Openly, When One of the Activities of the Budget Programme Being Evaluated Was Planned
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The study on Gender Impact Aspect implementation in the State and Municipal Budgetary Processes (ID No SIF 2017/3) (agreement No S-SIF-2017-9, concluded on 11.07.2017) Conducted by SIA Oxford Research Baltics and Oxford Research AB Riga, 2017 Preface Gender equality in Latvia is an important and actual issue in many municipal and state structures. This has become even more topical, when Latvia entered to the European Union. Many Member States have paid significant attention to this aspect however for Latvia it is a relatively new. Despite challenges in the research of such a new phenomenon and thanks to all the persons involved in this study it has become possible to study and develop appropriate and relevant recommendations for integration of this approach in the budgetary processes in Latvia. The involvement of institutions, the Aizkraukle Municipality and the State Employment Agency, and their readiness to provides essential informative and practical support played the key role in the crea- tion of the study. Authors of the study particularly want to thank: • Anta Teivāne for comprehensive support in data acquisition, as well as organisation of semi- nars and interviews; • Kristīne Stašāne for support in the analysis of SEA budgets and acquisition of necessary data; • Agnese Gaile for valuable guidance in the process of development of the study; • Aija Rūse and Ilze Dūmiņa for support in the organisation of the study and valuable guidance. Summary Gender equality has become an actual and widely researched topic across Europe. For many years, this issue was not addressed due to historical traditions and widely accepted social norms. However as soon as the issue was raised and researchers started to pay attention to this, it became obvious that gender inequality determines many fundamental problems that negatively affect both male and female population. Equally, negative impact was observed in economy and society in general. Situation in Latvia compared to other European countries is below average. Latvia currently is rated 18th in gender equality index developed by EIGE UN and other relevant and appropriate sources and theories. This clearly indicates that there are some significant problems in terms of gender equality and there are wide opportunities to improve the situation. As one of the tools that can be utilized for improvement is budget and budgeting process used at different institutions. Based on the identification of the above problem a research on opportunities to develop gender budg- eting in Latvia was conducted. This was done during the period July-December 2017 on behalf of Latvian Society Integration Foundation. The aim of the research was to analyze gender equality and related aspects in two institutions, namely Aizkraukle municipality and State Employment Agency. The research was particularly conducted on one budgetary program in Aizkraukle and 2 programs in State Employment Agency. These programs were focused on culture, sport and religion in Aizkraukle and training of the unemployed and job seekers in Latvia, as well as support for the training of the unemployed for the State Employment Agency. The analysis of the above mentioned programs was based on widely accepted theories about gender budgeting and related issues. This includes budgeting as such, as well as different criteria, aspects and instruments that are involved in the budgeting process. The framework for the analysis was created based on the methodology developed by EIGE and UN for integrated approach for the implementa- tion of the gender mainstreaming and gender equality. Based on the theoretical framework appropriate methodology was developed. This included secondary research, such as desk research and document analysis, analysis of budgetary programs, stakeholders’ analysis, as well as primary research, including interviews, survey, focus group discussions and other relevant and appropriate methods. As a result of the thorough and integrated analysis the conclusions and recommendations were developed. The most important conclusions are the following: • Gender equality aspects are not included in the budgeting process and there is insufficient attention paid to this issue. • Data necessary for gender mainstreaming and gender equality improvement are not systemat- ically collected, accumulated and used for planning. • In general in Latvia there is still a dominating perception that inequality between male and female employees at work and during social activities is something acceptable and even posi- tive. The stereotypes established during the previous years are not an obstacle and should not be eliminated. • This holds true also when analyzing budgets of the SEA and Aizkraukle municipality. It can be concluded that in many cases attention paid to gender equality is insufficient leading to concerns about unequal distribution of the state or municipal financial resources. Gender Impact Analysis in the State and Municipal Budgetary Processes • Interest and awareness of gender equality and importance of including this concept in planning documents, strategies and budgets is very limited in the institutions that were included in the research as well as other related institutions. • There are no formal barriers to include gender equality aspect in the budgetary process and planning documents. However, there is no explicit demand from any other institutions that these aspects should be included. Based on the research results and conclusions appropriate and relevant recommendations were devel- oped that can be taken into account by Aizkraukle municipality as well as the SEA. Also the recom- mendations can be used by other comparable institutions. The most important recommendations are the following: • Information campaigns should be run in order to inform and convince different stakeholders about gains and benefits from the inclusion of gender equality aspects into the planning. • Gender equality can and should be taken into account during the planning process and the costs of implementation is comparatively low compared to the possible gains. • Data on male and female participation in different events and activities should be collected, accumulated and used in the planning process. • Different activities aimed at the improving gender equality should be constantly monitored and results should be used in the further planning and development. In addition to the specific recommendations at the municipal and agency level some more general recommendations were developed for the state and political level. The most important ones to name are the following: • Spread the information in order to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of gender equality issues. • Improve the data collection procedures and statistical analysis by gender at all possible levels where data are available. • Educate civil servants and other employees at different state and municipal institutions about the benefits of inclusion of gender equality aspects in budgetary and planning work. • Conduct a permanent monitoring of the above mentioned activities. Based on the collected data further improve the decision-making process and ensure continuous improvement in the field of gender equality in Latvia. Gender Impact Analysis in the State and Municipal Budgetary Processes Abbreviations used UN United Nations CSB Central Statistical Bureau EIGE European Institute for Gender Equality EC European Commission EU European Union ESF European Social Fund MoF Ministry of Finance MoW Ministry of Welfare GEI Gender Equality Index GII Gender Inequality Index NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization SEA Employment State Agency GNP Gross national product OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund 4 Gender Impact Analysis in the State and Municipal Budgetary Processes Terms used Sex-role stereotypes Views on attributes ascribed to females and males, which are based on prejudices, indiscriminate assumptions and non-objec- tive assessment. Gender based discrimination is very frequently based on gender stereotypes denying representative of one or an- other gender opportunities to choose certain employment or be- haviour1. Gender budgeting The budget is evaluated from the gender perspective ascertaining how much a woman and a man benefit from existing and planned expenses, and whether gender equality is promoted2. Gender-sensitive Gender sensitivity aims at understanding and taking account of the societal and cultural factors involved in gender-based exclu- sion and discrimination in the most diverse spheres of public and private life3. Gender-sensitive monitoring A method of gender mainstreaming that integrates gender equal- and evaluation ity concerns into the evaluation objectives but also into the evalu- ation methodology, approaches and use. Gender-sensitive moni- toring and evaluation is used to reveal whether a programme ad- dresses the different priorities and needs of women and men, to assess if it has an impact on gender relations, and to determine the gender aspects that need to be integrated into monitoring and evaluation systems4. Gender balance Gender balance is commonly used in reference to human re- sources and equal participation of women and men in all areas of work, projects or programmes5. Gender equality A situation, when the role of men and women in the develop- ment of the community is perceived as equal, they enjoy equal rights and equal responsibility, they are ensured equality in access to resources and the