Senior government officials gain new gender responsive budgeting skills in Turkey

More than 100 department heads from 25 line ministries, central public institutions and organizations participated in a series of gender responsive budgeting (GRB) seminars hosted by UN Women and the Ministry of Family and Social Services (MoFSS) in Ankara during the first two weeks of October 2021. The aim was to raise awareness on gender responsive planning and budgeting and to develop practices accordingly.

During the seminars, participants gained the information they need to ensure that their teams can apply a gender responsive perspective when developing the planning and budgeting processes of their public institutitions. 

Gender responsive budgeting is about integrating gender into budgetary processes. It aims to create a society where gender equality is achieved, and women and men enjoy equal rights, services, and opportunities. GRB enables budgeting and planning processes to incorporate a gender perspective at all levels and meets the different needs and priorities of women and men.

During the launch of the seminars, General Director of the Status of Women at the Ministry of Family and Social Services, Gülser Ustaoğlu, emphasized the importance of the sessions. “Through our project on implementing gender responsive budgeting and planning in Turkey, we aim to raise awareness and develop the capacities of the central and local authorities and support efficient monitoring and ensure accountability,” she said. “We need to continue our efforts to achieve equality between women and men across society, within politics, education, and the economy. Therefore, we need to adopt an equality-based approach to meet different needs and priorities of women and men across public service provision. Within this framework, working with senior managers as our allies and reflecting their different knowledge and experience towards the GRB processes is one of the most critical pillars of our project. I believe our Project will empower both women and men in our country,” she said.

The seminars were conducted under the Project on Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting. This effort is co-financed by the European Union and UN Women, and implemented by UN Women in collaboration with the Ministry of Family and Social Services and the Republic of Turkey, Presidency of Strategy and Budget.

The project aims to empower women and further strengthen gender equality in Turkey through the systematic and sustainable integration of gender perspectives at all stages of national and local policy-making and budgeting processes. Covering the period of 2020–2023, the project is designed to support women and men's access to equal rights and opportunities through gender-responsive budgeting. The seminars aim to integrate gender responsive budgeting across public institutions and organizations.

UN Women Turkey Programmes Manager, Zeliha Ünaldı, said, “The seminars will continue to be held in the coming period, increasing in number and diversifying. Our aim is to identify the needs and priorities of women and girls living in Turkey and to ensure that the planning and budgeting processes consider their needs. We can only achieve a society where everyone can enjoy equal and just rights and opportunities by establishing a sustainable system where everyone’s needs are met.”