducing-gender-budgeting-in-togo#:~:text=The%20process%20of%20introducing%20 gender%20budgeting%20in%20Togo,gender%20focal%20points%20in%20sectoral%20ministries%20and%20institutions.

28 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing Implementation of gender budgeting was in phases.

Key milestones included: i.

Integrating the process in the budget calendar ii.


Providing gender budgeting instructions and templates in the budget circular iii.

Formulating specific gender-related budget allocations based on a gender-impact assessment of selected pilot ministries iv.

Publishing a Gender Budget Statement highlighting the linkage of budgetary expenditures to the government’s national gender equity and equality policy.
The World Bank (through the Partnership for Action on Green Economy [PAGE] project) and the European Union supported the elaboration of the gender-sensitive budget.
The latter’s representative, Joachin Tasso Villalonga, praised the government “for putting Togo at the forefront of GRB in the region and welcomed their ambition to extend it to all public institutions” (see Figure 3).70 (1) Antecedents (16.7%): • Organisational arrangements • Data availability and quality • (Analytical) capacities • Development partners (3) Implementation context (66.7%): • Gender gaps • Economic and political context • Socio-cultural context • Implementation barriers (4 ) Outcomes and impact (37.2%): • Funding • Gender gaps reduced • Services provided • Implemented instruments • Gender budgeting institutionalised (2) Gender budgeting approach (100.0% Stage in the budget process Budget approval (ex ante)_ (32%) Budget execution (concurrent)_ (4%) Reporting and auditing (ex post)_ (13%) All stages (32%) s u c o f l a c i t y l a n A Instru- mental (64%) • Gender budget statement • Participatory budgeting (19%) Policy (41%) • Budget allocations for certain policies/ sectors (13%) • Tracking gender spending and progress • Monitoring and reporting (3%) • Gender audit • Gender budgeting system (5%) (37%) • Gender-responsive • Gender gaps and their causes • Policy analysis and implementation projects/ programmes (1%) (8%) (19%) Figure 3: Gender budgeting framework in Togo71 The framework in Figure 3 was tailor made and utilised by the IMF team when they supported the implementation of GRB in Togo.
However, since the process started in 2018, the issue of legislative reform to enforce GRB is yet to follow.

70 Togo Works on Gender Sensitive Budget for 2023 https://www.togofirst.com/en/economic-governance/0704-9741-togo-works-on-a-gender-sensitive-budget-for-2023 71 Ibid.
29 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 7.2 SOUTHERN AFRICA REGION The Southern African region of sub-Saharan Africa comprises 16 countries: Angola, Botswana, Union of the Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
These countries are also signatories to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional body governed by the SADC Treaty (1992).

The regional body has a Gender Unit, which was established in 1997.
As part of their work, the Gender Unit drafted the SADC Guidelines on Gender-Responsive Budgeting in 2014.72 SADC Executive Secretary at the time, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax, highlighted that the guidelines on GRB are core to the “realisation that the quest to improve national economies is intimately linked to the concrete attainment of gender equality through the allocation of adequate budgetary resources”.73 In 2014, the guidelines indicated several different developments and initiatives by Member States of SADC related to GRB.
At the time, the SADC had 14 Member States (the Union of Comoros and Madagascar joined after 2014), and only three states did not report any GRB activities when establishing the guidelines.74 There is a great deal of activity as it pertains to gender mainstreaming and GRB within the southern African region that is driven by the regional body.

7.2.1 ANGOLA As a Southern African Development Community member state, the Republic of Angola is a signatory to applicable treaties, including the SADC Treaty.
Furthermore, the SADC Guidelines on Gender-Responsive Budgeting remain applicable to the country as a Member State.75 Published in June 2014,76 the guidelines outlined that Angola had no GRB initiatives, and no evidence indicates any developments.
7.2.2 BOTSWANA The SADC Guidelines on Gender-Responsive Budgeting, published in June 2014, indicate that Botswana has no initiatives that indicate the planning or implementation of anything.77 While some initiatives and programmes are geared towards gender equality and the empowerment of women more specifically, the concept of GRB is not entrenched.
The SADC Factsheet on Botswana indicates that on two separate occasions (2001 and 2010), close to over ten years, the Women’s NGO Coalition and Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO) initiated consultancies to develop a gender budgeting strategy.78 On both occasions, the Ministry of Finance and Development did not adopt or implement what was initiated.

It can be deduced that this indicates resistance against GRB.
Furthermore, there is no accommodation in the national budgetary process for room to manoeuvre for GRB.

Contributing to the lack of GRB literature in Botswana, Botlhale outlines the benefits of GRB and outlines how equality in resource allocation would empower women.79 72SADC, Guidelines on Gender Response Budgeting (2014).

Available online at https://www.cawtarclearinghouse.org/storage/AttachementGender/ SADC.pdf 73 Ibid.

74 Ibid.

75 SADC, Guidelines on Gender Response Budgeting (2014).
Available online at https://www.cawtarclearinghouse.org/storage/ AttachementGender/SADC.pdf 76 Ibid.

77 SADC, Guidelines on Gender Response Budgeting (2014).

Available online at https://www.cawtarclearinghouse.org/storage/ AttachementGender/SADC.pdf 78 SADC, Factsheet Botswana (2018) https://www.sardc.net/books/BI/factsheets/SGDM_Factsheet_Botswana.pdf 79 Botlhale, E. (2011).

Gender-responsive budgeting: The case for Botswana.

Development Southern Africa, 28(1), 61-74.


30 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 7.2.3 COMOROS The Union of the Comoros joined the Southern African Development Community and became a full member in 2018.

As such, the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development is a pertinent convention with which the country is required to comply.

The CGE has found no evidence of developments apart from this membership towards adopting, operationalising, and implementing GRB.
7.2.4 DRC The Democratic Republic of Congo is a Member State of SADC.

Therefore, it is a signatory to the SADC Treaty.

Moreover, the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and the SADC Guidelines on Gender-Responsive Budgeting are applicable.
In June 2014, no evidence of GRB initiatives was available upon the publication of the guidelines.80 Following that, the DRC’s United Nations Development Programme office assisted with efforts to strengthen the government’s capacity to introduce initiatives in this regard.81 However, the CGE has found no documented developments to illustrate progress.

7.2.5 ESWATINI In 2010, the Kingdom of Eswatini launched the National Gender Policy, where Subsection 14 focused on budgeting.
The policy outlines various aims: “(i) Ensuring that experts in gender budgeting form an integral part of the team responsible for the planning of national and sectoral budgets (ii) Building the capacity of the central agencies and gender focal teams in gender budgeting (iii) Examining national and sectoral budgets to determine their gender sensitivity and gender responsiveness”.82 The government also commissioned a study to ascertain how gender could be mainstreamed into the national budgeting processes.
The findings resulted in gender mainstreaming training for stakeholders within civil society and the private sector.83 The Gender Consortium led consultations within the gender sector on GRB.

Following this, workshops were arranged for 15 of its members, which some members failed to attend.84 The CGE has not been able to source any further documented developments in this regard, and GRB remains fragmented with no political will or commitment.

80 SADC, Guidelines on Gender Response Budgeting (2014), p.73.
Available online at https://www.cawtarclearinghouse.org/storage/ AttachementGender/SADC.pdf 81 UN Women, Africa.

Democratic Republic of Congo Profile.

https://africa.unwomen.org/en/where-we-are/west-and-central-africa/ democratic-republic-of-congo 82 Kingdom of eSwatini.

National Gender Policy, Pg 33 https://www.gov.sz/images/dpm/gender/national%20gender%20policy%20(2).pdf.

83 Southern African Research and Documentation Centre, eSwatini Factsheet.
https://www.sardc.net/books/BI/factsheets/SGDM_ Factsheet_Eswatini.pdf 84 Ibid.

31 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 7.2.6 LESOTHO According to the Factsheet,85 Lesotho does not have any specific GRB framework.

However, as of 2019, the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, has been undertaking a study on the economic cost of violence against women and girls.
It is expected that the results of this study will include the development of a framework or strategic tool for GRB.

In the national budget of 2017/2018, only 0.7% of the M709.3 million was reserved for gender machinery, while the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning received 4% and the Ministry of Defence 4.3%.
Through the Beijing Platform for Action +20 Report under Section E on Budget Allocation, the government introduced training in GRB in 2010 for economic planners from government departments but has not provided information on the training results and any other recent GRB initiatives.

7.2.7 MADAGASCAR According to the Factsheet,86 Madagascar does not have a gender budget allocation yet.
However, the Ministry of Population, Social Protection and Promotion of Women Madagascar (MPPSPF) offered financial support in carrying out the activities related to gender that are included in the annual work plan with budget forecasts.

The ministry worked in collaboration with technical and financial partners.

In order to raise the capacity for GRB, Madagascar is currently revitalising the gender focal points of each ministerial department.
In order to complement this, 0.3% of the national budget has been allocated to the national gender machinery between 2017 and 2018, which is nowhere close to the need.

7.2.8 MOZAMBIQUE The IMF working paper indicates the history of GRB in Mozambique.87 The paper indicates early uptake of GRB by the country as early as 1998.

A cornerstone of establishing an accurate context for such efforts was through sex-disaggregated data for human resources and investments.
The role of sex-disaggregated data is important in that it draws a picture of the landscape of expenditure and needs and allows for policy and budget to converge based on this.

The 1998 initiatives illustrated the inequality in labour allocation where women were often in supporting roles despite having the same qualifications as men in the same roles.

UNIFEM assisted Mozambique in 2003 after the 1998 efforts and progress was short-lived.
Between 2003 and 2004, with the assistance of UNIFEM, the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), Forum Muhler, and the Mozambican Ministry of Finance focused on raising awareness and building capacity.88 From 2005 to 2008, they built on this by broadening the scope of GRB into more in-depth areas of concern, including HIV/AIDS, GBV, and maternal health.
The idea was to integrate a more gender-focused element within the national policy planning and budgetary process.89 UNECA highlights the importance of having the Ministry of Finance as a driver of the initiatives, often with much more political clout, budget, and power.

The Ministries of Finance are key in giving power and weight to budgetary reform processes and ensuring compliance across all tiers and spheres of government.90 85 Factsheet, SADC Gender and Development Monitor 2018.
86 Factsheet, SADC Gender and Development Monitor 2018.

87 Stotsky, M. J. G., Kolovich, M. L., & Kebhaj, S. (2016).

Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of gender budgeting efforts.

International Monetary Fund.

88SADC, Guidelines on Gender Response Budgeting (2014).

https://www.cawtarclearinghouse.org/storage/AttachementGender/SADC.pdf 89 Budlender, D. (2002).

A global assessment of gender responsive budget initiatives.

Gender budgets make cents.

Understanding gender responsive budgets, 83-130.


90 United Nations.

Economic Commission for Africa (2012).

Recent trends in national mechanisms for gender equality in Africa.

Addis Ababa.

UN.

ECA.

32 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing In the Evaluation Report on GRB in Mozambique, UNIFEM draws out several lessons that made the work on GRB successful.

This includes strong collaboration between other partners, national civil society organisations, and the government more broadly.
The SADC Factsheet on Mozambique highlights that the country was able to gain assistance from Tanzania, that already had efforts in place.91 According to the report, this is the only country to source regional assistance on GRB.

This is important to note as it provides a glimpse into the possibilities of relationships within the African continent to strengthen GRB efforts within each country, bilaterally and ultimately for the broader continent.
Another lesson is that “consistency and capacity in engaging with the overarching policy planning framework (PRSP/PARPA) lead to results”92 and requires support and commitment from those involved in planning and budgeting decisions within government institutions and the private sector.

In other words, there should be a legal and policy commitment alongside the assurance to fight for gender equality by those in key positions beyond those in the gender space.
Lastly, the success of GRB overall depends on collaboration, partnerships, and a strong network of contributors.

The Mozambican Government approved the Gender Policy and Implementation Strategy in 2005 to promote gender equality and increase women’s participation in development opportunities.

The strategy included measurable targets with sex-disaggregated data on education (admission, retention, and graduation rates), employment, and maternal health care.
To reflect this principle of equal rights and opportunities between men and women, in 2018, the Mozambican Government approved the Gender Policy and its corresponding Implementation Strategy and operationalised them in the National Action Plan for the Advancement of Women (PNAM 2018-2024).
7.2.9 MALAWI In 2016, Councillor Beatrice Mlatho outlined that some of the core challenges facing development and by extension, women empowerment, was the poor representation of women in decision-making bodies.93 The over-concentration of men meant that issues central to marginalised groups fell by the wayside.

This began to change with the introduction of GRB, particularly at the local level.
GRB became a central project supported by the Malawian Government, the European Union, UN Women, and other local NGOs in 2015.94 This project ensured the realisation of equitable distribution of resources where local councils are assisted in implementing budgets and interventions that are responsive and sensitive to the needs of respective target groups to reduce the development gender gap in Malawi.
Malawi has an interesting perspective on this, in that the localisation of GRB is at the core of its implementation.

Local councils are the drivers, meaning the benefits are felt closer to where the people are.
In 2021, guidelines were developed and validated through these partnerships grounded at the local level.95 The validation of the guidelines by local stakeholders following a consultative process has paved the way for the National Ministry of Finance and the National Local Government Finance Committee to operationalise the guidelines.96 The operationalisation also means gender-disaggregated data will be collected and available to ensure that resources are channelled in appropriate directions.
The guidelines are underpinned by the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS) III in conjunction with the Malawi 2063 vision, which aims to alleviate poverty and foster sustainable economic growth, as well as have Malawi at low-middle income status by 2030.97 91 SADC Factsheet Mozambique (2018) https://www.sardc.net/books/BI/factsheets/SGDM_Factsheet_Mozambique.pdf 92 Holvoet, N., & Inberg, L. (2014).

Gender responsive budgeting and the aid effectiveness agenda: experiences from Mozambique.
Journal of International Women’s Studies, 15(2), 61-79, p. 49 93 Kateta, M (2020).

Is gender-responsive budgeting creating equal opportunities in Malawi?.

Devex.

https://www.devex.com/news/is- gender-responsive-budgeting-creating-equal-opportunities-in-malawi-103486 94 Ibid.

95 World Bank.

(2022).

Malawi Gender Assessment.

Washington, DC.

World Bank.

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37537 96 Mtawali, W. (2021).
Malawi: Stakeholders Validate Gender-Responsive Budgeting Guidelines for Local Councils 97 World Bank.

(2022).

Malawi Gender Assessment.

Washington, DC.

World Bank.


https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37537 33 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 7.2.10 NAMIBIA As a member of SADC, in compliance with the regional body’s protocols, the Republic of Namibia has also introduced GRB as part of the country’s gender mainstreaming initiatives.
In 2014, the Namibian Cabinet directed all government offices, ministries, and agencies to introduce GRB into the government budget circle.

The Namibian Cabinet also fostered the incorporation of gender guidelines into the budget circular by the Ministry of Finance and the incorporation of all gender issues into sector policies, programmes, plans, budgets, implementation plans, and all monitoring and evaluation aspects by the accounting officers of all offices, ministries, and agencies.
With the support of the United Nations Development Programme, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, in consultation with various offices, ministries and agencies, published the GRB Guidelines in October 2015.
The purpose of these guidelines is to “provide Offices, Ministries, Agencies with a standard tool to identify gender issues corresponding to respective mandates by undertaking a gender analysis of the respective sectors to identify appropriate activities, cost them and incorporate them in budget proposals within the medium-term expenditure framework”.98 In supporting this purpose, the Namibian Government has taken the initiative to train members of Parliament in gender sensitivity and GRB in particular, increase the debates in Parliament from a gender perspective, and give approximately 9.2% of the total budget to GRB in 2022, which is far below the desired proportion.
7.2.11 SEYCHELLES Seychelles does not yet have GRB as part of its efforts in gender mainstreaming and attaining gender equality.
The SADC Gender and Development Monitor 2018 Factsheet reported the following with regard to GRB in Seychelles: “The Government of Seychelles does not have legislative and policy measures to ensure equal participation by men and women in formulation and implementation of economic policies, and no measures have been put in place to ensure GRB at national, regional, district, and sector levels”.99 However, the Ministry of Family Affairs in Seychelles defended this by pointing out that the national budget is based on results-based management (RBM) policy, which is inclusive.
Therefore, there is no need to have specific tracking, monitoring, and monitoring evaluation measures for GRB.100 Furthermore, according to a recent review by UN Women in 2019, one of the questions posed was the following:101 Do you track the proportion of the national budget that is invested in the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women (gender-responsive budgeting)?

Yes/No.

The answer was No, reflecting that Seychelles does not have GRB initiatives.102 98 Republic of Namibia.
Gender Responsive Budgeting Guidelines (2015), p. 7.

99 SADC, 2018.

SADC Gender and Development Monitor 2018 Seychelles FACTSHEET Women Economic empowerment and Gender Responsive Budgeting p7.

Available online at https://www.sardc.net/books/BI/factsheets/SGDM_Factsheet_Seychelles.pdf 100 Ibid.

101 UN Women, 2019.

Seychelles: National Comprehensive Review 2019 For the Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995).
Available online at https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/ files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/CSW/64/National-reviews/Seychelles.pdf 102 Ibid.
34 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 7.2.12 TANZANIA In 1997, the NGO Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) advocated for GRB as a mainstreaming mechanism at the national level towards achieving gender equality through resource allocation and distribution in the public sphere.103 Pioneered by the NGO, Tanzania is one of the countries that specifically outlines the role of civil society in being at the forefront of this initiative.104 Since 1993, TGNP has been central in advancing gender equality issues.
While labouring on this, Mushi and Mamkwe highlight that while there has been an imperative for the initiatives by the government to have GRB, much of the efforts have just been paperwork.105 Following extensive labour and legislative compliance, the inclusion of gendered issues within the budgetary process was embedded: “The Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoFP) develops guidelines for the preparation of plans and budgets to be followed by the ministries, independent departments, and agencies (MDAs); regional secretariats (RSs); local government authorities (LGAs); and other public entities”.106 The guidelines articulate that all the structures mentioned above and institutions should ensure that budgets are gender sensitive.
In addition, the guidelines were clear on mainstreaming crosscutting issues into plans and budgets: “Accounting Officers are urged to allocate resources for the implementation of cross-cutting interventions including gender, environment, nutrition, climate change adaptation and mitigation, HIV/AIDS, people with disabilities, elderly, child protection, anti-corruption measures, good governance and the rule of law”.107 The general instructions of the guidelines recommend that 10% of revenue should be utilised to facilitate the empowerment of women, youth, and people with disabilities, where women and youth are allocated 4% and people with disabilities 2%.108 While this outlining of funding for women, youth, and people with disabilities is welcomed, the embedding of gender within the general budget is insufficient.
The poor allocation and menial spending towards these marginalised groups do not fundamentally contribute towards a systematic, embedded, and fundamental contribution towards gender equality through resource allocation.
In their report, Koda and Mtasingwa highlight this is a separate budget facility for women, which does not embed gender in these processes.109 7.2.13 ZAMBIA According to the SADC Guidelines on Gender-Responsive Budgeting, the Zambian Ministry of Finance and the National Planning, Budget and Economic Affairs Division were gendering the Budget Call Circular.110 The circular emphasised that gender would be considered an important issue during budget hearings, and specific gendered issues were to be articulated through the resource allocation and distribution process.
The guidelines indicated that it had been difficult to make practical despite the circular’s outlines.

Furthermore, capacity challenges remain key in widespread gender mainstreaming through budgetary processes.

103 Rusimbi, M., & Mbilinyi, M. (2005).

Political and legal struggles over resources and democracy: Experiences with gender budgeting in Tanzania.

Law and Globalization from Below: Towards a Cosmopolitan Legality, 283-309.

104 Ibid.

105 Mushi, V. A., & Mamkwe, C. E. (2010).


Challenges and success of gender budgeting initiatives: A case of Tanzania.

Accountancy and Business Review Journal, 7(2), 19-24.

106 Koda, B. O., & Mtasingwa, L. V. (2021).

Gender-responsive Budgeting in Tanzania.

107The United Republic of Tanzania, Ministry of Finance and Planning 2020/2021.

(2019).

Guidelines for Preparation of Plans and Budgets.


https://www.mof.go.tz/uploads/documents/en-1654668213-Guidelines%20For%20Preparation%20of%20Plans%20and%20Budget%20 2020_21.pdf.

P49 108 Ibid.

109 Koda, B. O., & Mtasingwa, L. V. (2021).

Gender-responsive Budgeting in Tanzania.

110 SADC, Guidelines on Gender Response Budgeting (2014), p.74.
https://www.cawtarclearinghouse.org/storage/AttachementGender/ SADC.pdf 35 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring Civil society organisations assisted with screening and analysing the national budget to assess the spending on gender issues, beneficiaries of that spending, and whether those resources had a material impact on gender issues.
Unfortunately, it was ascertained that funds were often diverted away from what was initially outlined to what SADC Guidelines articulate as “more important or more pressing” issues.111 In 2019, the Ministry of Gender’s Progress Report on the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcomes of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly (2000) answered ‘No’ to the question ‘Do you track the proportion of the national budget that is invested in the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women (gender-responsive budgeting)?’.
112 7.2.14 ZIMBABWE The Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) initiated gender budgeting initiatives as early as 1999.113 Zimbabwe is a Member State of SADC and, therefore, a signatory to the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development.

Much like many other initiatives that introduce gender budgeting in the national resource allocation, it was crucial that gender gaps were identified.
Later, the focus was moved towards human capacity building with assistance from African Capacity Building Foundation.
Through this, the initiatives brought “key processes in placing gender on the government agenda, and subsequently placing gender budgeting higher on the agenda to move the country’s gender equality commitments from policy to action”.114 The collaboration between ZWRCN and the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2006 was crucial in assisting with the implementation of promoting awareness, analysis, and using shared data at the national and local levels to ground policy discussions and debates.
The valuable information assists in developing policies, including the reform of the budgetary process.

Consequently, a Technical Advisory on gender budgeting coordinates the gender ministry, other ministries and the ZWRCN was established.

On 4 April 2007, the Zimbabwean Government launched the Gender Budgeting and Women’s Empowerment Programme.

This was the formal commitment to introducing and practising GRB.
Following this, the initiative became central in the equitable distribution of resources among women and other marginalised groups115 and as such, at the beginning of each budget cycle, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development issues a Budget Call Circular since 2007 wherein all Ministries are mandated to submit a gender budgeting statement.116 Overall, Kapungu outlines the following as central to ensuring that gender budgeting ascends higher on the national agenda: Results-based budgeting principles, political will, government and non-government collaboration, adopting and adapting best practices, participants (visible and hidden participants), research and publication, and framing the initiative messages for uptake.117 111 Republic of Zambia, Ministry of Gender.
(2019).

Gender Status Report (2017 -2019).

https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/giz2021_en_ Zambia_Gender_Report_2017-2019.pdf 112 Republic of Zambia, (2019).

Progress Report on the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcomes of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly (2000).

https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/ Attachments/Sections/CSW/64/National-reviews/Zambia.pdf 113 Kapungu, R. (2008).
The Zimbabwe Gender Budgeting and Women’s Empowerment Programme.

Agenda, 22(78), 68-78.

114 Ibid.

115 Parvez, B.

A., Remme, J., Rost, L., & Koissy-Kpein, S. A.

(2018).

Exploring the Need for Gender-Equitable Fiscal Policies for a Human Economy: Evidence from Uganda and Zimbabwe.

116 Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (2021).

Treasury Budget Call Circular Number 1 of 2021. https://genderlinks.org.za/wp- content/uploads/2022/03/Zimbabwe-Ministry-of-Finance-budget-call-circular.pdf, p. 7.
117 Kapungu, R. (2008).

The Zimbabwe Gender Budgeting and Women’s Empowerment Programme.

Agenda, 22(78), 68-78.
36 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing According to the SADC Guidelines on Gender-Responsive Budgeting, the Zimbabwean Government’s results- based management strategy has been implemented and works well with the GRB principles that emphasise the cost effectiveness of allocating and utilising financial resources.118 The Southern African Research and Documentation Centre highlights that the training of officials has increased, and the establishment of the Zimbabwe Women’s Micro-Finance Bank contributes greatly to the GRB initiatives by the state.119 The government has gendered the budget and 57% of the spending is projected towards equal- opportunity programmes that empower women.120 7.3 EAST AFRICA REGION The East Africa region comprises ten countries: Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi, Central African Republic, and Eritrea.
Gender budgeting efforts in the East Africa region are said to have begun in the 1990s, motivated by several key international and regional agreements and to address gender equality issues through planning and budgeting processes.121 Some countries that form part of the East African region adopted international and regional treaties and conventions that seek to promote gender mainstreaming through GRB.
The GRB initiatives in East Africa found support from ministries of finance, parliamentary groups, civil society organisations, and development partners.
However, progress has been slow and uneven across the region.122 While Uganda and Rwanda have achieved notable success in integrating gender-oriented goals into budget policies, programmes and processes, more needs to be done in other member countries.123 Some of the challenges that East African countries face in the implementation of GRB include the national budget allocations not always being gender or sex disaggregated to enable the determination of the development priorities of women and men to ensure effective implementation of GRB and a lack of political will or buy-in.
Having outlined the regional overview of East Africa, the following discussion is on the status quo with regard to GRB implementation in each of the eight countries in East Africa.
7.3.1 ETHIOPIA GRB efforts in Ethiopia were initiated by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) and began by developing the first national guideline for mainstreaming gender in the budget process in 2008.124 According to Endashaw, “since 2010, the Ethiopian Government has pursued a variety of GRB initiatives to integrate gender issues into national policies, strategies, and budgets in close cooperation with UN Women through:125 • Advocacy to gender processes and policies in the national budget to reflect gender equality principles • Technical support to ensure that the priorities of women are reflected in sector budget allocations for national programmes 118 SADC, Guidelines on Gender Response Budgeting (2014), p. .86. https://www.cawtarclearinghouse.org/storage/AttachementGender/ SADC.pdf 119 SARDC Factsheet Zimbabwe.
https://www.sardc.net/books/BI/factsheets/SGDM_Factsheet_Zimbabwe.pdf 120 Gahadza, N. (2022).

Budget to support $3.9 trillion gender-sensitive projects.

The Herald.

https://www.herald.co.zw/budget-to-support- 39trln-gender-sensitive-projects/ 121 Khasiani, K & Tripathi,A.

2018.

Gender Responsive Budgeting in East Africa.

Available online at https://blog-pfm.imf.org/en/ pfmblog/2018/08/gender-responsive-budgeting-in-east-africa 122 Ibid.

123 Ibid.

124 Endashaw, F. 2018.


The Practice and Challenges of Gender Responsive Budgeting: The case of the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource.

Available online at http://213.55.95.56/bitstream/handle/123456789/15043/39.%20Frehiwet%20Endashaw.pdf?sequence=1 125 Ibid, p. 21-22.
37 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring • Financial assistance to conduct training and workshops and develop guidelines and training manuals that promote knowledge, skill, and learning with regard to GRB.

The MoFED has worked with UN Women in conducting various tasks to make the country’s budget allocation gender responsive and gender-inclusive.
The MoFED has simultaneously enhanced stakeholder capacity to undertake GRB plausibly by capacitating policymakers, budget planners, gender officers, and implementers.126 The MoFED has also led GRB efforts in capacitating gender experts to undertake monitoring and evaluation for programmes and projects that enhance women, men, girls, and boys that benefit from public budget allocations and consequently from development outcomes.127 In addition to this, all sector ministries and public body organisations at the federal level, the four regions (Oromia, Amhara, Tigray and Southern People Nation, and Nationality), and the two city administrations (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa) were given guidelines to sensitise budgeting.
All government sectors received the guidelines prepared at the ministry level to use for training officials in planning and budgeting in Ethiopia.128 An essential part of Ethiopia’s GRB initiatives is that the Prime Minister’s Office is responsible for checking that the Budget Call Circular mentions gender budgeting, ensuring an allocation of funds for gender-oriented purposes, and promoting the project to Parliament.129 In addition, the gender mainstreaming guidelines by the Ministry of Children and Women Affairs policy and plan of action on gender equality have also committed to ensuring gender equality at all levels, identifying mechanisms to achieve equality, allocating and identifying resources, and ensuring that there is accountability through a monitoring and evaluation system.130 The guidelines also explicitly point out that the budget process must be gender sensitive, participatory, and ensure women and men are equal beneficiaries of the budget allocation.131 From the beginning of 2011/2012, Ethiopia implemented a programme budgeting system to ensure the effective implementation of GRB initiatives at a federal level.
“The main objective of the programme budgeting system is to allocate resources for outputs or results, it also shows the relationship between plans and budgets, and coordinates both capital and recurrent budgets”.132 Eight key components form part of the programme budgeting system, which provides crucial entry points for the implementation and/or introduction of GRB approaches, and these include the pre-preparation by public bodies, notification of annual subsidy, issuing the budget call, budget requests, budget hearings, preparation of the draft recommended budget, recommended budget reviewed by the Council of Ministers, and legislative approval and appropriation of the budget.133 Ethiopia is also a signatory and has ratified several international protocols that have assisted in attaining gender equality and its GRB initiatives.
Some of these include:134 • CEDAW • Declaration on Eliminating Violence Against Women (DEVAW) • Beijing Platform for Action (BPA) (1995) • Sustainable development goals (SDGs) (signed internationally) • Solemn declaration on gender equality in Africa (SDGEA) 126 Ibid.

127 Ibid.

128 Ibid.

129 Ibid.

130 Ibid.

131 Ibid.

132 Ibid.

133 Ibid.

134 Ibid.


38 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing • Maputo Protocol • Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) (1994) (adopted gender mainstreaming as a key strategy to achieve gender equality).
Ethiopia has the following domestic policies and legislation that guide its efforts with regard to gender mainstreaming, gender equality, and the implementation of GRB initiatives:135 • Article 35 of the Constitution (1995) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia stipulates that women’s rights paved the way for the government to facilitate the process of mainstreaming gender perspectives in key development policies and strategies to address gender inequality.
• Proclamation of Executive Organs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Number 691/2010 mandates all sector ministries, government agencies, and government development enterprises to integrate gender issues according to their powers and duties.

• The 1993 National Policy on Ethiopian Women addresses poverty, gender inequality, capacity building, and women’s socio-economic and political status improvement.
It directs the establishment of women’s machinery at the department level in all federal public bodies and Women Affairs Bureaus at regional levels.

• Other key policies include the Education and Training Policy (1994), Health Policy (1993), Agricultural Development-Led Industrialisation Strategy (2001), Culture Policy (1997), and Natural Resource and Environmental Policy (1997).
In summary, despite Ethiopia implementing GRB initiatives, it has faced some crucial challenges to effectively implementing GRB.
Some of these challenges include the limited technical expertise on GRB approaches; limited coordination, capacities, commitments and accountability mechanisms for promoting gender equality within government structures; and limited availability and utilisation disaggregated data on age, sex, and gender to support evidence-based planning.136 It is hoped that other countries can learn some lessons and experiences from Ethiopia’s efforts in implementing GRB and some of its challenges.
7.3.2 KENYA In Kenya, GRB has not been institutionalised.

However, there are several international policies and conventions which Kenya subscribes to, which promote gender equality and gender mainstreaming.
Some of the policies Kenya signed and ratified include: 137 • Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1985) • Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (NFLS) • Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (1989) • United Nations Declaration on Violence Against Women (1993) • International Conference on Policy Brief 3 Population and Development (ICPD) (1994) 135 Ibid.

136 Ibid.

137 Society for international Development (SID), 2012.
Gender Responsive Budgeting in Kenya.

Policy Brief No.

1.
Available online at https:// www.sidint.net/sites/www.sidint.net/files/docs/GenderResponsiveBudgeting_PolicyBrief.pdf 39 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring • Beijing Platform of Action (BPFA) in 1995 and in November 1996, • The National Assembly adopted the motion for the implementation of the BPFA • Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (signed in September 2000) • The resolution of the AU summit (September 2004) on employment creation and poverty alleviation.
According to the Society for International Development (SID), despite attempts to institutionalise GRB in Kenya, there has been little success in gendering the budget process.138 The SID point out that this could result from the lack of advocacy, knowledge sharing, training and capacity building targeting citizens at the grassroots level.
Prior to the promulgation of the Constitution in 2010, such citizens did not have the adequate mandate to advocate changes within the budget process.139 In addition, significant challenges to the effective implementation of GRB in Kenya include the lack of financial resources for GRB initiatives, inadequate technical capacity to carry out GRB in ministries, no disaggregated sex data to support the budget process, lack of political will, and lack of coordination among the key players in the GRB process.140 7.3.3 RWANDA According to the IMF, Rwanda’s first initiative aims to implement GRPB dates back to 2002/2003, with its first initiative led by the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and with the support of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.141 Mukunda, Kazaire and Musindarwezo affirm this view and point out that several international development partners have supported the Rwandan Government in the implementation of GRB.142 During the GRB initial period, the Rwandan Government developed gender budget statements to be incorporated into programme budgets.143 However, these efforts were unsuccessful as the Ministry of Finance in Rwanda did not play a central role in leading these efforts, and there was an overreliance on outside experts and insufficient building of local capacity.144 Following this, between 2008 and 2010, a second initiative was undertaken, this time led by the Ministry of Finance with support from UN Women.
The ministry of finance believed that every ministry was responsible for ensuring that women’s needs were integrated into its areas of responsibility.145 The Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion and the Gender Monitoring Office played a key role in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) by providing oversight and support.146 Part of the GRB initiatives was also meant to capacitate and train the Rwandan local government officials in government departments to avoid overreliance on external consultants.147 These reforms also were part of a bigger public financial management reform process taking place at that time to move Rwanda’s budget from an ‘accounting exercise’ to programme budgeting.148 138 Ibid.
139 Ibid.

140 Ibid.

141 IMF.2016.

IMF Working Paper Strategy, Policy, and Review and Research Departments Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts.

Available online at https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp16152.pdf 142 Mukunda, J Kazaire,J & Musindarwezo, D.2011.

Progress towards achieving gender responsive budget in Rwanda: A CSO response to Sectoral GB Statements for the FY 2011/12.
Available online at http://www.rcsprwanda.org/IMG/pdf/Final_GB_statements_Asessment_ Report_1_.pdf 143 Ibid.

144 Ibid.

145 Ibid.

146 Ibid.

147 Ibid.

148 Ibid.
40 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing There was also an intention to roll out the same national programmes at a local government level, given the importance of local governments in delivering basic public services.149 Despite local governments in Rwanda lacking a strong tax base for raising their revenues, they do have the authority to adjust budgetary programmes to address gender gaps and women’s needs, giving them some autonomy and control over their budgets at a local government level.150 Underpinning all these GRB initiatives in Rwanda were both international conventions and policies in addition to domestic legislation and policy.
Firstly, with regard to the international conventions which Rwanda subscribes to: CEDAW, Millennium Development Goals, Beijing Platform of Action (BPA), and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions on equality and non-discrimination.151 Domestic legislation and policy that informed GRB initiatives in Rwanda include the National Gender Policy, which emphasises gender budgeting.
It points out that “Budgeting is the condition sine qua non of success of the implementation of the National Gender Policy, and the policy will not succeed unless adequate resources are allocated to programmes and activities related to it”.152 Once the initiatives were in place to implement GRB in Rwanda, one of the key objectives in the first phase was to sensitise planning and budgeting officers, train a core technical team, and establish sex-disaggregated data collection and monitoring at the national level.153 Initially, the government piloted four sectors – health, education, agriculture, and infrastructure.
The choice of the sectors was because together they accounted for a substantial share of the budget, and the government wished to demonstrate that gender-oriented goals were relevant beyond the social sector.154 Another instrumental initiative by Rwanda in its efforts to implement GRB was the introduction of a Gender Budget Statement, which provided an accountability mechanism through which the government agencies could report to Parliament.155 A key requirement in this regard was that Rwandan Ministries and agencies were required to submit the statements to the Ministry of Finance.
Although budget allocations were not dependent on them, they could lead to additions or changes in activities to “make them more gender-sensitive”, leaving some autonomy for influencing budget allocations.156 Government agencies were also required to include an analysis of gender-oriented goals in their Strategic Issues Papers for programme discussions and were also asked to report on the differences in civil service employment with respect to sex and level in the civil service.
157 At the beginning of 2009, part of the second phase in Rwanda’s GRB implementation was ensuring implementation in four pilot areas and local government.158 This was intended to build a system of monitoring and evaluation of targets, collect sex-disaggregated data, and develop indicators on gender-oriented goals for each sector.159 In 2011, the Gender Monitoring Office published a study of key gender indicators in four sectors: governance, agriculture, infrastructure, and the private sector.
An important accomplishment in this phase of the GRB initiatives was that the Ministry of Finance submitted the national budget in 2010/2011 with Gender Budget Statements of the four pilot sectors, following the issuance of the first Budget Call Circular.160 149 Ibid.

150 Ibid.

151 Mukunda, J Kazaire,J & Musindarwezo, D.2011.

Progress towards achieving gender responsive budget in Rwanda: A CSO response to Sectoral GB Statements for the FY 2011/12.
Available online at http://www.rcsprwanda.org/IMG/pdf/Final_GB_statements_Asessment_ Report_1_.pdf 152 Ibid.

153 Ibid.

154 Ibid.

155 Ibid.

156 Ibid.

157 Ibid.

158 Ibid.

159 Ibid.

160 Ibid.
41 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring The circular made the submission of Gender Budget Statements mandatory in the pilot sectors and required other sectors to demonstrate that gender had been integrated into budget submissions.161 By 2011/2012, Gender Budget Statements were made mandatory for all ministries and in the fiscal year 2013/2014, the Gender Monitoring Office determined that all districts and almost all ministries complied with the Gender Budget Statement requirement.162 In 2013, the Organic Budget Law, spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, formally institutionalising gender budgeting.163 The GRB initiatives at a national level also cascaded down to the local government level.
Local governments were asked to divide services into those that have a specific gender-oriented goal and those that do not.164 In summary, in Rwanda, GRPB initiatives aim to address gender equality and women’s needs are embedded in the framework for developing a national budget.165 The introduction of the legislation-Organic Budget Law makes it mandatory for the government to include gender budget statements as part of the documentation submitted in the budget process.166 Monitoring also takes place to ensure that all government agencies adhere to key features of the budget to ensure that it is gender responsive, thus ensuring the effective implementation of GRB.167 Key lessons from Rwanda’s GRB experiences include that Rwanda showed that it is possible to embed gender budgeting into the normal budgetary processes of national governments and subnational governments that address identified gender gaps and girls’ and women’s needs.168 Secondly, the Rwandan Government (specifically the Ministry of Finance) tried to find a constructive approach to address gender-oriented goals through the government budget.169 The selection of pilots across sectors encompassing social, economic, and infrastructure issues was also crucial in this regard, emphasising the importance of addressing gender-oriented issues comprehensively.170 Thirdly, the establishment of a Gender Monitoring Office to ensure that gender budgeting was put in place as intended and was serving its intended purposes is a crucial accountability mechanism often lacking in most countries’ GRB initiatives.171 According to Stotsky, a crucial and key element that makes GRB successful in Rwanda is the establishment of the Gender Monitoring Office to evaluate outcomes and hold ministries and other government entities accountable for delivering on their gender-related objectives.172 The office has been responsible for producing an annual report, which is published and reflects the serious intention of the Rwandan Government to hold itself accountable for identifying important objectives, incorporating the means to achieve these objectives into budgetary programmes and policies, and measuring progress on outcomes, according to Stotsky.173 161 Ibid.
162 Ibid.

163 Ibid.

164 Ibid.

165 Ibid.

166 Ibid 167 Ibid.

168 Ibid.

169 Ibid.

170 Ibid.

171 Ibid.

172 Stotsky, J.2017.

Gender Budgeting in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Centre for Africa-Europe Relations.

Available online at https://ecdpm.org/ work/she-drives-change-volume-6-issue-2-may-june-2017/gender-budgeting-in-sub-saharan-africa 173 Ibid.
42 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 7.3.4 SOUTH SUDAN The South Sudan Government promotes gender equality and gender mainstreaming as one of its key national goals.174 In this regard, there is national gender machinery, and the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare (MGCSW), in particular, has achieved many goals.
The goals include the formulation of the National Gender Policy (NGP), the establishment of an Inter-Ministerial Gender Coordination Committee (IMGCC), and the appointment of gender focal persons in all ministries.175 Despite these achievements with regard to gender mainstreaming in South Sudan, however, GRB has yet to be introduced in South Sudan.176 Some of the challenges are that some ministries cannot allocate budgets for gender-related activities under current economic conditions, and few regard gender mainstreaming as a crucial issue.177 7.3.5 UGANDA Uganda began its GRB initiatives in 1999 when members of the Uganda Women’s Parliamentary Association visited their counterparts in the South African Parliament.
South Africa had made significant progress in mainstreaming gender and increasing women’s participation, and the association used the trip as an opportunity to learn and hear some of the best practices.
These practices included gender mainstreaming and implementing GRB into development.178 Uganda then quickly adopted these practices of gender mainstreaming and GRB.179 In 2000, the Forum for Women in Development (FOWODE), a civil society organisation, started to work with the Uganda Women Parliamentarians to build their capacity in gender mainstreaming and GRB and to participate more effectively in the parliamentary debates.180 The forum made a key contribution to working together to produce a Private Member’s Bill for increasing parliamentary focus on budget participation under the Budget Act.181 FOWODE then used its influence and targeted the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFPED) in Uganda as the entry point to working with the government.182 Since 2003, the MoFPED has championed GRB in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD), and both ministries work with civil society to mainstream gender in budgetary processes.183 Gender budgeting was formally adopted in Uganda in 2004/2005 when the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development included gender budgeting in the Budget Call Circular.184 Guidelines were developed on how to address gender-oriented goals in the budget.
These were attached as an annexure for sector ministries and local government, and the initial focus was on the Ministries of Education; Health; Agriculture; Justice, Law, and Order; Energy; and Water and Sanitation.185 The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development also produced sex-disaggregated data to inform discussions on the budget.186 174 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JIN).2017.

Republic of South Sudan Data Collection Survey on Gender Final Report.
Available online at https://docslib.org/doc/10611433/country-gender-profile-republic-of-south-sudan-final-report 175 Ibid.

176 Ibid.

177 Ibid.

178 Kusambiza, M. 2013.

A Case Study of Gender Responsive Budgeting in Uganda.

Available online at https://vdocuments.net/a-case-study- of-gender-responsive-budgeting-in-uganda-a-case-study-of-gender.html?page=1 179 Ibid.

180 Ibid.

181 Ibid.

182 Ibid.

183 Ibid.

184 IMF.2016.


IMF Working Paper Strategy, Policy, and Review and Research Departments Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts.

Available online at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp16152.pdf 185 Ibid.

186 Ibid.
43 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring Over the years, the Budget Call Circular in Uganda has been refined to encourage sectors to adopt gender budgeting.187 The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development observed that many sectors provided blanket or general statements about how they planned to address gender inequality in the Budget Framework Papers.188 These developments led to the 2014/2015 Budget Call Circular requiring all sectors to submit specific actions to address gender inequality through their budgets.189 In 2016/2017, Budget Call Circular 11 reiterated this point and provided separate annexes with instructions on how sectors should report on their plans.190 Furthermore, ministries, departments, local governments, and agencies were also asked to demonstrate how they promoted gender equality and related objectives in the Sustainable Development Goals.191 A key element of Uganda’s GRB implementation at a local government level is that GRB is done through a decentralised system with a power transfer from the central government to the local government.192 The local government also has control of the delivery of services in which the local communities have been empowered to improve effectiveness and accountability and promote a sense of people’s ownership of local government programmes and projects.193 Uganda’s efforts in implementing GRB have also been assisted by adopting legal and policy frameworks and ratifying several international conventions and agreements on women and gender.194 Several national laws and policies have also provided a conducive environment to achieve gender equality and gender mainstreaming in Uganda, which assist in implementing GRB.195 The national legislative and policy provisions that promote gender equality and mainstreaming include:196 • Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (1995) • Local Government Act Cap 243 • Disability Act (2003) • Children’s Act Cap 59 (2000) (provides for the protection and promotion of the rights of children) • Equal Opportunities Act (2008) • Budget Act (2001) • Public Finance and Accountability Act (2003) • Uganda Gender Policy (2007) • National Action Plan for Women (2008) • National Development Plan (NDP) of 2011–2015 replaced the Poverty Eradication Action Plan of 2003– 2008 and became the overall framework for Uganda’s development and government spending.
187 Ibid.

188 Ibid.

189 Ibid.

190 Ibid.

191 Ibid.

192 Ibid.

193 Ibid.

194 Ibid.

195 Ibid.

196 Ibid.
44 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing Some of the international instruments and policies to which the Ugandan Government is a signatory include:197 • CEDAW • Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development (1995) • Beijing Platform for Action (BPA) (1995) • United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (1990) • UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (2008) • Paris Declaration (2005) • Busan Declaration (2011) The regional policy provisions to which Uganda subscribes include:198 • African Union Gender Policy (2009) • Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights of Women in Africa (2003) • Lomé Declaration (2002) • Accra Agenda for Action (2008) In summary, firstly, some of the key lessons and experiences from Uganda’s GRB implementation experiences include that governments can address gender-oriented goals through the budget by setting clear and well- thought-out priorities in various sectors of the economy.199 Secondly, according to the IMF, the use of Uganda’s budget at the national and subnational levels to address gender-oriented gaps and women’s needs in education and health demonstrates the positive role that government plays, even though progress remains slow.200 Thirdly, the introduction of a Certificate on Gender and Equity Compliance has been a crucial and innovative initiative that helps in implementing GRB in Uganda.
The compliance certificate helps monitor sectoral compliance with gender-oriented goals, and the linking of intergovernmental transfers to local governments to programmes on gender equity has been.201 7.4 NORTH AFRICA REGION North Africa comprises eight countries: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Chad, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

The North African region has a population of more than 249 million.
The most populous country is Egypt with a population of more than 102 million.202 Libya is said to have the smallest population in North Africa, around 6.87 million.203 The eight countries comprising North Africa identify themselves as Arab and Muslim countries, with most of the people in these countries speaking Arabic and practising the religion of Islam.204 Egypt’s capital city Cairo is the most populous in North Africa, with a population of more than 20 million.
Other large cities in North Africa include Alexandria in Egypt and Casablanca.205 197 Kusambiza, M. 2013.

A Case Study of Gender Responsive Budgeting in Uganda.

Available online at https://vdocuments.net/a-case-study- of-gender-responsive-budgeting-in-uganda-a-case-study-of-gender.html?page=1 198 Ibid.

199 IMF.2016.

IMF Working Paper Strategy, Policy, and Review and Research Departments Sub-Saharan Africa: A Survey of Gender Budgeting Efforts.
Available online at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp16152.pdf 200 Ibid.

201 Ibid.

202 WorldAtlas.2022.

How many countries are in Africa.

Available online at How Many Countries Are There In Africa?

- WorldAtlas 203 Ibid.

204 Ibid.

205 Ibid.

45 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring Research points out that various levels and initiatives have been achieved with regard to GRB implementation in countries in North Africa.
Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco seem to be taking great strides regarding the implementation of GRB in their respective countries.

On the other hand, Algeria, Libya, and Sudan lag or do not have any GRB initiatives at all.206 The status quo regarding GRB implementation for each of the respective eight countries in North Africa is discussed below.
7.4.1 ALGERIA According to Budlender,207 GRB activities in Algeria were initiated in September 2010 as part of the Algerian Government’s Al Insaf Joint Programme 2010-2013, which involved a partnership with UN agencies.

The programme was funded through the multilateral Millennium Development Goal funding mechanism, with the Spanish Government as the primary funder.
The Joint Programme that the Spanish Government funded was called the Joint Programme for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Algeria.

Its focus was the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 3.
UN Women was the implementation agency for GRB-related activities, which comprised a relatively small part of the full joint programme.208 The GRB activities were expected to contribute to the realisation of Outcome 1 of the programme: “The process of equitable decision-making on development strategies and programmes is enhanced through improving the quality of information on gender and building capacity of national institutions for taking gender issues into account in social and economic areas”.209 The focal point within the government was the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance.
This ministry was chosen consistent with the focus on rural women within the broader joint programme.
The MARD document provides for two main programmes: (i) a feasibility study on GRB in Algeria that would explore how gender could be integrated into decision-making, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of government programmes and strategies and (ii) training for officials of the Ministry of Finance on results-based management targeting, in particular, those involved in the budget reform pilot project.
It was hoped that the initiative could also link up with related studies, ongoing or planned at the time: a national time use survey in the field in 2012 and a study on the gender impact of economic liberalisation.

The GRB feasibility study was completed and included a case study of the MARD.

In particular, the case study included a gender analysis of a rural development programme and funds within the MARD budget.
The feasibility study findings were presented by gender focal points to the Ministries of Finance, Women and the Family and the MARD in May 2012.

The report210 on the joint programme notes that funds for the training of planning and budget officials and the production of guides were not transferred.

This suggests that these planned activities were not carried out.
Furthermore, a planned activity to support the Ministry of Employment in establishing GRB performance indicators was dropped as indicators were already in place.

There seemed to be plans to pilot GRB in other regions, such as the Wilaya region, but these did not materialise.211 206 Rame, X & Seiwald J.2019.

Gender Responsive Budgeting in METAC Countries.

Available online at https://www.imfmetac.org/content/ dam/METAC/RegionalNotes/GRB%20in%20METAC%20v4%20190917.pdf 207 Budlender D.2018.
Gender-Responsive Budgeting in the Arab States: Experiences in Nine Countries, p. 8.

208 MDG Fund and Algeria: Joint programme for gender equality and the empowerment of women in Algeria http://www.mdgfund.org/ node/492 , accessed 8 February 2023 209 http://allafrica.com/stories/201601042606.html, downloaded 8 February 2023 210 MDG Fund.

Programme commun pour l’égalité entre les genres et l’autonomisation des femmes en Algérie: Rapport Narratif Final 211 Ibid.
46 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 7.4.2 EGYPT In Egypt, the groundwork for the implementation of GRB was laid in 2000 to 2004 when Equal Opportunities Units (EOUs) were established in all the ministries.212 According to Budlender, each ministry of the EOU fell under the Office of the Minister, and their task was to promote gender equality within the ministry concerned.213 The Ministry of Finance (MOF) in Egypt also played a crucial role by establishing its EOU in July 2001.214 This unit became the link between the National Council for Women (NCW), Egypt’s national machinery, and the MOF.215 What followed then during the initial phases of GRB implementation in Egypt was that the NCW, with support from UN Women, raised awareness about the concept of GRB among senior planning and budget officers.216 This led to the first in a series of workshops in collaboration with the Public Administration Research and Consultation Center at Cairo University in February 2002.
Some analytical work was also done in these years to highlight the situation of women and men, and a survey’s findings on women in the Egyptian ministry established that almost all ministries no longer had programmes targeting women directly.217 The exceptions were the Ministries of Electricity, Foreign Trade, and Finance, each with one project, and the Ministry of Social Affairs (later renamed Social Solidarity) with 20 projects.
It was then decided by policymakers in Egypt during this early embedding period that efforts would be made to mainstream gender in policy, including in the national plan.218 The result of these initial efforts in the implementation of GRB laid the ground for a five-year initiative titled Equal Opportunities for Women in the National Budget of Egypt.
219 According to Budlender, “the project had two pillars, the first was establishing a GRB programme, with a specific focus on the education, water, health and labour sectors and the second related to equal opportunities for government employees within the MOF”.220 Following these early initiatives, from about 2004, the MOF became the lead agency for the implementation of GRB performance budgeting initiatives in Egypt, supported by the NCW, the Ministry of Planning, and the Institute of National Planning within the government, as well as UN Women as a key external technical support.221 Other partners included the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, Parliament’s upper and lower houses, academics and research centres, civil society, and the media with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands being the main funder of the activities.222 What can be described as the first phase of GRB was launched in Egypt.
The phase focused on the development of tools and methodology.
The foundations for the first phase of GRB initiatives in Egypt were laid by a variety of stakeholders (which included the government itself through the MOF) and development partners like the UN and external funds from other countries,.223 This entailed some analysis that informed future GRB implementation, such as an analysis of the budget cycle, and also included analysis and other activities that were intended to be ongoing.224 212 Budlender, D. 2018.
Gender-Responsive Budgeting in the Arab States: Experiences in Nine Countries.

Available online at https://egypt.

unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Field%20Office%20Egypt/Attachments/Publications/2018/05/GRB%20%20EN_Web.pdf 213 Ibid.

214 Ibid.

215 Ibid.

216 Ibid.

217 Ibid.

218 Ibid.

219 Ibid.

220 Ibid.

221 Ibid.

222 Ibid.

223 Ibid.

224 Ibid.
47 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring According to Budlender, these activities “included regular two-yearly situational analysis of the situation of women and men, development of gender indicators, and establishment of a monitoring and evaluation system”.225 However, it seems that the situational and budget analyses do not appear to have been done regularly after 2007, according to Budlender.226 Part of the tools and methodology development to implement GRB in Egypt also included a focus on five sectors: education, health, finance, human resources and immigration, and water resources and irrigation, in which the MOF used a three-category framework for analysis that was used in South Australia in the 1980s.227 The three categories that form part of the framework included (a) gender-specific expenditure allocations, (b) expenditure allocations for supporting equal opportunities among government employees, and (c) other public expenditures assessed for impact on gender.228 The second phase of GRB in the implementation of GRB in Egypt entailed a shift in focus by officials from awareness raising to training.229 According to Budlender, “an expert group was established with representatives of the MOF, NCW, the Ministry of Economic Development (which is responsible for drafting the national multi- year socio-economic plans), Institute of National Planning, and UN Women”.230 One of the group’s key tasks was developing a tailored training manual, a GRB knowledge package, using a participatory approach.231 The eight-module package was used to train the MOF’s budget officers and assisted in establishing a cadre of trainers within the MOF in Egypt.232 The training module outcomes resulted in more than 300 budget officers being trained to calculate monitoring and evaluation indicators and equal-opportunity indicators.233 Financial reforms were a third key element of Egypt’s efforts towards implementing GRB.
This began in early 2002, with the then Egypt Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance announcing that they would be moving away from the traditional line-item approach to budgeting towards performance budgeting.234 By 2005, the Egyptian Government committed to achieving performance budgeting by 2010 when Act 87 was legislated.
It required that the line item budget be transformed into a performance-based budget by 2010.235 Budlender argues that despite this decision meant to create an enabling environment for the implementation of performance budgeting, progress was slow.

However, GRB activities continued.236 In 2008, GRB in Egypt was institutionalised through the Ministry of Finance and NCW by submitting a proposal to Parliament on institution-wide implementation of GRB and performance budgeting.
The Parliament approved the proposal, and both the Budget Circular for 2008/2009 and the Budget Act (the Act that reflects parliamentary approval of the budget) reflected this decision.237 The Budget Circular of 2008 (and those that followed) required government agencies to include gender-disaggregated data in their submissions, and the circular also emphasised the needs of children alongside those of women and men, which were contained in Articles 11 and 12 of the Budget Act.

225 Ibid.

226 Ibid.


227 Ibid.

228 Ibid.

229 Ibid.

230 Ibid.

231 Ibid.

232 Ibid.

233 Ibid.

234 Ibid.

235 Ibid.

236 Ibid.

237 Ibid.

48 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing According to Budlender, the Budget Circular stated:238 “Mainstreaming the needs of the Egyptian family, man, woman and child, in the national budget is required to promote social justice and safeguard the rights of the child.
This comes as part of Egypt’s obligation towards the international conventions and treaties concerned with woman and child and paving the way to applying gender-responsive budgets in the future.”239 The 2008 budget also had a gender report annexed to it showing women-specific allocations, and the MOF’s Statistical Statement of 2008/2009 included gender-sensitive data.240 This data was produced through a collaborative effort between the MOF and the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics to collect sex-disaggregated data on beneficiaries of public services within five government departments.241 By 2009, Act No.
53 of 1973 was amended by Ministerial Decree 668 to state that the principles of GRPB are to be upheld in all the budgets in Egypt.

Following these legislative amendments, in 2009/2010, the Egyptian Government piloted the move to performance budgeting.
Changes were made to the national budget templates that would facilitate analysis of data from a performance to a gender perspective, and the initiative was rolled out more broadly, providing the opportunity to introduce GRB in 15 government departments.242 Other key developments that formed part of GRB initiatives in Egypt included that in December 2010, a new two- year project, the gender-responsive social budgeting project, was initiated at the request of the EOU, with the direct beneficiary partners being local budget employees in 27 government departments.243 The focus was on five sectors within the government departments: health, education, labour, social security, and food security.244 Then in 2011, the January 25 revolution in Egypt affected GRB activities in the country for both security and logistical reasons.245 However, despite these setbacks, the EOU was able to resume activities and hold training workshops after a period of instability and unclear political will.246 Despite the EOUs continuing with their work in a volatile political environment, the constant political leadership changes continue to threaten GRB initiatives.247 Egypt has placed more emphasis than other countries on producing GRB materials.
Some of these products include a manual analysing the Egyptian GRB initiative, a translation of Diane Elson’s books into Arabic, and a translation of the ILO/UNIFEM financing for development and aid effectiveness modules into Arabic.248 According to Budlender, “a documentary film that highlights the phases of the Egyptian GRB experience has also been produced”.249 Furthermore, an Arabic e-learning system has been developed in cooperation with the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre.250 238 Ibid.
239 Ibid.

240 Ibid.

241 Ibid.

242 Ibid.

243 Ibid.

244 Ibid.

245 Ibid.

246 Ibid.

247 Ibid.

248 Ibid.

249 Ibid.

250 Ibid.

49 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring In summary, Egypt’s efforts in implementing GRB are a good example to other countries within the region and the Middle East.

Egypt’s GRB initiatives have resulted in fiscal data being disaggregated by gender.
Its budgets are also classified according to a gender perspective, and overall, Egypt has improved its fiscal transparency index and introduced participation mechanisms that can be utilised for GRB.251 Egypt also hopes to launch a GRB e-learning system as a knowledge hub for Arabic-speaking countries.252 Furthermore, the Egyptian Government has already shared its experiences and lessons with officials in other countries in the region, such as Bahrain, Iraq, and Palestine.253 7.4.3 MOROCCO According to Budlender, in Morocco, one of the first steps towards GRB occurred in 2001, when a National Committee on Budgets from a Child and Gender Perspective was established.
The Committee included the national women’s machinery, and gender focal points, including those in the then Ministry of Finance and Privatisation, subsequently, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).

However, GRB was formally initiated in Morocco in 2002.

A partnership between the MEF and UN Women led the process.
It drew on the findings of a feasibility study for GRB conducted by the MEF and the World Bank in 2001.254 In this case, a study was conducted in the context of a public expenditure review that formed part of diagnostic studies for budgetary reform.

This study targeted the budget allocations given to women and the spending on women.

Moreover, the classification did not reveal whether the targeted spending would address the root causes of gender inequality.
The first phase (2002 to 2005) of the GRB partnership between the MEF and UN Women focused on capacity building and the development of tools.

The initiative drew on global experience to produce a manual, GRB, and budgetary reform guide.

It developed a strategy to link GRB with budgetary reform and put the prerequisites for GRB in place.

It identified gaps in knowledge and sex-disaggregated and gender-relevant data.
Lastly, it built the capacity of a pool of women NGOs to support local-level GRB within in the framework of the revised Communal Charter of 2002.

The period 2005 to 2008 was tabulated as a learning and experimental phase.

Four pilot ministries took part in the trialling of GRB results-based programming.

The following ministries were selected, Economy and Finance, Health, Literacy and Non-Formal Education and Employment and Vocational Training.
Capacity-building officials from these ministries used the articles of the CEDAW as benchmarks for analysing policies, programmes, and budgets.

The launch of the first gender report was in 2005, which was tabled as part of the annual national budget documents.

The process of producing the report was led by the MEF Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecasts.

It involved hands-on learning by officials of sectoral ministries.
The timing coincided with the period in which officials were formulating the National Strategy for Gender Equality and Equity (NSGEE).

Furthermore, at the local community level, there were efforts to use a community-based monitoring system similar to that developed in the Philippines to produce sex-disaggregated data.

This was seen as relevant for GRB in that it would lay the basis for evidence-based local planning and budgeting.
The 2009 to 2012 period was one of building ownership and institutionalisation.

By the end of the period, 26 departments participated in producing the 2012 Gender Report.

By 2016, 31 ministries took part, accounting for 80% of the federal budget.255 251 Rame, X & Seiwald J.2019.

Gender Responsive Budgeting in METAC Countries.

Available online at https://www.imfmetac.org/content/ dam/METAC/RegionalNotes/GRB%20in%20METAC%20v4%20190917.pdf 252 Budlender, D. 2018.
Gender-Responsive Budgeting in the Arab States: Experiences in Nine Countries.

Available online at https://egypt.

unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Field%20Office%20Egypt/Attachments/Publications/2018/05/GRB%20%20EN_Web.pdf 253 Ibid.

254 Budlender, D. 2018.

Gender-Responsive Budgeting in the Arab States: Experiences in Nine Countries.

Available online at https://egypt.


unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Field%20Office%20Egypt/Attachments/Publications/2018/05/GRB%20%20EN_Web.pdf 255 Kolkovich Lisa and Shibuya Sakina (2016).

Middle East and Central Asia: A survey of gender budgeting efforts.

Working Paper WP 16/151.

International Monetary Fund: Washington DC.

50 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing The content of the gender reports was developed between 2009 and 2012.
The first gender reports assessed the situation, identified key gender gaps, and set goals for future performance.

Since 2011, the report has included a section focused on human rights principles as a basis for intersectoral interventions.256 In 2012, the report used a methodological framework developed by the office of the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights and included measurable indicators of human rights.
The human rights focus was given impetus by the international high-level conference on GRB in Marrakech in November 2012.

UN Women and MEF collaborated in hosting the conference, with Diane Elson as the keynote presenter and resource person.

More recently, the reports include summary tables showing the share of women employed in each department and women’s share of management positions.
The conference report has a discursive rather than intensive table format.257 The discussion of each ministry identifies shortcomings in the implementation of programmes, describes the human rights provisions relevant for each department, identifies whether there is a need to review sectoral strategies, and proposes gender equality-focused improvements to quantified objectives and results indicators.

A national time-use survey was conducted in 2012.


In addition, the 2012 conference saw the official launch of a GRB Centre of Excellence, formally established in February 2013 and currently based in the MEF.

The launch of the centre was preceded by work begun in 2011 to establish an electronic platform for knowledge management of GRB.

This work was led by the Directorates of General and Administrative Affairs, Budget and Studies, and Financial Forecasts of the MEF.
The objective is to network GRB practitioners at the national level with those at the international level.

This period also saw the finalisation of an action plan to implement the NSGEE from 2012 to 2016.

In June 2013, the MEF entered into a partnership agreement with UN Women for the implementation of the GRB Centre of Excellence, which formed part of the NSGEE action plan.
The NSGEE is important in Morocco’s GRB story as, in practice, GRB within sectoral departments has been more closely linked to the NSGEE than to sectoral strategies.

This highlights the lead role played by MEF directorates in GRB in Morocco.

Focal points in the three MEF directorates and the UN Women GRB Team comprise the GRB team.
In addition, the Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecasts now has a dedicated service responsible for the Gender Report and the Economic and Financial Report, both of which are official budget information reports.

Morocco also started budgetary reform while experimenting with GRB, aiming to move from input-based formats and processes to a system driven by results.

However, the budgetary reform did not progress as fast as anticipated.
There were delays in developing and passing a new Organic Budget Act.

The GRB Collective is an NGO engaged in advocacy for institutionalising GRB in the reform of that Act.

A new Organic Finance Act was finally adopted in January 2014 in line with Article 75 of the Constitution.

Implementation commenced in 2015.

Articles 3 and 48 on gender-responsive results-oriented budgeting cover the preparation (gender-sensitive outcomes, outputs, and indicators) and reporting phases.
The Act includes the formal requirement that a gender report must form part of each year’s Finance Bill.258 Morocco’s GRB work was supported by financing by the Belgian Government of the UN Women’s Global GRB Programme between 2003 and 2012.

Between 2008 and 2012, additional resources were accessed through the Fund for Gender Equality, financed by the Spanish Government.
For several years in the development period, UN Women provided the resources for a full-time international consultant to support GRB in Morocco.

Morocco’s GRB work has received international recognition.

The MEF joined the Community of Practice for financing gender equality set up through the Initiative of the World Bank in partnership with UN Women.

In 2014, Morocco was awarded a UN Public Administration Award for its GRB achievements.

256 Ibid.

257 Budlender D. (2014).


Tracking climate change funds: Learning from gender-responsive budgeting (Country examples of budget statements).

International Budget Partnerships: Washington DC.

258 Kolkovich L. and Shibuya S. 2016.

Middle East and Central Asia: A survey of gender budgeting efforts.

Working Paper WP 16/151.

International Monetary Fund: Washington DC.
51 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring According to Burn, Morocco’s Gender Responsive Budgeting Index (GRBI) has been widely celebrated for its achievements, as a result of which Morocco became the first country to qualify for sectoral budget support from the European Union to finance the Gender equality action plan 2012-2016 (now called the Governmental Programme for Gender Equality (GPGE).259 In conclusion, it should be noted that the GRB in Morocco did not make sufficient headway because it was far ahead of the mainstream, which is yet to be prepared for such a cross-cutting, results-oriented innovative approach.
Now that the new Organic Budget Law (OBL) of 2015 enshrines GRB in preparing and monitoring budgets, there is scope to deploy GRB and human-rights-based GRB.

It will take a huge investment in capacities, including political will and leadership.

The launch of a GRB Centre of Excellence could provide an integrative and innovative platform for such a long-term initiative.

7.4.4 TUNISIA Budlender has noted that there was no evidence of GRB initiatives in Tunisia before the revolution of 2011.
Following the revolution, the focus was only on security, drawing up a new Constitution, creating a political reform process, and establishing new systems and structures.

However, UN Women has been able to support some GRB work more recently.

Trialling of GRB has occurred alongside trialling by the Ministry of Finance with budgeting by objectives, a form of performance-oriented budgeting.

A new unit within the Ministry of Finance is leading budgeting by objectives.
However, the Planning Ministry remains responsible for the investment budget.

This creates confusion, as budgeting by objectives includes planning as an important element, and the exact roles of the two ministries with regard to planning are not clear.260 The initial sensitisation on GRB was supported by the UN Women in 2015.

As a result, a GRB pilot committee was established in December 2015.
The pilot committee comprised the Ministry of Finance; Development, Investment and International Cooperation; Education; Agriculture; Health; Employment and Vocational Training; and the Presidency.

In addition, in December 2015, a workshop on GRB was held in Tunisia.

The main objectives of the workshop were to develop an advocacy plan for the integration of gender in the Organic Budget Act of 2016 and the development of a training manual.
Furthermore, the workshop was intended to increase awareness, knowledge, and skills related to GRB.

Participants were high-level officials of the Tunisian Government, directors-general, directors and sub-directors from the Office of the Prime Minister, and Ministries of Finance, Development, Investment and International Cooperation, Agriculture, Education, Women’s and Family Affairs, and Social Affairs.
It is highlighted in the report261 on the workshop that when participants were divided into two groups, the men focused on discussing the economic arguments for GRB.

In contrast, the women were already convinced of the importance of GRB and instead discussed the choice of approach and how to implement GRB.

The report noted that this difference would have to be considered in developing the advocacy approach.

A series of arguments for GRB was developed from the workshop to understand the concept of GRB.
They were based on current situations concerning women’s rights, and a four-stage action plan was developed.

Subsequently, increasingly detailed strategies have been developed for integrating gender into the planning and budgeting of specific ministries.

The strategy development suggests that only the first steps towards GRB have been attained by Tunisia.

259 Burn .2017.

Gender-responsive budgeting in Africa: chequered trajectories, enduring pathways.
Available online at https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/314291243_Gender-Responsive_Budgeting_in_Africa_Chequered_Trajectories_Enduring_ Pathways?enrichId=rgreq-99559b4b9bffb36afca55cb8f412f2a1-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMxNDI5MTI0MztBUzoxMTAyMjM3OTU4 OTY3Mjk2QDE2Mzk4MDU0MTY4NjY%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc=publicationCoverPdf 260 Budlender, D. 2018.

Gender-Responsive Budgeting in the Arab States: Experiences in Nine Countries.

Available online at https://egypt.


unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Field%20Office%20Egypt/Attachments/Publications/2018/05/GRB%20%20EN_Web.pdf 261 Triki S. (2016).

Formation en plaidoyer et lobbying et accompagnement de la mise en oeuvre du plan de plaidoyer pour l’integration du genre dans la Loi Organique du Budget et elaboration de manuel de formation: Rapport de l’atelier 52 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 8.
CONCLUSIONS OF GRPB IN AFRICA What emerges from the study findings is that several initiatives of GRPB are taking place in many African countries across the continent.

The progress of these initiatives varies from country to country, and it is quite clear that most African countries have been attempting to implement GRPB in their respective countries with some success and various challenges.

As such, CGE draws the following conclusions: 1.


GRB has a long history from as far back as the 1980s on the African continent, and it is through the labour and advocacy of CSOs, NGOs, and women’s movements that GRB has been able to ascend to the national level and be placed on the agenda of budget reform.

The advocacy from these organisations has ensured that the highest offices implement GRB (for instance, Tanzania and Zimbabwe), while others faced resistance (for instance, Botswana).

2.
2.

The role of other parties is also important.

Countries with progressive initiatives have had support from UNIFEM, IMF, and other organisations to assist with capacity, education, training, or other supporting mechanisms.

Importantly, the support from other countries in the region with relevant and appropriate skill sets has been helpful, as is the case between Tanzania and Mozambique, and Morocco and Senegal.

3.
3.

As with many initiatives of this magnitude, the legislation and policies are key in anchoring the initiatives.

Successful and progressive GRB initiatives have all had legislative prescripts that ensure GRB grounding.

Where there is none, the progress of initiatives has hardly occurred or is severely lagging.

4.

The role of research and accurate sex-disaggregated data is a cornerstone of GRB.
The landscape and context are outlined in such statistics, providing the impetus for allocating aligned resources.

Evidence covered in this report illustrates that sex-disaggregated data forms the basis on which GRB finds meaning and relevance.

Countries with strong research, data collection, and analysis mechanisms have fertile ground regarding the channelling of resources through the budgeting process.

5.

GRB needs to be embedded in the budgetary process rather than sidelined.
There should be a concerted effort through the political will to ensure that gender equality overall and GRB, in particular, is a key element in budgetary reform and is indeed a grounding principle in the plans of the nation.

Where Ministries of Finance are the drivers, initiatives are more successful as there is more power, political influence, and direct influence on resources and resource allocation.
Some countries in the respective regions have proved to be quite successful in their attempts to implement GRB initiatives.

Standout countries that seem to be leading in implementing GRPB initiatives include Egypt, Rwanda, Uganda, Senegal, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria.
Some of the key challenges that most countries have faced which have impeded the implementation of GRPB include lack of political will, inadequate capacity and training on budget systems, inadequate financial and human resources, lack of a coordinated approach towards gender budgeting and GRB initiatives, reluctance to change, and patriarchy.

53 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring 9.
LESSONS FOR SOUTH AFRICA FROM GRPB EFFORTS ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT GRPB implementation and initiatives emerged from this study from which South Africa can learn.

The common factors among countries that have been successful or are leading in implementing GRPB are: 1.

The countries have the necessary political will backed by the Head of State (Presidency/Prime Minister) and key ministries, such as the Ministries of Finance.

2.
2.

The countries’ ministries ensure effective GRPB implementation and GRPB process monitoring.

3.

The countries ensure that they have gender-disaggregated sex data at all levels of government (national, provincial, and local levels).

Such data helps ensure that policies and programmes are directed and funded adequately based on data-illuminated needs.

4.
4.

The countries have strong monitoring and evaluation systems that ensure effective coordination amongst stakeholders and that effectively and efficiently channel GRPB efforts across all levels of government.

5.

The countries ensure that GRPB implementation is spread across all levels of government, with each government level able to identify the unique requirements that would benefit their constituencies.

6.
6.

The countries have development partners and technical expertise organisations (like UN Women and IMF) that assist in efforts to educate and advocate, create systems, training, and capacity building of officials to ensure the successful implementation of GRPB initiatives.

7.

The countries crucially include civil society organisations in GRB processes.

Some countries include civil society organisations in budgeting processes as the organisations are abreast of the diverse issues that affect society.
8.

The countries are provided technical support by the IMF, World Bank, and African Development Bank.

These organisations provide tailor-made, integrated GRB frameworks to ensure effective implementation, as most countries’ GRB processes are still in the early stages.

54 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing 10.


RECOMMENDATIONS For the successful roll-out of GRPB as noted in this study, the following recommendations are made for South Africa: • The CGE recommends that DWYPD which is the custodian of the GRPBMEAF in South Africa benchmark on countries successfully rolling out GRPB.

Countries like Rwanda and Uganda have recorded the most successful initiatives, and most of their initiatives have been tried and tested over time.
• The CGE recommends that South African political leadership’s political will is encouraged.

Most countries with vast GRPB success have the backing of the political will of the Heads of State, the Presidency, and Finance Ministers.

Political will plays a significant role in allowing systematic redress and creates an opportunity for acceptance of these initiatives by implementers.

• The CGE recommends that South Africa work on legislation guiding the GRPB initiative.
In this regards the DWYPD and National Treasury in particular can consult with the Department of Jutice and Constitutional Development (DoJCD) to develop appropriate legislation which gives effect to GRPB.

Without proper legislation, there would be no accountability for failure to carry out any initiative.

Being guided by international treaties such as CEDAW and others helps form a baseline for GRPB initiatives.
• The CGE recommends that South Africa through the DWYPD and National Treasury in particular which are the leading departments in implementing GRPB in South Africa work closely with the IMF, World Bank, and African Development Bank to ensure proper consultative measures that would assist in rolling out successful GRPB initiatives.
• The CGE recommends that the leading departmnets in the implementation of GRPB in South Africa , the DWYPD and National Treasury work closely with civil society to ensure they roll out proper GRPB initiatives.

The role of civil society is crucial as it forms part of what society requires.

This study shows that countries that have succeeded in their GRPB initiatives have done so with the help of civil society.
• The CGE also recommends that the South African government ensures effective coordination between all stakeholders in effectively channelling GRPB efforts.

This includes working closely with the IMF and UN Women to ensure proper education, training and advocacy for GRPB-related initiatives.
55 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring NOTES 56 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing NOTES 57 Sharing is Caring:Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from AfricaCaring NOTES 58 COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYSharing +27 10 494 3524 RP111/2023 ISBN: 978-0-621-51068-3 Sharing is Caring: Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting Experiences and Lessons from Africa 2023