Gender Responsive Budgeting and Women's Reproductive Rights ...

Box 1: Advocating for Afro-descendant women in Porto Alegre BrazilAssociacão Cultural de Mulheres Negras (ACMUN) is an organisation of women of African descent in Porto Alegre in Brazil. Theorganisation has put a lot of energy into mobilising around improved and non-discriminatory access to health services. As partof these activities, ACMUN conducted a survey to find out more about the links between access to health services, HIV/AIDSand violence against women.The survey confirmed that Afro-descendant women had poor access to health services. There were two health systemsavailable to people living in the community. The better service was very expensive, and thus unaffordable for most of theAfro-descendant women. Many health professionals also lacked sensitivity and respect in their treatment of Afro-descendentwomen. More generally, the professionals often tended to humiliate poor people. Finally, despite previous attempts to educatethe health professionals about SRH, including HIV/AIDS, gender equality and women’s rights, they were not sufficiently sensitiveto the needs of black women.After completing the survey, ACMUN formed a health network which brings together women’s groups, groups of HIV-positivepeople, and others. The network plans to use the survey results and recommendations in advocating for better local andnational policies on health services, HIV/AIDS prevention and violence against women.Reference: UNIFEM. 2005. 2005 Progress Report on Enhancing Human Security Through Gender Equality in theContext of HIV/AIDS. UNIFEM.GRB work can involve a range of different activities, including research, advocacy, monitoring, training, .awareness-raising, policy analysis and policy design. A range of different actors such as government, thelegislature, civil society, academia, donors and the international financial institutions (IFIs) may also beinvolved. The nature of the activities is to some extent determined by the nature of the actors.GRB has a lot of potential and can be used in many different ways. The quotes at the beginning of thissheet illustrate some of the expectations that UNIFEM and the World Bank have of GRB. While it is goodto see the potential, one should also not expect too much of GRB. A paper by the UN Research Institutefor Social Development (UNRISD) (Budlender, 2006) discusses some of the many expectations as well aslimitations of GRB. Whether GRB succeeds or not depends on the actors, their goals, their understanding,and the activities they undertake. Most importantly, it depends on the political and social context ofthe country in which the GRB happens.Over-ambitious claims about GRB are likely to result in disappointment. GRB should be seen as an approachto be used at multiple stages in the policy making process, by different players in different waysto advance different causes. It should be seen as part of the wider effort towards gender mainstreaming.This resource pack also focuses on how GRB can be used to advance sexual and reproductive healthand rights and other areas of interest of UNFPA. GRB alone will not bring about significant changes.However, if combined with other initiatives, it can contribute to change.Reference: Budlender, Debbie. “Expectations versus Realities in Gender-responsive BudgetInitiatives.”UNRISD. http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BB128/(httpProjectsForResearchHome-en)/E177294B96D2F07CC1256CC300399CB8?OpenDocument&panel=unpublished14 W H A T I S G E N D E R R E S P O N S I V E B U D G E T I N G ?