• Gender

Gender and health systems

This guide, from the Commonwealth Secretariat, is intended to help practitioners design and implement gender-responsive budgets (GRB). The first part of the guide provides background information on GRBs. Part two outlines how to implement a government budget, as well the budget process and potential entry points for beginning gender budget work. Part three addresses the practical issues involved in implementation, focusing on assessment and sustainability of initiatives. The final section of the guide looks at how the three-way categorisation developed in Australia and the five-step approach developed in South Africa are applied. It also provides information on necessary data, assessment of gender-responsiveness policies and how to determine budgetary outputs and outcomes.

The GRB approach needs to be tailored to specific settings, as the characteristics of those implementing the system, as well as the political and economic context, are major factors in successful implementation. Moreover, this approach is not a stand-alone tool and requires the allocation of necessary resources for gender-sensitive programmes to succeed. The authors conclude that implementing GRB may be a slow process, but has often been time well spent for those involved in its implementation. [adapted from author].

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