2018 marked the first year gender equality was featured as part of the main Financing for Development (FFD) Forum programme. An expert session brought together three leading experts to review trends in financing for gender equality and explore options to increase fiscal space at the national and local level.

18 April 2018 - UN Women, in collaboration with International Monetary Fund (IMF), will present an introduction to gender responsive budgeting in lead up to the 2018 Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group. This interactive discussion will address how to shape fiscal policy to close critical gender gaps and the importance of promoting women's active participation in planning and budgeting. Zohra Khan, Chief (OiC) Leadership and Governance, UN Women and Lisa Kolovich,...

From 11-16 August 2018,  the Afghanistan Office of the President, supported by UN Women and UNDP, organized a visit of senior government officials from Afghanistan to Indonesia to learn about their experiences implementing gender-responsive budgeting. Indonesia’s successful GRB story as helped the government to effectively distribute public funds to address the needs of women and men. The visit contributed to the development of a community of practice which opens dialogues between...

Since the start the COVID-19 pandemic, almost USD 16 trillion has been pumped into the global economy, and governments are now rolling out second and third phases of support. With the introduction of vaccines, some countries can begin to get the pandemic under control and start investing in recovery. Most countries, however, are still grappling with the pandemic’s immediate health and socio-economic fallout, including its outsized impact on women. While the adoption of policy measures to prevent or respond to the surge in violence against women is more widespread, the social protection and jobs response has not adequately supported women’s economic security nor addressed care work or the financing of care services. This policy brief presents entry points for the application of gender-responsive budgeting to COVID-19 support and recovery packages. Drawing on country examples, this brief provides recommendations on the use of gender budgeting tools to identify gaps in policy responses and direct spending towards gender responsive COVID-19 measures.

The new, interactive Innovation Lab at the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings will feature a ‘coffee chat’ discussion Budgeting for Gender Equality: from Policy to Reality from 3:00 to 3:30 PM (EST) on 12 October 2017 . Zohra Khan (UN Women) will join Lisa Kolovich (IMF) and Albert Musisi (Government of Uganda) to discuss the successes and challenges of gender budgeting. Zohra will discuss  UN Women’s experience in supporting gender budgeting, sharing important lessons and...

A recent blog by UN Women presents analysis and lessons from the 2018 monitoring round for SDG Indicator 5.c.1, shedding light on government efforts to design and implement gender budget tracking systems.  Data from 69 countries show that despite global progress in adopting gender budgeting, gaps persist in the implementation of policies and laws on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Less than half of the reporting countries indicated having adequate resource allocations...

UN Women Training Centre has opened registration to the Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) course in Spanish. It will take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from 18 to 23 February 2018 at the UN Women Training Centre. All interested governmental policymakers and development practitioners are encouraged to complete the application form by 31 January 2018.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 5.c.1 “Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment” has been recently reclassified as Tier II by the Inter-Agency Expert Group on SDGs. The indicator measures progress towards Target 5c of the SDGs to “adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels”. It links the policy and legal requirements for gender equality with resource allocations for their implementation. By tracking resource allocations, governments introduce deliberate measures into the planning and budgeting cycle to meet their gender policy objectives such as eliminating gender based violence or increasing women’s employment. By making these allocations public, governments commit to higher levels of transparency and accountability in budget decision making.

Details on how to register for UN Women Training Center's upcoming Gender Responsive Budgeting webinars in French and Spanish. Please read more for access to direct registration links.

UN Women's Training Center will offer online moderated courses on GRB in English, French and Spanish from 3 September to 23 November, 2018. Courses will enhance the analytical and practical skills of GRB practitioners and identify key strategies for practical GRB implementation.  Courses will offer practical analysis and strategies from GRB theory to practice. Register by 5 August 2018 by clicking  here ! Inscrivez-vous jusqu’au 5 août 2018 en cliquant...