Gender responsive costing and budgeting Nalini Burn

1. Second Regional Workshop on gender and Poverty Reduction Strategies, 17-18 September 2003, Siem Reap Gender responsive costing and budgeting Nalini Burn

2. Outline of Module • Introduction • Gender-responsive budgeting within PRS. • Step 1: Priority policy actions: choosing appropriate outputs and activities • Step 2: Costing. • Implications for way forward.

3. Introduction • Important issues raised: • prioritisation, gender budgeting, use economic arguments, how to mainstream, advocate, weakness gender analysis, policy evaporation, participation • Approach taken: How to formulate gender –responsive pro-poor budgets • Incidence of actual budgetary allocations in context of existing budgetary systems and processes.

4. Impact Outcomes Outputs Outputs Activities Resources Financial inputs Improved health status poor women and men Utilisation of health services poor rural women/men Functioning Health services ( e.g primary health care) Appropriate human and material resources, investment Adequate budgetary allocations Step 1: PRSPs and budgets: A results chain

5. Goal/target Policy Objectives Strategic planning Programme, measures Budgeting for Outputs/results Full Costing for activities Impact Outcomes Outputs Activities Resources Financial inputs Gender mainstreaming Entry points in the results chain

6. ospinas: Source European Union Lets’ get SMART: Simple Method to Assess Relevance To gender • Will this policy or measure affect one or more target groups ? • Will it affect the daily life of some or part of the population? • Are there differences between men and women in this area in question? • In relation to rights, resources, participation, norms and values related to gender? • If the answer is yes, there needs to be a Gender Impact assessment. • (Source European Union)

7. Step 1: Priority policy actions: Choosing appropriate outputs and activities • The determinants of key poverty outcomes from a gender perspective. • The logical framework of a programme: • Key question: What are the outputs –goods, services, measures needed to achieve a priority outcome? • How can you use gender analysis to construct an appropriate and effective results chain, linking outputs to outcomes?

8. Step 1: group work • In your country teams, choose a priority policy action from your PRS, for example • e.g increasing enrolment rates in secondary school for boys and for girls • E.g Increasing % of births delivered in rural areas by trained health personnel • E.g increased utilisation of agricultural extension services by poor women and men farmers • Identify the key outputs for achieving this outcome • What are the supply-side factors, the demand, user-related factors to be addressed? ( 20 minutes) • Put on 1 flipchart and present ( 5 minutes each group)

9. Step 1: Key learning points • Direct costs of access to service for user • Indirect costs, opportunity costs- for user: • Unpaid labour in domestic and caring work • Inter sectoral linkages ( infrastructure, economic and social sectors) • Issues of quantity/quality from a gender perspective • Availability and use of data for constructing intermediate indicators, specifying linkages

10. Step 2: Costing: linking inputs to activities • How to cost? • Linkcosts to services according to activities required to provide them, • What is done with resources used: teaching maintenance, consultations? • What are the activity-based costs of services? • Capital and recurrent costs ( direct and indirect) • salary and salary-related, non salary, operation and maintenance ( O&M). • What is the cost of providing the service per unit? How many users? • Unit cost multiplied by numbers of target group.

11. Step 2: Group work • What are the cost implications of the priority policy action that you have worked with, using this costing approach? • E.g a new activity/cost centre, such as a school, mobile clinic • Share in your group, the costing experiences you are aware of ( e.g MDG costing, Education for all costing, PRS policy action costing) • Choose and prepare what your group wants to highlight and report upon, given 30 minutes in all for preparation and 5 minutes presentation time

12. Step 2 Learning points • Prioritisation issues : costs and policies. • Trade-offs between different options: issues of efficiency, effectiveness, economy and equity from a gender and pro-poor perspective • Cost approaches: economy (least-cost) or cost-effectiveness or cost-benefit analysis ( externalities and benefits of public action for gender equality and poverty reduction)

13. Gender –aware fiscal policy • Hidden costs of hidden service providers, mostly women, when comparing options. • Data and indicators, linking time use with household expenditure budgets and public expenditure. • Financial inputs and impacts and macroeconomic policy in a global setting….

14. Gender budgeting… • Is NOT a separate budget for women • Is the gender analysis of any form of public expenditure or method of raising revenue • Is assessing the implications for women and girls as compared to men and boys.

15. Way forward: Mainstreaming gender in poverty reduction • Plenary discussion. • Look at themes and breakout sessions of October Conference again • Look back at the results-chain and the agenda for pro-poor and gender-responsive budgetary reform. • What are the entry points for gender-responsive budgeting?

16. Some principles of gender impact assessment (source Women’s Budget Group UK) • Focus analysis at the level of families as well as individuals • Consider long- term implications of policy • Extend analysis to unpaid, caring economy • Take into account different responses of women and men to economic incentives.

17. Questions to ask. • Who is the recipient of public allocations? • How is spending/revenue distributed? • What are the implications in both short and long term • for the gender distribution of resources? • Implications on both paid and unpaid work • How does policy affect gender norms and values?

18. Questions to ask? • How is gender taken into account in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring? • What priorities are given to reduce gender inequality? • Are specific targets for gender equality being met?