Gender receptive budgeting benefits women: Nepal experts

Ritu Shrestha

Volunteer, FES, Nepal

On 20^th July, Municipal Association of Nepal (MUAN) in association with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nepal (FES Nepal) organized a joint workshop to review guidelines and policies on “Gender Responsive and Socially Inclusive Budgeting and Auditing in the Local Government of Nepal” at the Hotel Greenwich Village. Significant participation from the representatives of municipalities including the District Development Committees (DDC), Village Development Committees (VDC), municipalities and Local Development Ministry, together with experts and participants from various national and international organizations marked the program. A rigorous discussion among participants highlighted why the gender responsive and socially inclusive budgeting and auditing is important in the local governments of Nepal. The discussion was not only restricted to why gender responsive and socially inclusive budgeting matters but also on how budgeting can be made more gender responsive and socially inclusive to address the problems of socioeconomic discrimination and exclusion in Nepal. Following the paper presentation, group sessions were conducted to review the draft gender responsive and socially inclusive indicators developed for the evaluation of gender sensitivity and social inclusiveness of local government bodies in Nepal.

Kalanidhi Devkota, the executive secretary of MuAN opened the session by emphasizing that women, indigenous nationalities and marginalized groups have diverse needs and these needs are often neglected and remain unaddressed in structured society like that of ours. However, to ensure equal rights and facilitate social justice these needs should be carefully identified and addressed. For this the localized gender sensitive and socially inclusive policy and budgeting can serve as an important tool. Kedar Neupane, joint secretary of Local Development Ministry pointed out that the synergy between government, NGOs, civil society and local bodies is fundamental in designing and executing gender responsive and socially inclusive programs and policies because this is an emerging concept in Nepal. Gore Bahadur Khapangi former minister of Women, Children, and Social Welfare stated that it is necessary to include the indigenous nationalities among the targeted groups together with the other disadvantaged and marginalized groups while designing and implementing programs. Another joint secretary of the Ministry of Local Development Rashmi Raj Panday argued that it is the time to evaluate whether review guidelines have positive implications. He gave the examples of roads, health Dalits and ethnic groups arguing that gender budgeting has paid off in empowering women. Chairman of MUAN Dor Mani Poudel talked about democratic habits and leadership in sincerely implementing this program.

Dev Raj Dahal head of FES Nepal emphasized although Nepal’s gender policies have emerged in tandem with the progress of global equality moments, seeking to bridge gap between the marginalized population and the state, the actual inclusion of the marginalized and excluded population cannot be achieved just through policies. It is equally essential to create greater awareness on social justice, equality and gender responsive and social inclusive consciousness via civic education to facilitate structural changes. Capacity building of the state is a must as only the state is duty-bearing institution of Nepal.

During the program Dr. Chandra Bhadra, a gender expert and the main presenter of the program threw very important light on theoretical issues and practical implication of Gender Responsive Budgeting in Nepal. Dr Bhadra during the program clearly explained that gender responsive budgeting is a budget that can address problems and challenges related to women but it is not about simple allocation of a separate budget for women. It is bringing gender sensitivity and becoming gender responsive in the overall budgetary policy and the process such as revenue generation, taxation, budget allocation and the budget output. Given historical legacy of patriarchy in Nepal the status of men, women and third gender in our society is unequal, therefore, gender responsive budgeting certainly benefits women and can play significant role in addressing existing socio-economic inequalities by empowering the disadvantaged groups. She also highlighted that gender responsive budgeting is an attempt to recognize women’s contribution to the society and economy with their unpaid labor in the “care economy.” The program provided crucial inputs for refining the guidelines and integrating them with VDC, Municipalities and DDCs.

Post your Comment here

TERMS OF USE:The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any persons) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).