Guidelines on gender responsive budgeting launched in HCM City

HCM City (VNA) – The publication of the guidelines “Gender responsive budgeting in the verification and monitoring of the budget implementation of the People’s Council” was launched in Ho Chi Minh City on July 23.

The document was developed under cooperation among the Economic and Budgetary Division at the HCM City People’s Council, HCM City Committee for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality and UN Women.

Speaking at the launching event, head of the Economic and Budgetary Division Trieu Do Hong Phuoc said gender equality issues can be addressed with proper policy tools, and gender responsive budgeting is among those tools. Gender responsive budgeting is not exclusive budgeting for women or gender equality promotion activities but planning, approving, implementing, monitoring and auditing that takes into account gender concerns and analysis, he noted.

The document is useful for delegates of the People’s Council, members of its divisions, the municipal and provincial departments, committees and sectors in budgeting, he added.

According to Head of UN Women Office in Vietnam Elisa Fernandez, UN Women has provided support to Gender Responsive Budgeting in more than 80 countries. The publication of the guidelines demonstrates HCM City’s commitment to gender equality, she said.

Fernandez said UN Women will continue supporting the city in an effort to build a safe and children and women-friendly city.

It was developed out of the context of a new State Budget Law approved in 2015 which offered new and advanced articles of law from a gender perspective.

The guidelines outlined in this ddocument aim to provide a basic knowledge of gender, gender equality and gender responsive budgeting and thus, offer skills with which to apply gender equality principles in budget monitoring and decisions of the People's Council to conform to the State Budget Law. The law designates gender equality as a principle of State budget management and a core part of the annual budget estimate.

International experience reveals this principle can only be realised with the participation of multiple stakeholders including people’s elected bodies, ministries and sectors as well as social and international organisations. The guidelines focus on the responsibilities of the People’s Council.

The People’s Council has to verify and monitor the budget estimate and liquidation costs submitted by the People’s Committee; estimate and liquidation of regular budget expenditure or the budget estimate from a programme/project/scheme delegated to the city or district departments, committees and sectors. So it plays a key role in implementing gender responsive budgeting.

The guidelines are broken into four parts – general knowledge of gender, gender equality and gender responsive budgeting; tasks and authorisation of the People’s Council on budget; gender analysis and gender mainstreaming in the activities of the People’s Council; and gender mainstreaming in the verification and monitoring of state budget execution in provinces.–VNA