PROGRESS TOWARDS ACHIEVING GENDER … · Report Prepared by Mukunda Julius Assisted by Judith Kazaire and Dinah Musindarwezo June 2011 PROGRESS TOWARDS ACHIEVING GENDER ... MINICOFIN

Assessment of GB statements FY 2011/12 Page 1

Report Prepared by Mukunda Julius

Assisted by

Judith Kazaire and Dinah Musindarwezo

June 2011

PROGRESS TOWARDS ACHIEVING GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGET IN RWANDA

A CSO response to Sectoral GB Statements for the FY 2011/12


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

Milestones. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

Assessment Criteria ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Scope of the Assessment ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

GB Statement for Education Sector ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Analysis of the GB statement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Gender situational analysis --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Intended Interventions and outputs --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Resources for addressing Gender Issues ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Observations and Recommendations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

Health Sector --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

Introduction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6


Gender Situational analysis --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7

Interventions and outputs ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7

Resources for addressing Gender Issues ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7

Observations and Recommendations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

Agriculture Sector --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8


The Gender situational Analysis --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9

Interventions and outputs ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9

Resources for addressing Gender Issues --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

Observations and Recommendations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

Ministry of Youth -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

Interventions and outputs --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

Resources for addressing Gender Issues --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12

Observations and Recommendations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12

General conclusions ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13


Introduction Since 2003 the Government of Rwanda (GoR) started implementing Gender Responsive Budgeting. A number of development partners1

have supported government efforts to ensure that GRB becomes a reality in Rwanda. The GoR has set up a GRB unit in the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development to oversee it implementation.

Gender equality is a priority of the government of Rwanda and is firmly entrenched in the constitution. Besides, the crosscutting nature of gender issues are highlighted in all the national legal and planning frameworks including the Vision 2020, the EDPRS and the national gender policy of government of Rwanda.

Moreover, Rwanda is a signatory to international conventions which guarantee the equality between men and women, such as Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Millennium Development Goals, Beijing Platform of Action and ILO conventions on equality and non-discrimination.

1 DFID and UNWOMEN have contributed funds for

GRB program in Rwanda

Milestones. Key events in the national budget making process have defined how GRB has been implemented in the country. One of them is acceptance by GoR to start Gender Responsive Budgeting. Through the Ministry of finance and Economic Planning, the Budget Call Circular an instrument that directs how national budget will be used, Incorporated a GRB directive. Paragraph 4(d) of the FY 2010/11 of this first call circular focused explicitly on GRB and gave the first formal indication that gender budget statements would be required. The paragraph read as follows:

“The Government is further committed to mainstreaming gender and equity objectives in the planning and budgeting process. This involves articulation of the needs of beneficiaries according to gender and integration of respective interventions within the existing programmes as part of the budgeting process. Submission of budget requests accompanied by Gender Budget Statement shall be mandatory for pilot sectors (Health, Agriculture, Education and Infrastructure) but other sectors will also be required to demonstrate how Gender has been integrated in their budget submissions……”2

As of FY2010/11 only five piloted sectors were obliged to produce Gender Budget statements, but for FY 2011.12 all government spending agencies have been directed to produce gender budget statements.

The CSOs in Rwanda aware that gender issue have always sidelined by some sectors and that some sectors have not yet appreciated the need to make their plans and budget gender responsive will make an assessment on the

2 Extract from the Gender Budget Booklet:

Minecofin Not dated

Box 1. Extract from the GRB Program

The purpose of Gender budgeting is to bring gender perspectives on how government resources and programs are implemented. The aim is to mainstream gender perspective into the analysis of public expenditure and means of raising public revenues, so that the impact on men and women are considered. The long-term goal of the programme is to ensure government spending addresses the needs of women and men equitably and government institutions promote accountability and transparency in the determination of government priorities and public spending.


extent which sectors gender budget reports comply fully with government requirements.

Assessment Criteria Assessing government programmes and budgets from a gender perspective is central in generating information for decision making by lawmakers and policy makers to ensure that there is a fair share in resource allocation and that resources are targeted to the right beneficiaries and that these targeted beneficiaries access these resources This assessment will also provide alternative proposals on how government budget can address the needs of poor and women in a fair manner. The Assessment will also will serve as a tool for CSOs to enhance pro-poor and gender sensitive budgeting in Rwanda and also benchmark of measuring sector performance in addressing gender issues.

Scope of the Assessment In this assessment, a criteria has been developed for guidance. We will attempt to answer four major questions;

1. Whether issues indentified by the sectors are real gender issues

2. Whether interventions indentified by the sector will have a direct impact on reducing the gender issues identified

3. Whether resources indentified are specific to addressing the gender issues

4. General observation and comments

It’s on the basis of the above criteria that the CSOs will make alternative proposal to enhance the quality of the Gender Budget reports. Four sectors (Education, Health, agriculture and Infrastructure) have been indentified for assessment because of two reasons, one is that these sectors have a direct impact on the improving the lives of poor women and men in country, secondly these are the sectors that were piloted and therefore important that we

establish any progress made in addressing implementing GRB.

GB Statement for Education Sector

Introduction Education plays an important role to influence changes in gender inequality and poverty. In fact 23.3% of women cannot read and wrote compared to 17.4% of men.3 In terms of performance in passing exams girls still remain far behind the boys. The Ministry of education in understanding the importance of gender responsive education system and in trying to achieve MDGs has initiated a number of reforms in addressing gender inequality in education sector; a girl education budget line has been reserved, table 1 below)

3 Source: MINICOFIN 2008, Gender Responsive

Budget Guidelines


Table 1: Gender Programs in the education Sector Budget FY 2011/12

Program Budget Line Budgeted Amount (rwf)

Primary Education Girls Education 36,880,000

Junior Secondary Education Girls Education 117,598,918

Upper Secondary Education Special Needs Education 121,200,000

Source: MINICOFIN BFP FY 2011-14

Analysis of the GB statement.

Gender situational analysis

The Ministry o education indentified three gender issues, 1) insufficient textbooks, 2) poor girl performance at secondary level and 3) low enrolment for girls in science and technology course TVET in 2009 (only 36% of pupils were in maths-physics). CSOs would like to appreciate the efforts of the ministry education in identifying the gender issues however they need to be improved. For example, the analysis reflects that the lack of enough textbooks in schools affects the performance of girls: The insufficiency of textbooks in the schools is not a specific gender issue as such since it affects both girls and boys the same way. If girls are the ones who do not access the few available books, it could be due to other unidentified factors.

CSOs would like to inform the ministry of education that enrolment rate at primary level for girls and boys seems to be equal, in fact more girls than boys are currently being enrolled at primary level, however the completion rates, performance and enrolment at tertiary level for girls are the key gender issues in education sector in Rwanda. We propose that these gender issues be identified by the ministry and interventions be put in place

Intended Interventions and outputs

The ministry has outlined a number of interventions aimed at addressing the gender issues indentified. These include; purchase of more text books for pre-primary, primary and lower secondary, purchase of computers, developing of a guiding document on health

and sanitation in schools, training of counsellors on health and sanitation4 and provision of gender sensitive materials5.

The interventions indentified by the ministry such procurement of scholastic materials will improve both boys and girls performance. However, the increase in the textbooks does not automatically guarantee girls’ accessibility to them. Otherwise the accessibility of both boys and girls can be measured depending on the lending mechanism in the school. Training of teacher and counsellors in sanitation and health, and gender would also improve retention rates of girls in schools.

The issues that CSO would raise are to whether the quality and quantity of the products purchased are sufficient enough for girls and boys accessibility. Secondly the ministry does not talk about children with disabilities and yet this is a reality in Rwanda.

The CSOs are also concerned that some gender issues are not specifically identified to correspond to the interventions proposed like lack of sanitary pads, gender unfriendly schools, lack of separate toilets for girls and boys, sports infrastructure and sex education among others. In addition, some statements on intervention like “1000 schools will receive gender” need to be clarified to portray the intended activity.

Resources for addressing Gender Issues

A total of rwf 7,178, 048,083 has been allocated to address the gender issues in the education

4 The has budged for rwf 21,08590 for training of 90

counselors 5 The ministry will procure 1,000 school zill at a total

cost of rwf 350,000,000


sector on the FY 2011/12. Our major concern is whether this allocated amount will be put into the best use and how girls as well as boys will befit from the services delivered.

Observations and Recommendations

1. The Ministry should revise the GB statement to ensure that critical and more pertinent gender issues are addressed. Enrolment rates at secondary and tertiary level for girls should be addressed. Performance of girls in schools is a key major gender s that should be addressed.

2. The intended interventions do not correspond to the outputs. Whereas the gender issue identified was low performance of girls and the intervention is buying of text books, the ministry considered “the number of textbooks procured” as an output. In this case the output of the ministry should have been performance level of girls increased because it’s related to the gender issues identified.

3. Both at primary and junior secondary education, girl’s education budget for (refer to table one above) this however is not the case when it comes to upper secondary and education and tertiary level. No wonder, the enrolment rates for girls is high in lower education levels than upper. We therefore propose that a similar budget lines should be maintained at all level of education.

4. The ministry of education is key in addressing gender inequality in the country. As the saying goes... “Educate a girl...educate a nation”. The CSOs have observed that where as the ministry of education has good intentions of addressing gender issues; the inadequate capacity to articulate and identify gender issues in education is a serious constraint. We propose that the ministry budgets for gender budget analysis training for its senior staff.

GB Statement for Health Sector

Introduction. In the area of health, nutrition and population, maternal and infant mortality rates (750/100,000 live births) and (62/1000 live births)6 are, respectively, still high. Fertility rate is also high (5.7 children per woman). Also, men are less involved in family planning. HIV/AIDS prevalence is still high and women (3.6%) are more affected than men (2.3%)7. The fertility rate is high and the population has been increasing at an annual rate of about 2.8%. The population is therefore expected to reach 12 million by the year 2012. Among women interviewed in the survey in 2008, approximately 86% of births occurred in rural areas. Estimated total number of births (in thousands): 412 (2008)8 At national level, the latest survey in 2007- 2008 showed that 27% of currently married women reported using modern contraceptive methods. In 2005 among pregnant women, 20% reported to have slept under a net, 20% slept under an ever-treated net, and 17% slept under an ITN the night before the interview9.Three quarters of all maternal deaths occur during delivery and the immediate post-partum period. One of the most critical interventions for safe motherhood is to ensure skilled care provided by skilled professionals during pregnancy and childbirth. The latest survey indicated that 28% of births were assisted by SBA. Utilization of SBA remained at the same level across three surveys10.

6 Rwanda Development indicators, 2006

7 Opcit

8 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social

Affairs, Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision, New York, 2009 9 WHO Rwanda profile ; Department of making

pregnancy safe 10

Ibid



Gender Situational analysis

The ministry of Health having understood the situation of women’s heath went ahead and identified gender issues that can be addressed; they include high maternal and infant mortality and morbidity rate, high malnutrition rates among children and low number birth attended to by skilled birth attendant.(SBA). The ministry is commended for indentifying the most critical gender issue of poor maternal health.

Interventions and outputs

In order to improve maternal health, the ministry of health plans to train nurses at MA level from the current 400 to 500 by 2011, equip nursing schools with a library, rehabilitate maternities at district level, and procure 30 ambulances to increase women access to health services. The ministry has also an ambitious program of providing a LLINs. The ministry will also supply nutrition commodities for treatment of malnutrition and reduce the rates of stunted children from 45% TO 35% by 2011. The above interventions are intended to improved maternal health in the country. CSOs have a few issues that need to be improved on. Insufficient midwives contribute to high maternal and

infant morbidity and mortality rate. This is a gender issue. However, the analysis does not present a comprehensive image of the actual problem. For instance it should indicate current statistics of the maternal morbidity rates in relation to the low ratio of nurses and midwives. Secondary the intervention of training of 710 nurses and midwives to become instructors in nursing schools does not indicate to what level. However, one would assume that to become an instructor, one would require a Bachelors Degree and yet the allocated budget of 35,000,000 is not adequate to train 710 people at a bachelor’s level even for one year.


The ministry of health has allocated rwf 6,887,739,980 to implement the Gender budget statements activities. Out of that, rwf 50,000,000 for training of mid wives and Nurses, rwf 800,000,000 on rehabilitation of maternities and construction of 15 health posts, procurement of health equipments, rwf 1,100,000,000 for purchase of ambulances to increase access to medical services especially of pregnant women rwf 135,374,780 for procurement of LLINs to fight malaria among pregnant women and rwf 4,506,365,200 for purchase of nutrition commodities for the malnourished children. Refer to table 2 below

Table 2 Summary of Health Sector GB statement FY 201/12 No. Gender Issue Intervention Amount

02.02 Nurses and Midwives

Insufficient midwives contribute to high maternal and infant morbidity and mortality rate.

1Train thirty Nurse/Midwife Tutors at MA level

20,000,000

Inadequate midwifery experts and instructors in schools of nursing and midwifery.

Train 710 including those of e- learning indexed student nurses and midwives yearly

35,000,000

Limited equipment and training materials to train midwives in schools and clinical placements.

Purchase and supply equipment and materials to the schools

50,000,000

04.01. Health Equipment

The condition of delivery health services contributes to the high rate of maternal mortality.

Rehabilitation of maternities in district hospitals.

350,000,000

15 health posts constructed. 450,000,000

04.01. Health Transport

Limited number of Ambulances in each district affects access to health facilities by women during delivery.

Purchase and supply 30 ambulances 1,100,000,000

06.01. Fight Against Malaria

Improving health outcomes of the population through distribution of LLINs to pregnant women

Procure and distribute LLINs 135,374,780


06.06. Fight Against Malnutrition

Due to poverty dynamics and social and cultural attitudes women and children are more vulnerable to malnutrition than men. Currently, nutrition-related services are not able to combat the high levels of nutrition.

Supply nutrition commodities for treatment of malnutrition cases (CSB).

4,502,365,200

GRAND TOTAL BUDGET 6,887,739,980

Source: Ministry of Health GB statement FY 2011/12

The ministry of Health plays a major in improving the health lives of Rwandan women. Other budget lines that should have been in the GB statement are however not reflected there. For Instance the ministry of health has budgeted for rwf 3.4bn for reinforcement of family planning and reproductive health. This is a budget line that will be crucial in increasing women access to family planning.


1. The CSO commends the ministry of health for specifically indentifying the gender issues that affect women’s and children health. Maternal health is a key issue and an MDG goal. Procurement of LLINs, procurement of ambulances, training of mid wives and nurses will be very crucial is addressing improving and maternal health of women.

2. In order to improve on identifying and addressing gender issues, it’s important to analyse show the status of a particular problem. For example how many ambulances are in place now and how many do we sufficiently need. This will give a picture on the magnitude of the problem.

3. The other concern of the CSOs is that the outputs of the ministry should correlate with the issues that s to be addressed. For example, the problem of low numbers of women delivering in a health centre and assisted by a skilled birth attendant, the output at the end of the year is not how many nurses are trained or how many ambulances are procured but rather how many women

have delivered in the health centre and assisted by skilled health attendant.

4. We would also like to comment specifically on dealing with consequences rather than causes. The case in point is how the ministry is dealing with malnutrition issue by procurement of nutrition of commodities. Whereas this is a good short term and immediate intervention, we strongly feel that it’s not adequate because it reflects treatment and omits prevention against malnutrition. In addition, the indicator to the intervention only mentions children and leaves out women. Malnutrition intervention should also include preventive measures for malnutrition such as sensitising both parents about balanced diet and its importance for all family members especially for children and women.

GB Statement for Agriculture Sector

Agriculture is the most important sector in Rwanda’s economy, contributing for about 43% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing more than 90% of the active population in 1998 (MINECOFIN, 2007). Rwanda’s main food crops by ranking order of production are banana (62.5%), sweet potatoes (17.9%), cassava (4.5%), Irish potatoes (4.3%), pulse (beans and pea, 3.9%), sorghum (2.9%), maize (1.4%), and the rest are paddy, wheat, soybean and groundnuts (MINECOFIN, 2007).

There is high predominance of female in Agriculture in Rwanda. Of 84% of the Rwanda’s population in Agriculture, 52.2% are female


according to the National Agricultural Survey 2008 (NAS 2008). According to RDHS (2005), 57% of women in Agriculture are in substance farming. As a good strategy for promoting pro-poor growth in Rwanda the Government has put in place a guarantee fund of rwf 255.211.407 in the Nation Bank (BNR) to boost women in accessing finance for their income generating activities.


The Gender situational Analysis

The CSOs are very concerned at the way the ministry of agriculture has indentified gender issues. This shows that the ministry of agriculture did not put in enough effort in developing the gender budget statement. Where gender issues have been identified either there no outputs or specific activities or the budget for its implementation. In some other cases gender issues were not indentified properly and this led to wrong interventions. Table 3 below shows a few of the gender issues identified by the ministry of agriculture and how they will be addressed.

Table 3.showing some of the gender issues in the GB statement of MINAGRIC No Gender Issues as MINAGRIC Intervention or activity Amount Remarks

Development and rehabilitation of radical and progressive terraces on hillsides and support to farmers who own land to form cooperatives seek to benefit the Crop Intensification Programme.

Assist farmers to organize themselves into cooperatives and sensitize farmers on the importance of having female involvement.

No amount was allocated

The gender issue is not clear and the intervention does not specify how women are targeted beneficiaries

There is a lack of gender interventions related to water and soil conservation. Women are still few in water conservation technologies (irrigation, environmental sciences, rural engineering).

18,581,654,644 We could take “few women in water and conservation technologies” as a gender issues but there no activities planned

Women farmers indicated that male members of households, attend trainings more than women because information on opportunities comes through the men, who in many cases keep the information for their benefit. In cases where men inform female members of household about training opportunities, women farmers indicated that they offer to remain home doing reproductive activities

- Sensitize farmer and local authorities on using effective, sustainable Soil conservation and water management

This activity was not budgeted for

Although the gender issues were that few women attend training opportunities, the activity is not connected with addressing this problem. This activity is also not budget for

Although women contribute greatly to agricultural production in general and subsistence crops in particular, they benefit less from agricultural extension services compared to men: the involvement of women in training workshops is very limited compared to men; same applies to women agricultural extension agents. ……

-Set up District Agricultural Platforms, Zonal Agricultural Advisory Service Teams and a National Agricultural Advisory Service Committee.

100,000,000 Although the gender issue was captured well, the intervention does not show how the this particular gender issues would be addressed

In MINAGRI there is a limited knowledge and skills on how to mainstream gender in policies, programmes, projects and activities throughout the Ministry and its related agencies. …..

Follow up Gender and Democratic Governance Project and Gender Responsive Budgeting programme Capacity Building to improve project coordination

2,658,228,518 We find this inadequate capacity to mainstream gender is the plans and budget of MINAGRIC as a serious issues as exhibited by the quality of the GB statement.

Source: Extract from MINAGRIC GB statement FY 2011/12

We therefore would like to propose that the ministry of agriculture revises the GB statement, where there is lack of capacity to identify gender issues external support should be sought.



The ministry indentified number of interventions to address the gender issues. Like we noted above most of the intervention are not gender specific and not connected to addressing the particular gender issues. The ministry continued to generalise activities on assumption that women was well as men will benefit from the intervention. A case in point is where the Ministry plans to set up district agricultural platform and advisory services as an attempt to training farmers including women. Whether as these would be good interventions, they don't guarantee that women as well as men will benefit from the agriculture services.

One of the constraints to achieving gender equality is that planning and budgeting continue to be very neutral and insensitive to the needs of women and men. For government to account to women, it must show that the services provided will benefit them and these services will meet their needs. The ministry of agriculture should therefore show in specific terms how women as well as men will benefit from agricultural service and how these services will address their needs.

We recommend that the ministry explores at the following gender responsive interventions

a) Establishment of an agricultural credit facility which poor women and men can access and that 30% of this facility is reserved for women

b) Specifically target the number of women that should benefit from agricultural training event. A target of 30% should be set for women to befit from these agricultural training activities.

c) Resolve to have 30% of women representatives on all agricultural policy and implementing bodies both at the national and local level.

d) Consult women on a regular basis to understand their needs in terms of technologies need and inputs reacquired

e) Explore means of ensuring that women acquire land which can b used for commercial as well as preservation of food security.


A total of rwf 21,385,589,570 has been budgeted for addressing gender inequalities in the ministry of agriculture. These activities rage from capacity building to provision of agriculture services and inputs. CSOs are concerned that the GB statement was not well development and it need urgent revision. Some activities are not budgeted for and other it’s difficult to know how the funds will be utilized. . It is very important that resources are utilized according to its intended purposes otherwise this could create a room for misuse. Among the activities to be funded in the GB statement was “Elaborate training programmes”…this activity does not tell which type of training and how women and men will benefit. The second example is “Support and train cooperatives, particularly those managed by women, as well as individuals in mushroom production as an income generating activity”. Whereas this is a god activity it again does not tell how many training and how many cooperative o members will be trained. This activity was not even budgeted for. The budget also should have indicators against which performance can be measured. These indicators given cannot b reliable.


CSO have analysed the Ministry of Agriculture budget statement and would like to make the following recommendation;

1. There is inadequate capacity among officials in the ministry of agriculture. This is exhibited by the quality of the GB statement developed. We strongly


recommend that the ministry developed a gender budget capacity building plan and particular attention should be given to development of GB statements

2. The GB statement should also show use the gender and sex disaggregated data to enable better assessment of the impact of agricultural services on the lives of poor women and men.

3. Considering that agriculture is the back bone of the economy and that women are the key players in the agricultural sector. As part of modernising agriculture we propose that the ministry developed a gender policy that

will guide it in ensuring that poor women and men subsistence farmers are part of the modernisation process.

4. Based on our analysis of the GB statement of agriculture we request that they should be revised.

GB Statement for the Ministry of Youth The ministry of Youth has identified gender issues it intends to address in the FY 2011/12. Key to the ministry objective of addressing gender inequality is to increase girls /female participation in youth activities. Table 4 below gives a highlight

Table 4.Gender issues identified by Ministry of Youth No Gender issue indentified Intervention Budget

1 Low numbers of girls turning up for entrepreneurship training courses; this fore affects their entrepreneurship capacity thus leading to high unemployment rates among girls

Sensitize girls to participate in entrepreneurship courses. Encourage girls to save.

89,000,000

2 Lower numbers of girls accessing loans for self employment and upgrading their cooperatives/businesses

Increase loan portfolio in SACCO. Sensitize girls about the existing loan opportunities.

100,000,000

3 Lower numbers of girls’ membership in profit making cooperatives supported by MINYOUTH, thus causing imbalances in profit distribution and economic empowerment among girls and boys

Encourage girls to join cooperatives as active members.

250,000,000

4 There are fewer girls participating in Itorero, this therefore impacts on their understanding of matters pertaining to civic education.

Sensitize parents, teachers and cooperatives members/board to encourage girls to participate in the annual Itorero r’yubyiruko/various groups

94,300,000

5 There are fewer girls participating and taking on leadership roles within existing international, regional and national bodies

Two training sessions and information sharing on existing opportunities carried out

56,000,000

Total 589,300,000

Source: MINIYOUTH GB statement FY 2011/12

We would wish to applaud the ministry of youth for capturing and articulating the gender issues in there

sector so well. This is an indication that capacities exist in the ministry to identify gender issues and that the ministry is committed to achieving gender equality. Whether these are the critical issues for female and male youth is question for another day .

As CSO we are concerned that critical gender issues that affect female you such as prostitution, teenage pregnancy, unemployment and child mothers have not been mentioned. We wish to propose that the ministry of you looks into these areas of concern

The other issue for improving is for the ministry to show the current status of a matter that is going to be addressed. For example if the ministry identified “Lower numbers of girls accessing loans for self employment and upgrading their cooperatives/businesses” as a gender issues how many are currently accessing and what is the target. It’s very important to have benchmarks set to enable proper assessment and impact.


We find the intentions proposed by the ministry to address the gender issues as appropriate and


connected. Our challenges however like we mentioned above us that most activities proposed do not have targets. Table 5 shows

the intervention and outputs and comets raised by CSOs

Table 5 GB Interventions, output and indicators for Ministry of Youth Intervention Output Indicator Comment from CSOs

Sensitize girls to participate in entrepreneurship courses. Encourage girls to save.

Increased entrepreneur capacity for girls.

Increased entrepreneur skills among girls. Increased number of girls saving with existing MFIs.

How many girls are going to be target

Increase loan portfolio in SACCO. Sensitize girls about the existing loan opportunities.

Increased number of girls accessing loans from existing MFIs

Increased number of girls accessing loans

How many girls are going be target and what is the loan portfolio. A these urban girls or rural girls

Encourage girls to join cooperatives as active members.

Increased number of girls joining cooperatives

Increased number of girls joining cooperatives supported by MINIYOUTH and keeping active.

Which type of cooperatives are girls joining , how many cooperatives are being formed

Sensitize parents, teachers and cooperatives members/board to encourage girls to participate in the annual Itorero r’yubyiruko/various groups

Increased number of girls trained in Civic education

increased number of girls participating and understanding of civic education issues

How many girls are we targeting

Two training sessions and information sharing on existing opportunities carried out

Increased number of girls trained in leadership and sensitized about existing opportunities.

Number of girls taking up leadership positions.

Which type of leadership position and how many are targeting

Source: Ministry of Youth GB Statement FY 2011/12

It is the proposal form CSOs that the ministry revisit the GB and show benchmarks and targets for purposes of measuring the impact of the activities implemented


The ministry of youth has allocated rwf 589,300,000 for implementing the GB statement activities. We appreciate the efforts of this ministry. As CSOs the issues of concern is that since the activities are not specific e.g. “Increase loan portfolio in SACCO. Sensitize girls about the existing loan opportunities” such an activity is still vey general to know how to increase the loan portfolio and how to sensate. Will it be though pubic dialogues or through the media. Without proper and specific activities, gender issues might not be addressed.


CSO would like to make the following recommendation on the ministry of youth GB statement Y 2011/12

1. The ministry has articulate gender issues very well and the

interventions are also connected and appropriate to addressing gender issues. CSO would like to commend the ministry for these efforts

2. We would like to bring to the attention of the ministry that the genders issues identify are the easy targeting…increasing numbers. This fall short of other sensitive gender issues that are constraining female youth from becoming active citizens. Issues of prostitution, trafficking, teenage pregnancy, unemployment are serious issues that the ministry should look at. HIV/AIDS prevalence is high among enable use than male youth, access the family planning and other health services are not sensitive to female youth.


General conclusions 1. The lack of capacity among ministries is

very evident. The quality of GB statement is very low except for ministry of youth and ministry of health. But still there is need to have a comprehensive gender analysis training to enable ministries comprehend with gender budget issues.

2. Reading through the GB statements one clearly sees a government positive attempt to mainstream gender in it polices and budget. Very few governments around the world can do what the Rwandan government is doing. This is very commendable

3. Some sectors have identified comfort zones. Addressing those gender issues that are easily known and can be easily addressed. The case for example is for the ministry of Youth. Increasing female participation in leadership position is a very easy gender issues to achieve.

4. Another observation we have indentified is that those gender issues that are sensitive and transformative have not been mentioned. A case in point is teenage pregnancy, abortion ,

prostitution , female ownership of land are some of the gender issues that can transform the lives of poor women and men, boys and girls. However such issues have appeared in any sector GB statement.

5. The use if gender and sex disaggregated data is still wanting. Whereas this data exist (national institute of statistics year book), it has not yet been utilised. This data is important to enable us measure progress and set benchmarks. Ministries are not utilising this information and where it’s not, it should be generated

6. Due to inadequate capacity to indentify gender issues, intervention proposed have found to not connected to addressing gender issues. (Check Ministry of Agriculture GB statement). This is a risk as it could exacerbate the already appalling gender situation. It imperative that interventions proposed must be gender responsive and addressing particular gender issues.

7. Lastly we would request that the ministries concerned revise their GB statement to make them better

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PROGRESS TOWARDS ACHIEVING GENDER … · Report Prepared by Mukunda Julius Assisted by Judith Kazaire and Dinah Musindarwezo June 2011 PROGRESS TOWARDS ACHIEVING GENDER ... MINICOFIN