an Eldis Resource
Gender-sensitiveness of Belgian aid discourse and practice at the turn of the century
Assessment of the gender-sensitivity of Belgian development aid
Authors:
N. Holvoet,
Publisher:
Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Antwerp, 2006
This paper examines the gender sensitiveness of Belgian aid by looking at gender policy discourse and practice. It assesses policy commitments not only on the basis of policy and planning methodologies but also in terms of human and financial investments made. More specifically, it highlights the human resources that have been implemented under the specific mandate of engendering development aid. It analyses how much of the budget may be considered gender-blind and inversely how much is spent on interventions that include gender as an important or even predominant objective.
The paper shows that declarations regarding the integration of gender issues into development interventions are largely living up to standards set at the Beijing conference. However, confronting the policy discourse with effective changes in procedures and resource allocation nuances the positive verdict. While promising changes are discernible there remains much room for improvement in policy implementation.
The author argues that unequal results are due to the fact that on the one hand the gender equality ideal has been espoused enthusiastically as it fitted well with the evolving discourse of the Belgian donor sector, whereas on the other hand the policy evaporation that often surrounds crosscutting issues such as gender was not effectively addressed. The inherent difficulty of managing gender issues has in the Belgian case been further aggravated by serious organisational problems that have weakened Belgian development co-operation over the decade.
Moreover the author mentions that all recent efforts towards improving performance may be seriously undermined by the further devolution of the aid responsibility from the federal government to the regional authorities, which continuously remains an issue overshadowing Belgian aid.
