Dr. Rose Kutin, Convener, Network for Women's Rights in Ghana, (NETRIGHT), has called on government to institutionalize gender budgeting in the budget process.
The best impact of gender budgeting, she admitted, will be attained if it is led by government and driven by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
Speaking at the launch of a research book on gender budgeting, "Gender Budgeting As A Tool For Poverty Reduction"- Concepts, Practices & Capacity Implications by the African Women's Development Fund, (AWDF) in collaboration with African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), Dr. Rose Mensah Kutin said the book, serves as an important tool for determining the situational analysis of women in the countries under study; South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda.
The research was very important, she explained, because without an understanding of whether the position of women has been correctly identified, it is not possible to determine if the policies and programs adequately address the situation of the different kinds of women, men, girls and boys.
Aside this, she added, the book also underscores the very important role women continuously play in gender balancing, provides information on institutions that have mechanisms to address gender budgeting, highlights the commitment various governments have made in gender budgeting, the demonstration of gender budgeting in other countries and the role of women leadership venturing into the field of Economics.
Dr. Frannie Leautier, Executive Secretary, (ACBF), stressed on the fact that the publication marks an important chapter in the ACBF contribution to the discourse and funding initiatives on gender budgeting.
She made it known that the book not only identifies areas of possible capacity development in support of the development processes on the Continent, but also highlights capacity weaknesses in gender budgeting that need to be addressed by different stakeholders in order to raise the standard of accountability and transparency in budgetary processes.
Drawing on the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) framework, she said the publication further highlights national and sectoral gender budgeting experiences in three African Countries-South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda, to showcase best practice models for African countries.
Dr. Leautier further stressed that gender budgeting represents a special type of policy-making; this is where budgets become effective tools for advancing gender issues.
"The budget, then, is a benchmark against which government is held accountable for its performance in achieving gender equality to ensure that women participate fully and as equals in all sectors of society" she ended.
The contents of the colourful 187-page book are to provide documentation that will increase knowledge and understanding at the governmental and non-governmental levels to allow more deliberate decision-making about the gender-budgeting processes.
The research provides additional information that will substantiate gender-budgeting as an effective mechanism for poverty reduction that could have an impact on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs).
The research report, which comprises six sections with the overview on gender-budgeting and its international instruments, also documents applications of gender budgeting by governments and civil societies in South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda.
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