This report by Nalini Burn, Larabi Jaidi and Hayat Zirari (2005) is a diagnostic study designed to analyse the potential of gender mainstreaming in the budget process of Morocco's communes. This study, which is part of a an international initiative supported by UNIFEM and the European Union, is concerned with gender mainstreaming in budget systems and practices at local level and within a context of decentralisation.

Since 2004, 13 research projects supported in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America by the Women's Rights and Citizenship program of Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) have been exploring exactly how decentralization affects women's access to services, resources, and local power. The findings show that these reforms do not automatically benefit women, and can even put them at a disadvantage.

This report presents the results of a research aimed at developing a diagnosis and an analysis of the opportunities that stem from introducing a gender approach in budgetary processes in some communes of Morocco. It was prepared under a joint UNIFEM/EU initiative supporting the integration of a gender approach in the systems and budgetary processes at local level in the context of decentralization. The report is in French.

Decentralization has sometimes been presented as a magic bullet for both development and democracy. Since nearly everyone, from world leaders to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to donors, agrees that development and democracy both fail unless women are included on an equal footing with men, successful decentralization should make government more accessible, accountable, and responsive to women.But does it? Since 2004, 13 research teams in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America,...