
Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiative
In 2013 GEWAL spearheaded the first gender-responsive budgeting initiative (GRBI) in South Africa. The report focuses on key economic and social matters that are often overlooked or obscured in conventional budget and policy analysis and decision-making, and brings together two issues that are not commonly associated: gender equality and public financial management.
The tenet is simple: to incorporate gender equality principles into all stages of the budget process.
However, this calls for leadership, strong gender policies and adequate public resources for effective implementation. Furthermore, both gender policy and gendered public budget allocations require multi-stakeholder engagement and oversight if they are to effectively transform the lives of women.
The initiative was adopted by the South African parliament in 2019. In continuing the work of multi-stakeholder engagement, the Centre aims to ensure democratic participation in the distribution of public funds.
DIAGNOSTIC GENDER-BASED REVIEW
One of the initiative’s key outputs was the publication of a diagnostic gender-based review of government’s Health, Trade and Industry, Energy, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries departments. The review was set up to assess the extent to which gendered priorities were articulated in these departments. It sought to determine whether there were adequate institutional frameworks and capacity to implement gender responsive initiatives and to determine whether monitoring and tracking tools towards women empowerment and gender equity have been created.