AWD Report 2020
B. CASE STUDIES Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Uganda: the Certificate for Gender and Equity A gender-responsive budget is a budget that ensures the gender-equitable distribution of resources and contributes to equal opportunities for all. It requires analysis of the impacts of budgets by gender and implies transforming budgets to ensure gender equality.715 Before 2005, Ugandan general budgets were gender-neutral, allocating funds for development programmes in a general way. However, neutral budgets may have unintended consequences, including increasing gender inequality. The Gender Audit and the Mainstreaming Strategy for the Local Government identified in 2002 that budgets were not adequately responding to the needs, constraints and interests of men and women, boys and girls and disadvantaged groups.716 In this context, the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development issued Gender and Equity Budgeting Guidelines in the Budget Circular for the 2005/06 financial year.717 However, these were not sustainable and did not address gender and equity concerns, in the absence of a coordinating and independent body.718 In 2007, the Equal Opportunities Commission was established to be responsible for M&E and for ensuring that policies, laws, plans and programmes of organs of state at all levels, public authorities, private enterprises and NGOs complied with equal opportunities for all and adopted affirmative action in favour of marginalised groups. Together with CSOs and notably led by the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), it was found to be necessary to adopt a policy framework to make GRB mandatory. FOWODE is a women-led organisation created in the 1994/95 constitution-making process in Uganda that provides a platform for Ugandan women’s learning, networking, sharing of experiences and advocating for gender equality and equity in decision-making. FOWODE has positioned itself as a champion for women’s rights protection, participation in political decision-making and engaging in macroeconomic governance issues such as GRB. FOWODE took an active part in the negotiation phase to draft the Public Finance Management Bill by strongly advocating for the inclusion of a Certificate for Gender and Equity to ensure sector compliance with GRB.719 FOWODE adopted an integrated approach of research, enhancing the capacities of technocrats and legislators to understand the importance of mainstreaming gender in plans and budgets.720 The organisation presented a position paper on mainstreaming gender into the bill721 and provided briefings on gender equality issues and impacts of budgets to members of parliament, in addition to its annual analysis of local government budgets.722 A gender-responsive training was also organised to share key skills, enabling parliamentarians to effectively evaluate and analyse budgets in a gender-sensitive manner.723 Further, tactical meetings with the speaker of parliament as well as discussions with the most relevant committees of parliament – the Committees on the Budget, Finance and Natural Resources – were conducted. FOWODE also involved the media extensively.724 These intensive advocacy activities followed partners including the Ministry of Gender Labour & Social Development, the Equal Opportunity Commission, the Uganda Women Parliament Association and especially the GRB Champions in Parliament.725 FOWODE’s intensive work supported by, among others, the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus and the Ministry of Gender Labour & Social Development contributed to insertion of the requirement for the Certificate of Gender and Equity in the Bill and adoption of the proposal by the Committees on the Budget, Finance and Natural Resources. The 2012 Public Finance Management Bill was finally adopted in December 2014 and enacted in March 2015 as the Public Finance Management Act.726
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