The 2019 review and redesign of the Gender Responsive Results-Based Budgeting Report (RBG), more commonly referred to as the "Gender Report," in Morocco has led to a series of recommendations for 2020. With support from UN Women Morocco, the review set out to strengthen GR content to ensure it is a strategic accountability tool for monitoring and evaluating public policies from a gender perspective. It focused on assessing the contribution of the GR to the implementation and monitoring of GRB in Morocco, as well as challenges, including the lack of joint ownership of GRB by ministerial departments and the limited use of sector-specific gender analyses. Starting next year, the Gender Report (GR) will be more standardized to make it easier for users to access and provide information. This will include a clearer drafting framework for contributing line ministries and alignment with a new analytical approach.
The systematic involvement of all key GRB stakeholders is a fundamental prerequisite for the GR to serve as a strategic tool for the gender evaluation of public policies. The review identified all key stakeholders and their specific roles and tasks related to the GR. This revealed several concerns, including, a lack of alignment between the GR development processes and the ministerial budget programs (Projets de Performance). Efforts have commenced to address these issues, with a strengthened involvement of the top management of ministerial departments in the GRB process and in the selection of gender-responsive results chains, needed to provide the political will and decision-making power to integrate gender equality in the sectoral strategies and public policy orientations. Now, the gender-responsive results chains as presented in the GR will be identical to those within the budget programs.
A solid example of a national Gender Budget Statement, the GR has accompanied the presentation of the draft Finance Act in Morocco since 2005. With support from UN Women, Morocco has made important advances in GRB, culminating in the adoption in 2015 of the Organic Finance Law, which enshrines GRB in the legal framework of the country. More specifically, it is this exact law that states that all Ministerial Departments are to adopt a performance-based and gender-responsive budgeting approach (art. 39), and that the annual Finance Bill must be accompanied by the GR (art. 48).
In its new version, the GR becomes a powerful accountability instrument, systematically and comprehensively presenting any programmatic and financial effort to reduce gender inequalities by each Ministry/ Department as funded by the State budget. Targeting civil society, the broader public and especially the Parliament, the new Gender Report will be an accessible and reader-friendly document accompanying the Finance Law, presented in October 2019.
Strong sectoral gender analyses are fundamental to identify the main gender gaps and support mainstreaming of these into the planning and budgeting process. Alongside deeper analysis and understanding of specific gender issues in each sector, ministries will endeavor to undertake efforts to strengthen intersectoral collaboration on gender equality. Regular and continuous capacity building in GRB is essential to guarantee a solid and common understanding and the effective use of gender analysis to strengthen the GR. The mandate of the Centre of Excellence for GRB, housed at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, remains key in providing technical support to ministerial departments in taking gender into account in their strategies, programmes, and budgets. More information on Morocco’s GRB work can be found HERE: https://cebsg.finances.gov.ma/fr