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Blessings Chidakwa Municipal Reporter
Zimbabwe is today hosting a gender-responsive budgeting local government summit.
The two-day summit is running under the theme “Gender Responsive Budgeting in Local Authorities”.
In a statement, Gender Links, a leading Southern African women’s rights organization said the aim of the summit is to assess the extent to which councils have budgeted for gender in their service delivery.
“The summit also provides a platform to assess the progress local authorities have made in gender mainstreaming and gather evidence on gender-responsive budgeting, leadership, and institutional practice in local authorities.
“It will also promote discussion and reflection on the gender mainstreaming programme in Zimbabwe. Gender budgeting is a priority area for the Government of Zimbabwe,” reads the statement.
Gender Links said in August last year, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, through the Budget Call Circular number 1 of 2021 made it mandatory for all public institutions to mainstream gender and allocate resources for gender in their budgets.
“Following this, GL, in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works developed a Gender Responsive Budgeting tool to assist local authorities in gender budgeting. GL will launch the tool on 21 November 2022.
“This summit will also affirm best practices in gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting in all 92 local authorities in Zimbabwe that are Centres of Excellence Councils,” said the statement.
Gender Links said best practices will be presented in three thematic areas as Local Government Institutional Centres of Excellence, Gender Responsive Budgeting, and Drivers of Change.
“The summit provides an opportunity for local authority officials and councillors to share best practices on gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting which align with government objectives, especially under the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.
“These case studies will also give insight into how local authorities are providing services that help prevent and respond to incidences of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in their communities.”
Gender Links said they will detail the extent to which councils support GBV survivors, as well as budgeting for such, which will be reviewed at this summit.
It said the case studies contribute to the annual SADC Gender Protocol Barometer as they provide a basis for monitoring and tracking the Government’s implementation of gender provisions enshrined in the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
“The ability of local authorities to budget for gender is key to gender-responsive service delivery. These gender-responsive budgets contribute to national objectives guided by the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1).
“The NDS 1 overall objective is to ensure high, accelerated, inclusive and sustainable economic growth as well as socioeconomic transformation and development,” reads the statement.
Gender Links said in Zimbabwe over 800 case studies have been showcased since 2012 through the Southern Africa Gender Protocol@Work summits.
“The 2022 summit received 140 case studies. The numbers continue to grow as Gender Links conducts more summits.”
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