Importance of gender responsive budgeting focus of OSCE-supported workshop in Podgorica

The importance of introducing gender-responsive budgeting into the state budget was the topic of an OSCE-supported workshop for nine members of parliament and seven state officials from the Ministry of Finance and the State Statistical Office (MONSTAT), on 14 May 2019 in Podgorica.

The workshop was organized by the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the Parliamentary Committee on Gender Equality, with which the Mission works closely on the implementation of the Action Plan for a Gender Sensitive Parliament.

Gender Expert Maria Risteska led an examination of international good practices in applying gender responsive budgeting, followed by a practical discussion identifying entry points for introducing gender-responsive budgeting into the budget cycle.

It was agreed that gender-responsive budgeting is an important tool to improve the transparency, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency of the management of public expenditure and provides for a more equitable distribution of public finances for women and men. “The budget must deliver equally for women and men in Montenegro,” said MP Nada Drobnjak, Chair of the Committee for Gender Equality.

Risteska also met with senior government officials who discussed piloting gender-responsive budgeting within a segment of the 2020 state budget.

Risteska, together with the Mission colleagues and Biljana Pejović, Head of the Gender Department within the Ministry of Minority and Human Rights, held a meeting in Kolašin on 15 May with officials from that municipality on further steps the municipality could take to implement gender-responsive budgeting in the 2020 budget.

The Mission will continue to work with the parliament, the government and municipalities in developing an approach to implementing gender-responsive budgeting. “This systematic approach will allow us to introduce a gender perspective in all phases of policymaking and budgeting from planning to adoption, execution and audit,” said Lia Magnaguagno, OSCE Democratization Programme Manager.