In the implementation of Stage 2 of the Gender-sensitive Budgeting (GSB) global programme, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with the help of the United Nations Development for Women Fund (UNIFEM), organized workshops, from May 12th to May 21st 2008, designed to develop the skills and competence of executives of ministerial departments adhering to GSB.
At the opening of these workshops, Mr. S. TAZI, Budget Assistant-Director, restated the objectives of the GSB programme, most particularly that of reducing inequality, and taking into account the differentiated issues and interests of men, women, and children, in the elaboration, formulation, execution and evaluation of public policies and budgets. With regard to the Ministry of Economy and Finance instrumenting the GSB approach, Mr. TAZI stated that real progress had been made, highlighting four important achievements: - The growing acceptance of the approach nationally
- The development of awareness-raising tools and training
- The development of a data-base and a communication strategy
- The effective integration in the budgeting process
He added that the success of the reform depended on three key factors, namely: the anchoring of the process introducing the gender approach in the study, the elaboration of sectional budgets as a component of the result-based budget reform, and the adoption of specific support measures to consolidate skills, training and communication. These measures will help in mobilizing staff within ministerial departments, and in better understanding gender-sensitive data through information systems. |  |
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Mr. Tazi urged all participants in the programme to use all necessary means to undertake progressively the implementation of this new gender-sensitive approach to budgeting.
For her part, Mrs. Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, Regional Director of UNIFEM programmes for North Africa, underlined the interest shown by the Moroccan government for GSB and issues relating to equal opportunities for women and men. She further underscored the progress made in this respect, which has resulted in Morocco becoming a model for other countries.
In her address to participants, Mrs. Touimi-Benjelloun noted that the process of institutionalization of gender awareness in public policy in Morocco goes hand in hand with the ambition to model the approach so that it can be replicated by other ministerial departments, in Morocco, as well as in other countries.
In opening these workshops, Mrs. Nalini Burn - international consultant in gender economy and author of the preliminary mission report on the methodological feasibility of gender and childhood budget accounts produced in Morocco in June 2002 - addressed a number of questions relating to GSB, what it means, why it should be adopted, and what gender means more generally. She also presented the tools to be used for gender analysis, and the general framework of GSB. Mrs. Burn has assisted the programme to integrate gender in the planning and budget programming process since its inception in 2002.
For more information, please consult the GSB website.