Analysing the role of Government and Civil Society Organisations in Gender Responsive Budgeting in Uganda

This essay analyses the role played by Government and Civil Society Organisations towards Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) in Uganda and establishes how it has impacted on the livelihood of women and men, boys and girls. A budget is the single most important policy tool of government, as it affects the successful implementation of all other policies. GRB ensures that the needs and interests of women and men, girls and boys are addressed in the national budget. GRB has been one of the international strategies used to realize gender equality through government budgets. In this essay, it is argued that GRB is necessary because it helps in alleviating poverty more effectively, enhancing accountability, transparency and economic efficiency. In Uganda, GRB has been in practice for over a decade now and the main key players are the government and civil society organisations. The essay further highlights the achievements so far reached such as implementing a gender and equity budget plus the introduction of the Budget Call Circulars by the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning, collective participation of all the key players and the alternative gender sensitive budgets produced by the civil society organisations and used in comparison with the government budget to identify gender gaps. However there are still challenges to GRB in Uganda, for instance; government institutions still lack the commitment to integrate gender issues in their sector plans and budgets, there is a lack of gender disaggregated data and understanding all the concepts of GRB and its application remains a challenge. This essay recommends strengthening levels of transparency, accountability and good governance through the collective participation of all key players in budgeting processes to help achieve a satisfactory GRB in Uganda.