IMF and Afritac Organize Technical Assistance Mission on Gender Responsive Budgeting

From Monday, April 26 to Friday, April 30, 2021 was held in the conference room of the Hotel LA FALAISE in Yaoundé, the workshop for the co-construction of tools for the operationalization of the Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB).

Co-chaired by Mrs. Sophie BOUMSONG, Head of the Budgetary Reform Division and the joint team of experts from the Public Finance Department of the IMF/AFRITAC Centre, this meeting was attended by several administrations such as MINFI, MINPROFF, MINSANTE, MINEDUB, MINEPAT, MINDDEVEL, MINADER, UN-WOMEN, GIZ, the Civil Society as well as staff from the Budgetary Reform Division

The objective of the workshop was to contribute to the development of tools for the operationalization of gender budgeting.

POLITICS …

The restitution session of the aforementioned mission coupled with workshops for the co-construction of tools for the operationalization of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) was based on five (05) main themes, namely

• Mission kick-off and scoping meeting;
• Presentation of Tool 1: Integration of GRB in the circulars for the preparation of the Budget;
• Presentation of Tool 2: Clarification of the roles of the Gender Focal Points;
• Presentation of Tool 3: Planning, Promotion and Budgeting Documents;
• Presentation of Tool 4: Gender Responsive Budgeting Documents

The workshop also examined the entry points for gender in the budget cycle in Cameroon. The aim was to consolidate the uniqueness of the budget cycle, to introduce the gender perspective in the preparatory phase, to integrate the gender prism in the medium-term macro-budgetary programming and to prepare a budget with guaranteed gender sensitivity. The Ministry of Finance, through the Directorate General of the Budget, plans to implement gender budgeting as of the 2022 budget year with certain pilot administrations. To this end, the elaboration of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) will integrate the gender perspective at all stages of the budget cycle, which will thus represent important entry points for GRB and will therefore have gender sensitive programs, objectives and indicators.

At the end of the workshop, some recommendations were made. They are :

• strengthening the GRB normative framework
• Clarify annual GRB guidelines;
• Implement the regional roadmap for GRB;
• ensure triangulation between the NDS30, the update of the National Gender Policy (NGP) and the gender-sensitive performance framework
• Dedicate the sharing of GRB within the General Budget Directorate;
• Strengthen the framework for collaboration and consultation on GRB;
• Involve parliamentarians and economic actors in budgetary choices in favor of gender promotion;
• systematically integrate a gender perspective into the budget cycle;
• Internalize gender-sensitive planning, programming, budgeting and monitoring tools and allow them to be appropriated by all actors;
• launch the elaboration of the gender-sensitive budget document according to a progressive approach and ;
• Conducting reflection on the categorization of gender-sensitive expenditures.