Introduction: African leaders over the past three decades have made some progress towards legislation on gender equality as enshrined in international declarations and commitments such as the: Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), African Charter on Human and Peoples Human Rights, Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, Cairo Plan of Action, Beijing and African Platforms for Action, Millennium Development Goals, Paris Declaration and subsequent international instruments on women human rights. However, the progress remains slow and uneven across countries with women and girls continuing to be disproportionately marginalized and disadvantaged. With gender mainstreaming becoming popular after the Fourth World Conference of Women held in 1995 in Beijing, the Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) has since been an internationally acknowledged strategy for integrating gender perspective into public finance for promoting and securing gender equality. It has also been seen as a tool for localizing and accelerating the achievement of the MDGs as well as the Paris Declaration and the Accra Call for Action. Recognizing the GRB importance, African Ministers at the 54th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 2010 gave additional push to GRB as they expressed interest and requested the UN at the side-event organized by UNDP and other partners for, either starting-up or scaling-up GRB initiatives to enable women and men to access services and opportunities as well as exercise their rights equitably. In a bid to respond to the Ministers' request as well as strengthen and complement efforts of the national governments in using GRB as the tool to effectively and efficiently address gender inequalities, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) are supporting the implementation of Gender Responsive Budgeting across many developing and least developed countries at both national and local levels. The recent joint efforts of the three UN Agencies in October 2010, led to the implementation of a three phased initiative. The first two phases being: i) GRB assessment in 11 African countries (Cameroon, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia) at both central and local levels; and ii) development of country action plans for GRB implementation. The third and final phase is seeking to provide technical and advisory support to the countries for implementing the country action plans with a view to laying the foundation for GRB institutionalization in African countries. The eleven country assessments have indicated that GRB is quite new in many of the countries. Even though these countries have made inroads into creating GRB awareness, policy makers have often made GRB statements into national budget call circulars and documents with hardly any evidence to demonstrate the outcomes of such statements (such as the statements made at the level of allocations vis-Ã -vis the expenditures). The various country reports also provided different understanding of GRB- while some referred to it as “women budget” to some, it was allocating resources for income-generating activities for women and other vulnerable groups, day care centers, manifesting further widening of the gender inequality biases. It is in this connection, the three UN agencies are, seeking to develop a comprehensive methodology and step-by-step tools and approaches that will guide countries on how to implement, sustain and institutionalize GRB at all levels. Given that the nature of GRB work/initiatives differ according to: i) Actors: Government-led, civil society-led versus parliament-led; ii) Focus: Full budget versus selected sector budgets; iii) Level: National versus provincial and municipality, etc., the step-by-step guide will include methodology and tools that are applicable at every specific case. Objective: The three UN Agencies aims at developing a manual/tool that provides the relevant knowledge to guide all GRB stakeholders (Ministry of Finance, Sector Ministries, Civil Society Organizations, Parliament, Research institutions etc.) and facilitate how to transform GRB as a theoretical knowledge to a sustained and institutionalized strategy into national policy frameworks for attaining gender equality at all levels in African countries. Among other things, the Guide is also intended to help in the description and/or definition of GRB concepts and principles as well as the steps and processes in all public development planning and public fiscal management at all levels (budgeting, revenue generation and expenditure tracking, accounting and reporting). Finally, it is expected to help the countries streamline and harmonize the GRB processes wherever feasible and serve as a coordination mechanism to speak with a common GRB understanding at regional, national and sub national levels. Proposed methodology: The design of the GRB step-by-step Guide shall benefit from the good practices and experiences of global countries that have long been involved in GRB implementation. It will review the challenges of African countries in implementing and sustaining GRB. Drawing on existing work, the consultant will develop an instructive Manual/handbook that is user-friendly and practical. The process shall be conducted through a web search for relevant data and information, desk review and interviews with countries, where feasible to better understand the issues and finally the preparation of a draft Manual/Guide. A team of experts and/or a reference group will be established to review various sections during the preparation of the Guide. This will be followed by a meeting to test and validate the draft Guide before finalization and publication. The consultant will work under the overall leadership and guidance of the Gender Practice Teams at UNDP (RSC-ESA), UNCDF and UN Women. UNCDF Gender Advisor at the RSC, Johannesburg will provide consultant direct technical supervision for the Guide preparation while all the three agencies take shared ownership. UN Women will provide technical and advisory support where necessary. UNDP takes responsibility for coordination and cost-share the expenses with UNCDF for the initiative.
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Duties and Responsibilities | |
The consultant is expected to produce an instructive step-by-step guide that will serve as a capacity tool for implementing, sustaining and institutionalizing Gender Responsive Budgeting. The consultant will:
Impact of Results: This assignment is expected to result in the publication of a capacity development knowledge product/tool for implementing, sustaining and institutionalizing GRB in African countries at national and local levels. Deliverables: GRB Step-by-step Guide Work Load:
Assignment Time Frame:
Possible travel to Johannesburg to organize review meeting to test and validate the GRB Step-by-step Guide. Interested and qualified candidates should forward their CVs indicating references and requested daily fees (in US$).
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All further enquiries should be directed to: Ulrik Kristensen: Ulrik.kristensen@uncdf.org
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| UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. |
International Consultant for the Development of a GRB Step-by-Step Guide for 11 African countries
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