Occasional Paper

Compliance with Planning and Budget Tools for Tracking Public Allocations for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Uganda’s Case

This study assessed government efforts to track budget allocations for gender equality throughout the public finance management cycle and to make such budget allocation publicly available. . Specifically, the study sought to (i) determine the extent to which government sectors are using appropriate planning and budget tools to track resources for gender equality and women’s empowerment programmes; and (ii) examine the extent to which sectors adhere to the set requirement of publishing public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment interventions. The UN-Women-OECD-UNDP methodology applies three criteria to measure SDG indicator 5.c.1. These include, first, the aspects of public expenditure that are reflected in programmes and budget allocations. Second, whether the public financial management system promotes gender-related or gender-responsive goals. Third, whether budget allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) are made public. Based on the study findings, to a great extent, Uganda satisfies all three criteria. Hence, it can be classified as “fully meets the requirements” for tracking SDG indicator 5.c.1. There is sufficient evidence showing that a functioning government system that tracks and makes public budget allocations for GEWE exists. Notwithstanding these development gains, the study highlights areas of further improvement. These include: making the publication of ministerial policy statements within the first quarter of the financial year one of the requirements for obtaining a certificate of compliance with gender and equity requirements; increasing the frequency and widening the scope of the collection of gender-disaggregated data needed by MDAs to inform planning and budgeting; prioritising few (manageable) gender and equity interventions and allocating them adequate resources in a given financial year; and strengthening the system of assessing gender and equity compliance requirements to ensure proper monitoring, evaluation and reporting.