Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________development strategy”. They have declared that it is crucial, considering thedifficulties in this area, for Benin to have a structure that has a clear mandate,adequate political influence, sufficient human and financial resources, as wellas the required skills and capabilities for carrying out its tasks. Thus, theparticipants at the Forum on Women demanded the creation of a structure tohandle gender and development issues that should report directly to thepresident of the republic, and that would have branches in all other ministries.289. The CRM has also noted the absence of a national gender policy – serving as abasis for all parties and departments – to promote the gender dimension inpolicies and programmes. The CRM experts also noted the efforts made bybilateral and multilateral partners to support Benin in the promotion of itswomen and gender policy. The CRM learned – following discussions heldwith representatives of the Swiss Cooperation Agency, the Danish Agency forInternational Development (DANIDA) and the UNDP – that efforts are underway to take the issue of gender equality into account in strategic documents,budgets and programmes. In 2005, the approach was integrated into certainsectors, when the budget/programme of MAEP (the Population PolicyStatement, or DEPOLIPO) was re-read, and in the formulation of the 10-yearstrategic plan of the Ministry of Works and Public Service. However, thesesame partners found weaknesses and a lack of coherent planning about thestrategic options adopted in the budgets/programmes and in the annual workplans of the other ministries, as well as the lack of an appropriate budget forcarrying out activities for greater equality and equity.290. The analysis of the performances of most sectors revealed that the majoractivities carried out under the gender theme boils down to awarenesscampaigns and training 17 . These conclusions were reinforced by the nationalstudy on IDISA, conducted by some of the national researchers mentionedabove. This study has highlighted the challenges, weaknesses and areasrequiring intervention. It highlighted particularly the small budgets allocatedto gender issues. The promotion of women should not be limited solely to thereform of their legal status. It is therefore imperative to ensure equity forwomen in the allocation of public funds through adequate budgets for genderissues. Examining budgets from a gender perspective helps to identify gapsand discrepancies between the access to, and distribution of, public resources.It is not a question of preparing separate budgets for women and men. On thecontrary, the objective of analysing budgets from a gender perspective is toredefine priorities and to allocate adequate resources that will meet the needsof all sections of the population, while taking into account the disadvantagedposition of women.iii.Recommendations of the APR Panel291. The APR Panel recommends that the government:17 Budgetary support joint mission and joint implementation of budgetary support review andimplementation of PRSP – gender approach in the joint mission.117