Gender-Responsive Results-Oriented Budgeting

at the Local Level

Rosario G. ManasanPhilippine Institute for Development Studies

Budget process involves 4 stages

• Budget preparation• Budget legislation/ appropriation• Budget implementation• Budget accountability –

monitoring through accounting/ auditing, reporting

But even before the budget, there is

the plan.

Mainstreaming gender in planning process….

should start with formulation of executive agenda/ Local Development Plan

• Is it informed by gender analysis? Does it give information on situation of women and men, girls and boys?

• Does it explicitly recognize the productive, reproductive/ caring, and community management role of women? Does it recognize differences in socially determined roles/ responsibilities of men and women?

• Does it have a clear policy statement on need to address gender needs of women? (practical needs – health, reproductive, child care facilities; strategic gender needs – time saving devices, potable water, sanitation, food security, entry into non-traditional occupations, freedom from domestic violence, credit/ business financing)

• Does it assess the gender-responsiveness of mainstream policies?

Mainstreaming gender in planning process….(2)

Mainstreaming gender in budget process …

Good practice indicates importance of results-oriented budgeting

• focus on outputs & outcomes instead of inputs

• identifies and prioritizes programs/ activities/ projects that contributes to accomplishment of major final outputs

Results-oriented budgeting framework

(Impact)

(Outcome)

(Outputs)

(Budget)

SOCIETAL GOALS

SECTOR GOALS

AGENCY MANDATE

MAJOR FINAL OUTPUTS

P/A/Ps

INPUTS

Performanceindicators/

targets

GRB: mainstreaming gender in budget process …

• Gender concerns should be integrated in definition of program outputs/ performance indicators

• Promotes gender equality in implementation of all programs, activities and projects of government

Defining the sectoral outputs

• Does output contribute towards achieving desired outcomes? Is it effective?

• Is there duplication or conflict with other outputs?

• Are there alternative ways of producing the output?

• Is current production of the output efficient (least costly)?

Output/ performance indicators

Defined in terms of:

• Quality – client satisfaction• Quantity – coverage, number of clients

served• Timeliness • Gender-responsiveness – who benefits? (do

outputs meet needs of women as well as men?) who decides? (did women/men participate in decision making?) who controls? (do women have a say in control over resources?)

Output/ performance indicators (2)

Important to have output indicators that are:

• measurable/ quantifiable• defined in precise terms

Output targets refer to pre-determined levels/ values of indicators

Setting output targets

Approaches• Benchmarking – comparing with performance of

similar organizations/ LGUs• Improvement over current performance • Based on technical standards

Guiding principles• Targets should be challenging but achievable• Over-ambitious or too-easy targets may lead to

underachievement• Targets should consider available resources (i.e.,

budget ceiling)

Framework for analysis of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB)

Gov’t expenditures/ budget can be categorized into 3 groups:

• Gender-specific/ targeted expenditures (e.g. women’s health programs, special education initiatives for girls, programs addressing violence ag. women)

• General (or non-targeted) expenditures • Equal employment opportunities in the gov’t

sector – training for women managers, provision of day care services for LGU employees, parental leave provisions

GRB tools

Gender specific expenditures – are enough resources allocated to program?

• Unit cost estimates needed here!

• Quantify resource budget requirement – is budget allocated adequate given the target?

• Monitoring spending and service delivery- amount of money budgeted, staff allocated, supplies procured, number of clients reached, client feedback

• Assessing outcomes

GRB tools (2)

Non-targeted expenditures • Budget incidence analysis – do men

and women, boys and girls benefit from expd? Need to assess distribution of gov’t spending between men and women, boys and girls; analyze the pattern of service utilization

• Gender aware policy appraisal – are govt policies likely to reduce gender inequalities?

GRB tools (3)

Equal employment opportunities

• Gender balance in government employment

• Gender balance in government training programs

• Gender balance in membership in local special bodies

Health sector

Sector outcomes: reduction in infant mortality rate; reduction in maternal mortality rate

Sector outputs: no. of clients served, coverage rate, gender balance in both

• Gender-specific expenditures/ programs – maternal health (tetanus toxoid vaccination, iron/ vitamin A supplementation, reproductive health, prenatal/ natal/ post-natal care), child health (EPI, micronutrient supplementation), access to potable water supply and sanitary toilets

• Non-targeted expenditures/ programs – provision of basic health care, control of communicable diseases (e.g., TB, malaria, schistosomiasis)

Agriculture sector

Sector outcomes: improvement in agricultural prod’n increase in income of farmers/ fisherfolks, increased food security reduction in poverty/ malnutrition

Sector outputs: no. of clients served, coverage rate, gender balance

Gender-specific programs – are there programs that are designed to address specific needs of women? Specialized credit programs, perhaps?? is there need to develop/ make available technologies that are more appropriate for women? Is there need to expand programs that provide technical support to products/ activities in agri prod’n that women typically play major role in or are related to their caring role (e.g., vegetable and fruit prod’n, food preservation/ processing, home-based livestock raising)?

Agriculture sector output (2)

• Non-targeted programs – agricultural extension/ technical support services (usually by crop); distribution of inputs (e.g. seeds, livestock), credit program

• Key question for non-targeted programs – are services equally available to male and female beneficiaries? Are there discriminatory eligibility criteria to access services?

Performance-based budgets

Advantages• Monitor progress over time• Promote accountability to local community• Help drive change

Disadvantages• Highlight problem but not causes or

solutions• Single indicator cannot provide whole

picture – need to limit to small number of indicators for greater manageability

• May be data intensive