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Description
A legislation concerning gender mainstreaming in public budgeting process has been adopted in the country. However, a common phenomenon is that the legislation process often remains idle and this poses obstacles to a substantial and effective monitoring role for the civil society during the drafting and implementation of the public budgeting process.
In this context the project aims to provide feedback, best practices, tools and training to the local authorities that have to include gender mainstreaming in the budgeting process but don’t have the expertise to do so. This will involve pilot local initiatives in 2 municipalities (Athens, Karditsa). Specifically, the activities of the project involve gender analysis of local authority budgets, capacity building to CSOs, and local authorities by international experts on the field, creation of communication channels between citizens and local authorities and local advocacy initiatives for the promotion of citizens’ proposals.
The two pilot initiatives in Athens and Karditsa will document the existing gender aspects and gaps in local budgeting and will create pilot tools and methodologies for its improved implementation. The results of the pilot initiatives will be communicated in approximately 175 local authority representatives in 7 districts in the country. The beneficiaries of the project involve local authority representatives, CSOs but also citizens which will be encouraged to take on an active role in the monitoring and implementation process.
The project partners involve the Municipality of Athens and Karditsa as well as the Women’s Center. Having the municipalities as partners reinforce their commitment in incorporating gender mainstreaming in the process and also acts as an example of public private successful initiatives. The Women’s Center will also bring their experience on the ground but also their expertise concerning gender issues at the local context
Summary of project results
The project was a pilot implemented for the first time in Greece. It integrates the perspective of gender in public budgets, develops an innovative methodology, which connects various tools of citizen participation in order to investigate and record needs and challenges in a local context. A central part in the methodology was the empowerment and education of citizens, mainly women and local government employees and executives. In total, 142 people participated in two local groups in Athens and Karditsa, most of them women and especially in the case of Athens, residents of the Kolonos area from vulnerable social groups. The actions developed in the project were multifaceted and multi-level, to fill a large gap of know-how and expertise in the topics under discussion at the municipal level and in cooperation with civil society. The aim of these actions was to change the way of thinking of local government officials, as well as to create synergies with citizens groups, in order to demonstrate that it is possible to redesign local priorities in terms of gender equality, through the redistribution of resources and a change in the way local policies and public budgets are formulated and implemented. The groups of citizens, having done relevant research, submitted their proposals to the municipality, categorizing the thematic areas in which they had observed problems/difficulties, such as a) the safe movement of women in the city, b) free health care services for socially vulnerable populations, c) the enhancement of the natural environment of the neighborhood, and d) the remodeling and maintenance of shared / public spaces (eg. parks, playgrounds). In addition, 266 people, namely representatives of NGOs and local government bodies, were trained in terms of practices and tools to strengthen their supervisory capacity in local government budgets, incorporating the tools and good practices developed and published by ActionAid in the "Guide for gender analysis and preparation of public budgets " and in the "Guide to conclusions, Good Practices and development tools for their practical application". The guides were sent together with a policy brief titled "The Road to Equality is Through Gender Budgeting" with policy recommendations for the Ministries of Finance and Interior, the General Secretariat for Demographic and Family Policy and Gender Equality, the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece and local municipal authorities.