GRB Regional Centers of Excellence: Knowledge Hubs on Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting

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GRB Center of Excellence (GRB-CE) Morocco:

The Center was established in February 2013 within the Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecasts as a result of close collaboration between UN Women and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Morocco has pioneered in the area of gender responsive planning and budgeting with over a decade of rich experience. The Center was established as a progressive GRB learning and expertise developing platform to link various GRB stakeholders at the regional, national and global levels. The center focuses on the following strategic objectives:

  • Capitalizing the accumulated knowledge resulting from the decade-long, gradual experimentation of Gender Responsive Budgeting - in particular through the knowledge management system GRB-KM developed within the Ministry of Economy and Finance in partnership with UN Women;
  • Conceptual deepening, focusing on research and innovation in GRB at the national and global levels;
  • Strengthening GRB ownership by all stakeholders through capacity building activities, adapted training programmes, conferences and workshops on relevant GRB-related themes and issues.

 To this end, a partnership agreement between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the UN Women, on the setting up and development of the Centre of Excellence on Gender Responsive Budgeting (EC- GRB), for the period 2013-2016, was signed Thursday, June 6th, 2013, at the headquarters of the Ministry.

GRB Center of Excellence for CIS

The Regional Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) Center of Excellence for CIS was established at the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of Russian Federation. The Center was established in the framework of the 2012-2013 UN Women project “Building Regional Capacity on Gender Responsive Budgeting for the CIS Countries through Establishing a Regional Center of Excellence for Gender Responsive Budgeting at the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (RPANEPA)”.

The Center aims to stimulate introduction of gender approaches in government practices and build capacity of civil  servants at all levels of state governance including those involved in the budgetary process in Russia and CIS countries. The aim is to train GRB trainers and impart knowledge on GRB to civil servants so it can be applied in a practical way when formulating and implementing fiscal policy at all levels.  The Center's main tasks include: a) Development and implementation of innovative professional programmes and courses on GRB; b) Training of qualified civil servants and experts to enable them use their knowledge effectively while developing and implementing budgetary and financial policies and c) Teaching gender budgeting to foreign specialists including those from CIS member countries on the basis of bilateral contracts and other agreements with legal entities and individuals concerned.  

GRB Center of Excellence Mozambique: 

The center was established in 2011 to support gender responsive planning and budgeting in Portuguese-speaking countries. Center for Gender Studies and Coordination (CeCAGe) at the University Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), Mozambique hosts the GRB center. 

The center conducts regular courses and modules to provide technical support to civil servants including heads of department and technical staff from the ministries. The GRB course incorporated in the curricula of UEM focuses on four areas, 1) Gender and Public Policies; 2) Gender and Economy; 3)Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting and 4) Advocacy for Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting. The Higher Institute of Public Administration (ISAP) conducts one of the course sessions, which is based on an already established short term GRB specialized course for department managers and technical staff within the Ministries of Finance and Planning and Development. In Mozambique, each civil servant has to go through ISAP training at least once in their public service career.