GRB as a legal obligation
Gender Responsive Budgeting means better planning and budgeting for women and men. This term, often used recently, does not necessarily mean that funds will increase, but may result in more efficient use of existing funds, which contribute to gender equality.
“Gender Responsive Budgeting is not a purpose in itself. It is just an institutional action through which gender inequalities are reduced. Proper implementation of GRB is essential for achieving gender equality because it ensures that the needs of all women, girls, boys, and men from different backgrounds are covered by the state budget”— says gender expert Donjeta Morina.
Meanwhile, Dea Pallaska O’Shaughnessy, Population and Development Program Associate, United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA – Kosovo Office, says working with GRB (Gender Responsive Budgeting) examines the prejudices that can arise because a person is a man or a woman, but at the same time considers the disadvantage suffered as a result of ethnicity, class or poverty status, location and age.
“We focus on the budget because the budget is the most important political tool of the government, because without a budget, respectively without financial means, the government cannot successfully implement any policy. Therefore, the government may have very good policies for reproductive health, gender-based violence, girls’ education or women’s economic empowerment, but if it does not allocate sufficient financial resources to implement it, “politics will have no more value than the letter itself,” adds Pallaska O’Shaughnessy.
With the strong commitment of the Kosovo Women’s Network, the Agency for Gender Equality and other development partners, since 2014, Budget Circulars with budget planning guidelines for municipalities and ministries published by the Ministry of Finance include GRB guidelines ((Gender Responsive Budgeting), thus making GRB a legal obligation for all institutions in Kosovo from 2015.
Liridona Sijarina from the Kosovo Center for Gender Studies, sees Gender Responsive Budgeting as crucial for achieving gender justice for women, which, according to her, due to “neutral” gender policies and systematic violence, are at a disadvantage in all areas.
GRB in Kosovo institutions
Dea Pallaska-O’Shaughnessy, Population and Development Program Associate, United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA – Kosovo Office, says we cannot claim that GRB is fully institutionalized, especially given the limited capacity within institutions to implement GRB. To address these shortcomings, the Kosovo Women’s Network has drafted concrete guidelines for the implementation of GRB, and has developed a GRB training curriculum for government officials, with which their training continues.
In accordance with the Law on Gender Equality, the Government of Kosovo should integrate the gender aspect in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the implementation of all laws, strategies and policies both at central and local level, based on the Law on Gender Equality (2004).
On the other hand, Liridona Sijarina from the Kosovo Center for Gender Studies, says that, although Kosovo has a consolidated legal basis that provides for and sanctions Gender Responsive Budgeting, the lack of mechanisms and indicators for measurement within public institutions, makes it problematic to accurately determine that to what extent budgeting has gender sensitivity.
Even Donjeta Morina, a gender expert, says that Kosovo is still far from implementing the GRB.
While GRB remains a new concept in the region and especially in Kosovo there are many misconceptions surrounding it. Kosovo Institute for Public Administration, in their report they point out that these misconceptions can often cause difficulties in institutionalizing GRB. The newest misconception surrounding it is the (incorrect) idea that GRB tries to divide the budget equally between men and women. This is not correct because the main purpose of GRB is to conduct a gender analysis that will lead to an equal distribution of public funds, the report said.
The great role of the media in promoting GRB
The media can serve as a good promoter of many causes, including Gender Responsive Budgeting, but there is still much to do in this area. Journalist and sociology researcher Leonora Aliu says that there are still shortcomings in reporting on issues related to gender equality, both in terms of knowledge of concepts and professionalism in reporting.
“I think that in this regard, more investments are needed from outside Kosovo, through training of journalists and bringing good practices, in close cooperation with the Association of Journalists of Kosovo “- recommends Aliu.
Aliu adds that he has the impression that when it comes to gender budgeting, there is still a perception that there is talk of a special fund dedicated to women.
“This misconception must be combated precisely with analysis and reporting and analytical debates, in prime-time, and not as it often happens only in the morning or afternoon programs that have a certain audience, and not as massively as the evening ones” – she emphasizes.
Whereas, the journalist Serbeze Haxhiaj, thinks that Gender Responsive Budgeting in Kosovo is far from the standards that should be applied in countries that respect gender equality, and as a result in the media we have a weak position of women.
Journalist and sociologist, Leonora Aliu, sees it as very important to have as many awareness campaigns as possible by organizations advocating for equality, as well as by the Government and the Agency for Gender Equality.
Furthermore, Pallaska – O’Shaughnessy says that the media can contribute to informing GRB and monitoring the implementation of public budgets, analyzing social phenomena from a gender perspective, researching the needs of women and men, girls and boys, and amplifying the voice of disadvantaged citizens and civil society to increase the pressure to plan and execute budgets with the needs of citizens at the center, and to demand accountability from institutions.
In addition to the media, awareness campaigns also contribute greatly to raising an important cause, such as in this case, Gender Responsive Budgeting.
“Awareness campaigns about GRB, well thought out, specially prepared for different audiences and well planned in time, however, can serve to raise awareness of citizens and policy makers about GRB and its importance “- says Pallaska-O’Shaughnessy.
Liridona Sijarina is of the same opinion, saying that awareness campaigns are still necessary, and in relation to the media, GRB experts should be more and more involved in the training provided to media workers.
Thus, the role of the media is tremendous in promoting Gender Responsive Budgeting and what needs to be done is to continue working in two directions. Through the promotion, influence of the media and continuous awareness campaigns to achieve the realization of Gender Responsive Budgeting in all institutions.
Author: Elion Kollçaku