Morocco received the first award for excellence in public service (Category 4 on efforts to promote gender equality) for 2014 edition, for the efforts made by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, within the framework of the Gender Responsive Budgeting program.
This prize is the most prestigious global award of excellence in public service. It honors annually, innovative achievements and the contributions of public institutions over the world that lead to a more efficient public administration.
This high UN distinction is a consecration of an uninterrupted momentum created since 2002 by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in partnership with UN- Women to develop the integration of a gender approach in the budgetary process.
This cumulative approach enabled Morocco to develop analytical tools based on guides, documents on budget and reports of the Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecasts accompanying the Finance Act to strengthen the kind of reporting mechanisms monitoring and evaluating public policies, in terms of gender and access to basic rights.
The visit of Mrs. Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and the Executive Director of UN- Women, to Morocco, March 8th 2012 and the organization, in November of the same year of the International High-Level Conference on GRB in Marrakech were key moments where the international community expressed its interest and support for the progress of Morocco in the field of human rights in general and the integration of gender equality in public policies.
It is within this framework that intervened in 2013 the creation of the Center of Excellence of the GRB within the Ministry of Economy and Finance. This center is devoted to innovation, peer learning at regional and international level and the development of research.
This process was also accelerated and strengthened with the adoption of the new draft of the Organic Law on the Finance Act (LOF) which includes now a gender perspective in the budgetary process, both in programming as well as in monitoring / evaluating through a set of indicators of gender-sensitive performance.