Budgeting for Gender Equity

This paper presents some of the gender and equity milestones that the country has implemented for over a decade now. To focus the analysis, this study will look at the ministerial policy statements of top five priority sectors of Health, Education, Agriculture, Water and Sanitation and Justice, Law and Order Sectors) for the fiscal year 2008/09 with a view to determining the extent to which gender and equity reforms have been deepened in the country. This work feeds into previous analyses (such as studies1, position papers2, statements3, public dialogues4) by a number of Civil Society Advocacy Groups (CS BAG)5 led by the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) as part of their advocacy work for the last ten years. Supplemented by the efforts of Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, the CSBAG has vigorously engaged in gender- based assessment of budgets and advocacy to ensure that both the local and national budgets incorporate the views of the poor and marginalized people; and they are pro-poor and gender sensitive.