Forum on Promoting Gender Equality through the Assessment of Gender Responsive PFM
The PEFA Secretariat was in Istanbul, Turkey, March 26-27 for the “Promoting Gender Equality through the Assessment of Gender Responsive Public Financial Management Forum” co-organized with the UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office. In attendance were 45 officials including representatives of Ministries of Finance, Supreme Audit Institutions and gender experts from 10 countries in the region. The forum aimed at raising awareness, increasing capacities, and improving knowledge regarding PEFA GRPFM -PEFA Gender Responsive Public Financial Management- and PEFA Gender Assessment Processes overall.
During the forum key discussions included lessons learned on addressing the challenges that arise while conducting PEFA Gender assessments, how to use the results of the PEFA Gender assessments to promote gender mainstreaming in PFM and achieve gender equality, as well as new avenues for PFM interventions in the future. This event highlighted the dedication of the government representatives from European and Central Asia region to promote gender equality and gender mainstreaming in PFM. It served as a valuable platform for government representatives from Ministries of Finance to improve their knowledge surrounding PEFA Gender assessment processes.
The first day March 26th was launched by Belén Sanz Luque, Regional Director for UN Women Europe and Central Asia and Elisa Fernandez Saenz, Deputy Regional Director of UN Women Europe and Central Asia where they welcomed all participants, officials, and the PEFA Secretariat members attending the forum. Reiterating UN Women’s commitment to continue working with countries and share good practices of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) and PEFA Gender beyond the ECA region, Luque announced: “This PEFA Gender forum is very timely, especially as Beijing+30 approaches, and considering the recent CSW68 discussions that took place in New York in the last week emphasizing the key focus on public investment and gender financing.” Highlighting the transformational role of the GRB approach in integrating gender considerations throughout the budget processes to promote social justice and inclusive development toward achieving SDGs, Saenz emphasized the importance of sharing experiences: “This forum provides valuable discussions aimed to deepen understanding surrounding the opportunities and challenges associated with GRB implementation”.
Opening the presentation segment of the day, Ermira Lubani, UN Women ECA GRB-Programme Specialist, recognized the importance of the PEFA Gender assessment framework by stating: “For UN Women, the PEFA Gender assessment is an important tool that supports governments identify strengths, weaknesses, and diagnose areas for improvement in promoting gender equality and women's empowerment within public financial management processes and shaping public resource allocation”. Lubani provided an overview of the main objective of GRB intervention and its results in the Europe and Central Asia region and explained the crucial roles in increasing supply and demand played by line ministries, supreme audit institutions, media, and municipalities in implementing GRB work in the region.
A presentation on PEFA and PEFA Gender Assessment Framework and key observations was provided by the PEFA Secretariat. Mona El-Chami, Senior Governance Specialist, PEFA Secretariat confirmed: “The PEFA Gender Framework was a result of the knowledge collaboration between stakeholders including UN Women. We continue our efforts to globally share and promote knowledge and good practices.”
Maja Bosnic, Public Finance and Gender Budgeting Expert and long-term associate of PEFA Secretariat, continued: “I hope this forum is just the start of next steps not only in applying PEFA Gender Framework but also next steps of implementation of gender responsive public finance (GRPFM) in the region and beyond”.
The sessions that followed presented the PEFA Gender Assessments completed by Georgia, Moldova, Kosovo, Morocco and the Brussels Capital Region providing insights into areas of progress and opportunities for enhancing gender responsiveness within these countries’ PFM framework. Tinatin Gugava, Acting Head of the Budget Policy Unit, Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia highlighted: “With the financial and technical support of UN Women, Georgia conducted the PEFA GRPFM Assessment for the first time. As a result, we have a broad picture of our public finance management regarding gender issues.”
Yenz Winkelmans, Attaché, Brussels-Capital Region Municipality shared: “It is not just about closing the gap between women and men but also assessing the financial structures in our countries and in the region.”
PEFA Gender Training
The one-day PEFA Gender training on March 27th was attended by around 45 representatives from Albania, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Kosovo, Brussels region and North Macedonia with 70% female participation.
Following the introduction of the training day, the presenters Mona El-Chami and Maja Bosnic from the PEFA Secretraiat presented the PEFA Gender Supplementary Framework, discussing in detail all 9 indicators and 12 dimensions. Through the numerous exercises conducted many valuable questions, insights, discussions, and suggestions were shared to the excitement of all participants.
Feedback from participants:
“Albania is a champion on gender responsive budgeting. This forum gives me the opportunity to exchange views, to exchange experiences and to learn from other countries.” - Janina Jakupi, Director of PFM, Ministry of Finance of Albania
“Content is very adequate, and the trainers’ energy is very high...”
“I liked the interactive approaches and the open discussions…”
“The information about good practices and detailed description of each indicator will be very useful in implementing the PEFA Gender Assessment…”
Awarding Certificates
At the conclusion of the PEFA Gender Training in Istanbul certificates were awarded as a token of appreciation for the participants’ active involvement in the event!
PEFA trainers shared:
Those were two intense and inspiring days in Istanbul! The participants were so interested in the PEFA Gender Framework and eager to learn the ins and outs of using it. They dove into each of the case studies introduced and managed to make many astute links between them and their countries’ GRB journey. We, too, have learned a lot and look forward to the PEFA Gender Assessments to come” - Mona El-Chami and Maja Bosnic
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