Reports from the “Integrating gender-responsive budgeting into the aid effectiveness agenda” programme.

Ten country overview report

Author: Debbie Budlender
Date: November 2008

In 2008, UNIFEM launched a three-year programme "Integrating gender responsive budgeting into the aid effectiveness agenda". The first component of this programme involved research in ten developing countries to investigate how gender responsive budgeting (GRB) tools and strategies have been applied in the context of currently used aid modalities. This investigation was intended to deepen the understanding of national partners and European Union (EU) decision makers of the opportunities for using GRB to enhance accountability to gender equality in aid effectiveness.

More generally, the overview report and country reports are useful for exploring how GRB can be used for promoting gender equality both within and beyond aid. The overview report presents composite findings of the ten country research processes; it should be read in conjunction with the ten more detailed country reports. Country reports currently available are Ethiopia, Peru, Uganda, Nepal, India, Rwanda and Mozambique.

The second aspect of the programme will involve targeted and tailored technical support to five countries in 2009 and 2010 to improve country capacity to further institutionalise GRB.

Ten Country Overview Report-Debbie Budlender (English)

Ten Country Overview Report-Debbie Budlender (French)

Ten Country Overview Report-Debbie Budlender (Spanish)

Country reports

Authors: consultants, partners and UNIFEM staff
Date: 2008

Under UNIFEM’s programme entitled “Integrating gender responsive budgeting into the aid effectiveness agenda,” a research review of gender responsive budgeting was undertaken in the following ten coutries: Ethiopia, Peru, Tanzania, Uganda, Morocco, Nepal, India, Rwanda, Mozambique and Cameroon. This review provides an analysis of how gender-responsive budgeting work has engaged with development planning instruments, national budgeting processes and aid modalities in the respective countries.

GRB and aid effectiveness-Ethiopia Final Report

GRB and Aid effectiveness-India Final report

GRB and aid effectiveness-Mozambique Final report

GRB and aid effectiveness-Nepal Final Report

GRB and aid effectiveness-Peru Final report

GRB and aid effectiveness-Rwanda Final report

GRB and aid effectiveness-Uganda Final Report

GRB and Aid Effectiveness -Morocco final report English

GRB and Aid Effectiveness -Morocco final report French

GRB and aid effectiveness - Cameroon Final Report French

GRB and aid effectiveness - Cameroon Final Report English 

GRB and aid effectiveness - Mozambique Final report Portuguese

GRB and aid effectiveness - Tanzania final report

Title: Budgeting for Women’s Rights Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW: A summary guide for policy makers, gender equality and human rights advocates.

Author: This booklet is based on a report by Diane Elson “Budgeting for Women’s Rights: Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW’ by UNIFEM 2006.
Date: December 2008

Description: This booklet articulates what it means to take an explicitly rights-based approach to government budgets and draws on the lessons of Gender Budgets Initiatives (GBIs) experiences around the world. It links govern¬ments’ commitments under CEDAW with the four main dimen-sions of budgets: revenue, expenditure, macroeconomics of the budget, and budget decision-making processes. It makes these links to help clarify how gender budget analysis can assist in: monitoring a government’s compliance with CEDAW; identifying how CEDAW can be used to set equality-enhancing criteria in budget activities; and guiding GBIs and other initiatives towards achieving gender equality.

This booklet is intended as an advocacy and action tool for key stakeholders in the area of government budgets and women’s human rights, including policy and lawmakers at the country level, and gender and human rights advocates.

Budgeting for Women's Rights Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW (English)

Budgeting for Women's Rights Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW (Spanish)

Budgeting for Women's Rights Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW (French)

Budgeting for Women's Rights Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW (Arabic)

Title: "Many a slip...: Budget work to advance the right to food."
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Date: Rome, 2009

Description: Drawing on the experiences of budget work in a number of countries, “Many a slip…” sets out a step-by-step process for analyzing a government’s budget to assess its compliance with its right to food obligations.  While the focus is on right to food-related issues, the process described is readily adaptable to work on other rights as well. “Many a slip…” builds on and goes beyond the information contained in Dignity Counts, a publication produced in 2004 by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), Fundar and the International Human Rights Internship Program (IHRIP).  In the five years since Dignity Counts was published, organizations in a number of countries have actively pursued budget work within a rights framework.  As a result, by drawing on their experiences, “Many a slip…” is able to provide a more in-depth and developed approach to human rights budget analysis than Dignity Counts was able to do. 

The current guide, the product of a project coordinated by IHRIP with substantial input from IBP and other organizations, also contains a second part, which has information about initiatives in three countries to produce a “right to food budget.”

Many a slip: Budget work to advance the right to food

Posted 22 July 2009

Title: The missing link: Applied budget work as a tool to hold governments accountable for maternal mortality reduction commitments
Authors:  Helena Hofbauer and Manuela Garza from the International Budget Partnership (IBP) in coordination with the International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights (IIMMHR)
Date: May 2009

Description: This brief explores the relevance of civil society budget analysis and advocacy (i.e., budget work) and its potential as a tool to hold governments accountable for their maternal mortality reduction commitments. In doing so, it discusses three recent examples of civil society groups engaged with budget analysis and advocacy: Fundar, Center for Analysis and Research in Mexico; Women’s Dignity in Tanzania; and the Center for Budget and Governance Accountability in India. The work of these organizations, and the lessons that we seek to draw from their experiences, underscore that the lack of real progress in reducing maternal mortality is unquestionably linked to the failure of governments to make maternal health a budgetary priority. Their findings reveal that even though resources to address this issue exist—and may continue to grow—they are not necessarily being allocated correctly or spent effectively.

 The missing link: Applied budget work as a tool to hold governments accountable for maternal...

NEW: posted 22 July 2009   

Title: Recommendations and guidelines for introducing the gender perspective to local budgets in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Authors: Association VESTA, Tuzla, Expert collaborators: Vikica Šunjic, the Gender Centre of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina , Hazima Pecirep, the Novi Grad Municipality, Sarajevo with support from UNIFEM.
Date 2008

Description: The aim of this publication is to present a set of instruments for the analysis of public revenues and expenditures from a gender perspective. The authors analyzed basic categories of public expenditure in five municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Banovici, Bijeljina, Srebrenica, Travnik and Tuzla) with a view to provide solid arguments for the implementation of gender-budgets at local and national levels. The report also seeks to draw citizens’ attention on the importance of their active participation in deciding how the budget of their local communities is allocated, especially the part of the funds generated through their contributions by means of taxes, duties and fees.

Recommendations and guidelines for introducing the gender perspective to local budgets in Bosnia...

13 March 2009

This issue of the GRB newsletter examines participatory budgeting (PB) as one of the main strategies for securing public participation in local governance. We seek to understand if participatory budgeting experiences can be associated with increased presence of women in local decision-making processes and positive and sustainable gender equality outcomes. We highlight examples of PB initiatives that are argued to have successfully integrated gender concerns namely in Rosario, Argentina and Caroni, Venezuela.  In our “Country focus” section, Lucia Perez Fragoso, a GRB expert from Mexico, takes us behind the scenes of the adoption of a gender responsive budget by the City of Mexico in 2008. Finally, the issue provides updates on GRB efforts around the world, upcoming GRB events and recent publications. Your feedback on the present issue and contributions to upcoming issues would be most appreciated.

We thank contributors to this issue: Lucia Perez-Fragoso, Ondina Da Barca Vieira, Debla Lopez and the UNIFEM GRB team in New York.

GRB newsletter issue 3