This Newsletter issued periodically by UN Women's GRB Programme aims to share news on GRB initiatives around the world and to shed light on the efforts of development practitioners, gender advocates, parliament, government and non govermental organizations, to incorporate a gender perspective into planning and budgeting processes. The GRB newsletter also provides insights about the application of GRB to specific development sectors and informs practitioners of new resources and GRB-related events.
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GRB Newsletter Issue 4 (PDF) or click here for the HTML version.
This issue of the GRB newsletter focuses on the application of GRB to the health sector, HIV/Aids and Violence against women (VAW), three areas where quantitative and empirical data indicate that women's needs and priorities are being neglected in many countries. The issue highlights examples of how budget analysis, tracking and advocacy can contribute to strengthening government's response to women's health needs. Using findings from a recent study on GRB and Aid Effectiveness, the newsletter draws attention to the extent to which donor funding in the health sector addresses women's needs.
The Country Focus section features an interview with the senior gender adviser of the Mozambican Health Ministry who is spearheading efforts for applying GRB to the health sector in Mozambique. The section on Efforts in Support of GRB looks at proceedings from a recent workshop on GRB and VAW held in Morocco and at an initiative in Serbia where the application of GRB in the employment sector prompted broader reforms in relation to gender mainstreaming. Finally, the News in Brief section provides updates on recent GRB activities and publications.
GRB Newsletter- Issue 3 (PDF)
Issue 3 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.
GRB Newsletter - Issue 2 (PDF)
This second issue of the GRB newsletter coincides with the preparations of the Ghana High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and takes this opportunity to highlight the relevance of GRB approaches to ensuring that aid management systems as articulated in the Paris Declaration incorporate a gender perspective. The publication further explores a number of GRB initiatives (Nepal, Morocco and Egypt) where Ministries of Finance are taking the lead in introducing systems, guidelines and mechanisms to ensure that budgeting contributes to the promotion of women's rights. The issue also mentions various efforts in support of GRB by the UN system and other agencies as well as GRB initiatives in South East Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States, Canada, and Senegal. Finally, information is provided on new resources and upcoming GRB events.
GRB Newsletter - Issue 1 (PDF)
The first issue of the newsletter focuses on Parliament's efforts to support GRB work. The issue also provides information about countries that have adopted gender sensitive budget guidelines in recent years.